To be honest, I don’t really read novels like these. People like me shy away from reality and prefer to live in a world full of fantasy and clichés. We feel better. We love pretending that there exists a perfect world. To get to the bottom of the speculation about this novel, I read it. And somehow, it was strangely liberating.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is a novel that deals with the reality of teenage life. It starts with the lead character, Charlie, writing letters without a return address to an unknown person, aiming to stay anonymous while telling them all about his life because he knows they won’t judge. At first, you are trying to keep up with the parallel, but connected, storylines; but as the book evolves, so do you and you live the transformation of Charlie amidst the themes of teenage, drug use, sexuality and adolescence.
The novel was first published on February 1st, 1999. Stephen Chbosky took five years to develop and publish it. Although when he first wrote it, he did not mean for it to be a controversy, many schools in America banned it and requested it to be removed from their libraries because it deals with themes not suitable for teenagers. Ironically, even though it’s been read by adults, the books target audience was teenagers.
Critics have given mixed reviews, some complementing “the right combination of realism and uplift” that the novel had; others accusing Chbosky of ripping-off J. D. Salinger’s writing style from The Catcher in The Rye, a literary work among others mentioned in the book which is divided into four parts plus epilogue. According to me, the New York Times bestseller cleverly makes the readers the recipients of Charlie’s letters, thus inviting them along on the “wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up”.
I, for one, was really engrossed in the book right till the very end. It was something entirely different. The look into a kid’s mind, right on the verge of adulthood; experiencing every elucidative emotion and living every captivating transformationthat makes you sympathize with Charlie. This book redefines adolescence as an inspirational page-turner.
The New York Times said, “A quick sensation after it was published, earning cult status and a place on many reading lists”.
The habit of asking questions, the uncanny understanding in his fifteen year old mind, the myriad of emotions in his heart for his aunt Helen, Michael, Sam, Patrick and his siblings is something very different from your usual protagonists. The book is filled with beautiful lines that Charlie hears or thinks, trying to make sense of things. My personal favourite would be, “I feel infinite”.
Book Details:
Book Details:
| Author: | Stephen Chbosky | ||
| Publisher: | MTV Books | Publishing Year: | 2012 |
| ISBN-13: | 9781451696196 | ISBN-10: | 1451696191 |
| Cover: | Paperback | No. of Pages: | 213 |
| MRP: | Rs 299 | Buy From: | Flipkart.com Amazon.in  |
Tags: Stephen Chbosky The Perks of Being a Wallflower The Perks of Being a Wallflower review
