The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Ratings1,169
Average rating4.1
i read this book in a little over a day and i think it was amazing! it had such good quotes and everything in it and it leaves you feeling good.
I only wish I had read the book before seeing the movie. The book is beautiful in a completely different way.
This is one of the few times I've seen the movie before reading the book.
Overall it was a great book with an honest look at a teenager's struggle with abuse, depression, and anxiety. Some parts were painfully relatable to. Other parts disturbed me because of the casualness with which underage drinking and illegal drug use is treated. Maybe good from an adult reader's perspective, not sure how I would've felt reading it as a teen or what thoughts I would've had. I think I'd still recommend it for late middle school readers.
I absolutely loved this book. It made me feel so many different emotions. In a few ways I could relate with Charlie. I was somewhat the same way in high school. I never openly went and made friends, the friendships just kind of happened.
I felt sad when we finally learn what happened to Charlie when he was younger when his aunt Helen was still alive. I was glad when things changed for Charlie in good ways. I loved reading along as Charlie tried things for the first time; some being more interesting than others.
This is a book I would definitely recommend to teenagers and even young adults.
this was fast paced and cute. I could have done without the Love charlie! it just felt like i was reading someones journal
A must read for everyone. Stephen brilliantly exposes the common issues of a typical teenager and the roller-coaster rides of life through Charlie's letters. Truly a cult classic!
The story of a boy who is wrong in all the right ways. Who is weird in the wonderful ways.
This book was different from all of the other books I have read. Some parts of it were so real that disturbed me and the fact that real stories disturbs me, also disturbs me. I guess I have to stick to my fantasy books and stay away from these kind of books. After all I read books to get away from the real world.
About the movie
I watched the movie 2 years ago and I loved it. After reading this I watched the movie again and I didn't like it. You must realize that the movie is directed, produced and written by Stephen Chbosky. So it is as faithful as it gets. But even in this case you have to make lots of compromises to make a movie of a book and these compromise often lead to resentment of the book's fan. My biggest problem with the movie is lack of using the “Landslide” song despite multiple mentions of it in the book. After all it is one of my favorite songs ever. The best thing about the movie is Ezra Miller's performance.
Le monde de Charlie est un roman épistolaire racontant l'histoire de Charlie (si si, vraiment), un adolescent un peu à part, souvent dans la lune, et se tenant en retrait du monde. Charlie est un peu fragile, extrêmement timide voir déconnecté et débute sa seconde un peu secoué par le suicide de son ami Michael. Incapapble d'exprimer exactement ce qui lui arrive, il se livre à travers des lettres et raconte sa rencontre avec Patrick et sa demi-soeur Sam qui l'aideront à s'ouvrir et à découvrir le monde.
Critique complète sur Livrophage
Charlie is honestly one of the best characters I know. He's so honest and real. I just want to hug him and tell him everything's going to be okay. There were so many great things about this novel that I can't even get my thoughts in order. It was so thought provoking and heart warming I just couldn't get enough. I loved all the characters and Charlie's development throughout the whole novel was amazing.
Why was this book so good?
Well.
Maybe you should read it and find out.
Because I swear to god.
It was fucking worth it.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
this book made me remember about my younger years, all along with the “and in that moment I was infinite” ticks of time from my life
hm. I think I'll be the odd one out here. I have many thoughts about this book, some of them being:
1. how unusual and absurd, socially speaking, is it that a teenager in 1991 discusses openly things such as the erotic dream he had with the girl he just met? is he or is he not autistic?
2. if he is, why not use the behavior as something that may be construed as not just as idiotic? it doesn't do the autistic so wide spectrum any justice or favors that he is just naive bordering idiot.
3. has anyone counted the number of times this guy cries (hard) ? omg. seriously. gets old.
4. if he is such a genius, as Bill stated, one of the most gifted people blah blah, couldn't he at least every now and then dazzle us with more complex descriptions of feelings than the aforementioned crying hard or the very first grader sentences? I don't expect the use of corpulent or jaundice, dear, but make an effort!
