The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

This was a striking read. Wow, just wow!

Charlie is an introverted, intelligent guy who is about to start high school, and let's face it, no one is really prepared for that step.

On the surface, this book has similarities to many other coming-of-age stories out there. Smart outcast kid at school, the English teacher with the extended reading list... but there was something so much MORE in this book than in others.

I really thought the format of this story was very effective. Charlie was telling his story anonymously though letters. It was a nice change from the diary format - or the straightforward novel. It also made the tone very conversational which really made it easy reading and made immersion into the story much faster and more thorough. I really felt like I was there.

There were so many things I enjoyed about the plot and the characters. I loved that Charlie was not as sex crazy as other teen protagonists in similar stories. Yes, he was definitely interested, and he did learn a lot in that department, but he had other things on his mind too. There were some interesting female characters who were strong and smart. Sam in particular was interesting. I also appreciated that the characters were flawed. They were far more realistic that way. (And yes, a flawed female character does not equal a weak character - it means a realistic one.) The one huge striking draw of this story is the friendships in it. I thoroughly enjoyed the interaction between the characters. I liked that the friendship too was perfect because of its lack of perfection. One could easily argue that Sam and Pat were bad influences on Charlie - but in many ways they were extremely good for him too.

There are some mature themes in this book, and I think they were covered well. I think it is important for teenagers to be exposed to the harsh realities of this world. This book handles these topics maturely and in a way that a younger reader could gain something from the experience.

I gave this 5 stars on Goodreads.
It is the 20th book I have read for the 2015 TBR Pile Reading challenge.