The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephan Chbosky The “Infinite” Read
Rating- 4 stars
Recommended Age- 15
Summary of thoughts- Loved the humor and overall story. Charlie is a captivating character and the author causes you to feel every emotion. This is less of a read and more of an experience.
Overall this book is very enjoyable. I had to read this book for my english class that is focusing on the theme of "Coming of Age". I strongly believe that this book fit that theme and really helped me understand what growing up or "Coming of Age" truly is.
At first glance the format of the book threw me off a bit. I have read multiple book that are in diary format or even novels that include letters, but I have never read a book compiled of only letters. However, it is an absolutely perfect format for this story.
The reader does not know where Charlie lives, what his family members names are, or even to whom he is writing, but all that somehow adds to the powerfulness (is that a word?) of the story.
It is so powerful when Charlie mentions people by name. If I recall correctly the first person he mentions by name was his friend Micheal who is no longer around. The next people he names are Sam and Patrick. Their relationship is somewhat magical because they love each other so much yet overtime they learn to love Charlie the same way.
One thing I love about Charlie is how naive and innocent he is. He does everything he can to be kind to everyone even though very few people are kind to him. However, this is something that Sam teaches Charlie. She teaches him that he cannot be kind and friendly and silent and comforting to everyone. She teaches him that he has a voice and feelings that matter.
This is what struck me, how he loves so easily despite his dark past. His dark past also confuses me. Why did he forget everything? Why does he only remember some things? How did his brother or sister not notice what was happening? So many questions, very few answers.
Overall this was a dark, haunting novel that was at the same time hilarious and innocent. The feeling I got when Charlie would rant about what it feels like to be infinite. The book left me feeling infinite, the book was less of a read and more of an experience. The book was perfect.
