The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky)

EN "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is the first book by the author Stephen Chbosky, published on February 1, 1999, by MTV Books, translated into several languages and published in several countries as well. Its film adaptation took place in 2012 with known actors such as Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller in the lead roles and Chbosky as director and screenwriter. The reviews of the adaptation were very positive, mainly because they considered it to be quite faithful to the original.

The book consists of a set of letters written by Charlie to an unknown recipient with the purpose of being heard and to be able to vent about his days, since he felt quite nervous about the beginning of his first year in high school and about the death of his only friend, Michael. The cause of his friend's death was suicide and Charlie found himself submerged in a world of confusion and misunderstanding, as he did not trust his parents and siblings enough and the only relative he really trusted was his aunt Helen, who had died in a car accident a few years earlier.

From there on, we see Charlie putting his heart into the letters he writes, and we understand that, psychologically speaking, Charlie has some limitations and repressed feelings that are shaping his attitudes and emotions. Charlie meets two older students, Sam and Patrick, who help him through that new and confusing phase and, at the same time, put him into situations that force him to explore his memories more deeply. Charlie falls hopelessly in love with Sam, which affects him even more and makes it difficult for him to see love properly. To escape this feeling, he gets involved with another girl of the group, but soon realizes that it is not possible for him to pretend for long, even if he has the desire to please others, in a constant struggle with his feelings. Only later, at the end of the book, we understand all the problems of his subconscious and the distorted view that he perpetuated of his life.

I highly recommend this book; I admit that I was overwhelmed by the ending, and I never thought it all came down to that tiny detail (but quite important) of Charlie's past. I was very sad, but I finally understood all his attitudes. His passive-aggressive behavior had a very logical reason and that made me angry.

The author's writing is quite captivating, as it should be, to deal with such important topics, which force the reader to be more tolerant and look at others with eyes clean of prejudice.

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