Let me make it clear. Charlie is very sweet. Some sentences are almost poetic and the characters seem really interesting. But I do believe that after Holden Caufield, one must be extra cautious in creating American teenagers amidst some drama, especially if one is not going to really exploit any of it. All in all, if I had read this book with zero expectations, I might have found all the shallowness and idiocy endearing and maybe believed it was on purpose; but it was not the case, and I finished thinking that if I had been the editor... which is always a bad path, as you can imagine.
Borrowed this from reviewer reynje
“Perks seems to offer its devoted fans a sense of connection, of understanding, of honesty about things left unspoken, or whispered behind hands and closed doors. This book speaks to the sense of alienation that many teens experience, the questions of who they are and where they belong. Charlie has become a response to – and I mean no disrespect by this, as I was/am a voice in this – a collective, plaintive cry of “nobody understands me”.”
This makes me happy and sad at the same time, and i'm still trying to figure out how that could be.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower starts out crap. Pure crap. Who is this Charlie kid? To whom is he writing? And why is he such a complete idiot? Dear random kid I don't know, guess what I discovered yesterday? Masturbation! You know how many times I did it? Let me tell you the details. By the way, I'm in High School. Right. No common sense, no filter: that's our Charlie. It's no wonder readers want to diagnosis him.
So at first I thought I was just reading a more juvenile version of Silver Linings Playbook. That book starts out crap. And it ends crap. The Perks... was following the same formula: simple language, repetition, repetition, naivety, etc. I mean, think about it, how many of the scenes in one novel can be translated to the other: the romantic relationships, the familial relationships, the fight. By the end of The Perks... I realized I was actually reading a more mature version of Silver Lining Playbook (at this moment, I'm wondering why I gave that book three stars—I must've been having a good day).
Back to The Perks...: I found the voice to be disingenuous; not so much at the end, as Charlie was just beginning to make sense to me (some), but for much of the first two-thirds of the novel. There were little bits of authorial manipulation in there that left a bad taste in my mouth. And then to paint Charlie as some kind of genius... it makes no sense. When did the reader get a glimpse of Charlie being brilliant? Unique? Sure. Special? Uh huh. What teacher Bill saw in him I have no idea.
I think readers tend to filter books like this through their own experiences. That's probably why most people either love or hate it. Here's my experience: I was a little different. I listened to different music, dressed differently, and was socially awkward. The result of my differences was I got the shit beat out of me and was taunted nonstop. I don't know where Charlie lives, but he's got it pretty good. Compared to him, I think I was fairly normal. And somehow he makes friends—sure they're a little weird, but they're popular in their own ways. He goes to parties and kisses girls and smiles and gets straight As. Hooray, Charlie! But I call bullshit. Kids, this is how Charlie's High School experience really was: his only friends were a boy who'd do anything to get a laugh (drink formaldehyde, wear underwear on his head) and a kid who brought a knife to school for protection; he spent much of his time looking over his shoulder and ignoring the taunts of “faggot;” he was tripped; he had his head slammed into his locker; he was invited to two parties: a birthday party where only Formaldehyde-boy and Knife-boy came and a Doctor Who party where Kool-Aid was on tap; his teachers saw nothing special about him because his grades were crap because he was too exhausted. He lived in fear of everything. And in the end, he A) graduated high school without a thought, spending the following decade trying to forget, B) went on a killing spree, or C) killed himself. These “letters” to his friend are merely the delusional ramblings of someone suffering from Post High School Traumatic Disorder. Am I making this personal?
In the end, the book's not that bad, I guess. The story's alright, especially for YA. The plot is overly manipulated, but it kind of works. It's just in no way believable. Maybe it would've made more sense had it been shelved in the Fantasy section.
this book helped me through so much in my early teenage life and i can't wait to re read. it's so powerful and emotional
Après avoir beaucoup aimé le film au début de l'année, j'ai eu envie de lire le roman dont il a été adapté. Je ne saurais pas si j'ai préféré le film ou le livre : les deux sont différents, même si l'histoire et les personnages sont évidemment très proches. Dans le livre, Charlie est peut-être plus immature et plus perturbé psychologiquement que dans le film, où il apparait comme un adolescent presque comme les autres, avec son histoire et ses angoisses, mais presque comme les autres. Dans le livre, on remarque plus facilement sa différence et on apprécie d'autant plus son intégration au sein de son nouveau groupe d'amis. Dans les deux cas, ce sont deux histoires agréables à découvrir et des personnages que l'on suit avec émotion.
