Perks of Being a Wallflower: Stephen Chbosky

Once I started, I couldn't stop. Every emotion I have ever felt was reborn in this moment. It was a culmination of teen angst, rebellion, love, tragedy, sacrifice, humiliation, anger, sadness, tension, relief, fear, and triumph. I didn't want it to end. I was living through the protagonist. Every emotion he was feeling, I too was experiencing. As a semi-adult, I didn't imagine this book having an impact on me because it involves everything I have already lived through (except some very serious issues that I will not spoil). However, I couldn't have been more wrong. Charlie is a freshman in high school with a past that continues to haunt him. Overcome by the emotions of starting high school, Charlie can't seem to break into the social climate of his high school. He reverts to eating lunch alone, befriending his English teacher, and keeping to himself. That is until the football game. In a fit of determination, Charlie takes his chance, and runs. He sits with one of the kids in his shop class, Patrick. It was an instant connection. To Charlies benefit, Patrick has a step-sister, Sam. She's beautiful, mature, independent, and all together intoxicating. The definition of a true woman. Charlie finds his place with this new group. This is the group he tries drugs with, shares stories with, cries with, laughs with, and grows with. Little does he know, all of these people are shaping him into the man he was meant to become. In Stephen Chbosky's novel Perks of Being a Wallflower, he incapsulates what it means to be a confused teenager. Charlie struggles with his identity, as most teenagers do. He enters high school with no idea who he is or where he belongs. I would argue the experience Charlie has in school, is one that not everyone has. His friends are all seniors, he experiments with his sexuality, as well as his consumption of drugs and alcohol at a fairly young age. He lives life on the account of others, and very rarely does what he wants to do. I attribute this to the friend group he has. He has no other choice but to participate in the activities they want to do. He does this, all while living in the background. Through the course of the novel, I couldn't help but relate to Charlie more than any of the characters. He is the quintessential figure of adolescents. Like most teenagers, they act out of impulse. The underdevelopment of the pre-frontal cortex is to blame however, that's what makes Charlie so relatable. His image is at stake, and if he defers from the norm of the environment it could be a social catastrophe. A pervasive theme in the life of an adolescent is this struggle to fit in. Everyone has gone through it, and some go through it longer than others. This novel is a beautiful account on what it means to be human. Life is a ride of emotions, to not experience them all is a life not lived. Chbosky is a master at his craft, and it is a delight to review his masterpiece. Perks of Being a Wallflower, you are beautiful, you are inspiring, and you are infinite.