Perks of Being a Wallflower {Review}

This book you guys. This mother bleeping book! Where is my time turner so I can go back to the late 90s and smack my young (and admittedly thinner) self in the head for not reading this already? I *needed* this book back then! Thank the sweet baby Jesus I've finally read it.

Perks of Being a Wallflower was beautifully written by Stephen Chbosky. It is a classic coming of age YA novel that takes place in the early 1990s and tells the story of Charlie, a smart, sensitive, reserved boy about to enter his freshman year of high school. The story unfolds in a series of letters to an unnamed friend, and is a sweet, touching, awkwardly inflected ride through adolescence.

One of my favorite parts of this book was how music was incredibly instrumental in the storytelling. Since the story takes place before teens had cell phones and the Internet at their disposal, it seems as though mix tapes were the main form of communication  I am not an 80s music expert by any means, so a lot of the songs were very new to me, but I now have a playlist on Spotify solely of songs from the book.

In high school, I was SUCH a Charlie. I was awkward, self conscious, and felt like I was living in a much different world than those around me. I wish I would have thought back then to write letters to someone, but instead, all of my (obviously very deep) thoughts went into my journal. While I was reading this book, I felt like Stephen Chbosky must have read my journal from back then because nearly every passage resonated with me in some way. It made me wish I could go back in time to high school and find my own version on Sam and Patrick, as it probably was just what I needed.

I saw the film adaptation a few weeks ago and it was amazing. Logan Lerman as Charlie was absolute perfection. I seriously forgot that he was Percy Jackson, and that in her role as Sam, Emma (omgilovehersomuchgirlcrushforlife) Watson was Hermione. They played the parts so well, I was completely immersed in the film from the first scene. I often look at film adaptations of books as separate entities, but I couldn't help but see the two as a whole since Stephen Chbosky also directed and wrote the film. It was absolutely perfect. I remember feeling all of the same emotions watching the film as I did reading the book which is very rare for me. There were tears...everywhere.

This book is one of THOSE books for me. I am so happy I read it and even happier that I saw the movie and loved it. I keep wishing I had something deeper or more profound to say about it but I've got nothing other than it touched me deeply and Charlie, Sam, and Patrick will stay with me for a very long time.

If you haven't seen this movie yet....GO! If you haven't read the book, do that first and then go see the movie. Either way, experience the amazingness of Perks...it'll change your life.



Does anyone else want to go and an infinity symbol tattoo now? Between this book/film and the exploration of the aspects of infinity in The Fault in Our Stars by John Green...I am feeling all kinds of committed to the notion!