I think everyone can find themselves in Charlie, and I did. I think I can relate very much to Charlie. This book was an amazing read and very beautiful. It deserves a re-read.
Maybe I did myself a disservice by watching it first, but this is one of those rare occurrences where I liked the movie better. Probably doesn't hurt that author Stephen Chbosky was the director and writer. Ahh high school - sometimes the friends you make can save your life.
Also... interesting in that it's the first YA book I've read that has dealt with the consumption of hallucinogenics.
Resenha do blog Sincerando.com, escrita por Sarah Sindorf
“Então, esta é a minha vida. E quero que você saiba que sou feliz e triste ao mesmo tempo, e ainda estou tentando entender como posso ser assim.”
Por meio de cartas que Charlie envia para alguém não definido, ele conta sua história e o que acontece na sua vida em um período de aproximadamente um ano. Charlie está começando o Ensino Médio e está nervoso com isso. Sem amigos, vai começar um dos ciclos mais difíceis para um adolescente. Seus problemas do passado o perturbam, mas ele também tem seus bons momentos.
Um tempo depois de um começo não muito agradável, ele conhece Patrick, e por ele, sua irmã Sam, sendo eles veteranos. Os dois são totalmente diferentes das pessoas que Charlie está acostumado a ter em sua vida. Imprevisíveis, animados, e com um certo nível de problemas também.
Charlie enfrenta alguns problemas em casa. Sua mãe, uma mulher que é ao mesmo tempo doce e quieta, seu pai, um homem sério e atencioso, mas não muito afetuoso, e sua irmã e irmão que quase não falam com ele, o fazem ser mais isolado ainda. Sua Tia Helen, a pessoa da família com quem ele melhor se dava, morreu quando ele era criança.
Viajamos nas cartas em um mundo totalmente emocional e descontrolado. O livro tem boa cadência, mas Charlie claramente é uma pessoa extremamente pensativa, e se perde nos pensamentos até mesmo na escrita. Lidamos com alguns fatos desconhecidos e misteriosos em sua vida que são revelados durante a leitura, nos instigando a continuar.
O livro é muito doce, e Charlie é o típico adolescente tímido e perdido. Gosta muito de acompanhar o mundo, observando tudo, e é extremamente perceptivo. Apesar de ser em primeira pessoa, não achei que deixasse nada a desejar. Apesar de quieto, Charlie é inteligente e nos dá várias dicas de leitura, citando os livros que está lendo no momento, e de música, com as músicas que tocavam em determinado momento de seu relato.
Fiquei imersa na leitura e acabei não lendo tão rápido quanto gostaria durante a semana, então terminei hoje e acabei vendo o filme em seguida. Para quem não conhece, os personagens estão retratados acima, pois a capa do livro é a capa do filme. Emma Watson interpreta Sam, e confesso que só estava interessada no filme por esse motivo. Não conhecia a história direito, mas resolvi ler o livro antes de assistir a história.
Gostei muito do filme. Ezra Miller, que interpreta Patrick, conseguiu desenvolver perfeitamente o papel, trazendo toda a emoção do personagem à tela. Emma Watson está perfeita como Sam (apesar de que não posso falar muito por ser suspeita nesse assunto, adoro a Emma), e temos outros ótimos atores. Imaginei Charlie diferente do ator que o representou, mesmo já tendo visto o trailer antes de ler, mas não tenho nada a reclamar.
Acabei ouvindo a trilha sonora enquanto escrevo a resenha e recomendo que o leitor faça as três coisas. O livro, o filme e a trilha sonora são ótimos. Fico chateada de não ter ido ver no cinema, só passou em uma sala aqui no Rio e o horário não dava para ir. O livro é muito profundo e a história é complexa, apaixonante. Me apaixonei por várias frases do livro, e estou colocando algumas das que gostei mais na página do blog no facebook para quem estiver curioso (pode ficar tranquilo, não tem spoiler!).
Link da resenha: http://www.sincerando.com/2013/05/as-vantagens-de-ser-invisivel.html