The Perks of Being A Wallflower

“‘Sam tapped her hand on the steering wheel. Patrick held his hand outside the car and made air waves. And I just sat between them. After the song finished, I said something. ‘I feel infinite’” (33).

There a time in all of our lives when we feel infinite, whether it is listening to our favorite song, spending time with a best friend, or even reading a great story. The Perks of Being a Wallflower written by Stephen Chbosky is one of those great stories that every high school student must read!

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a book of letters written by the main character, Charlie. Charlie is a modern version of Holden Caulfield in the book The Catcher in the Rye written by J. D. Salinger. Both of these characters have similar traits and the plot of both stories also have similar themes. Both of these Characters share a passion for English, and develop a close connection with one of their teachers. However for both these students, school doesn’t come easy. In both books Charlie and Holden go through the hard ships in meeting friends and holding on to friendships. Even more importantly they both seem to have issues within their family lives, and both try to cope with the hard times.

In The Perks of Being a Wallflower the reader experiences Charlie’s first year of high school with him. Similar to Holden Caulfield who explains his high school experience. Both of these characters express their ups and downs about many issues that occur in teenage life such as friendships, family and sexual relationships. These stories push the limits by adding sex and drugs into the text, which make reading them even more exciting! Even though these books were written in different time periods, The Catcher in the Rye was written in 1951 while The Perks of Being a Wallflower was written in 1999 many of the same issues arise. However today’s readers can connect to The Perks of Being a Wallflower because it targets teenagers of today by sharing different situations that arise for a teenage kid living in the challenges of today’s society.

Charlie is a teenage boy who starts high school with no friends and a family loss to his favorite aunt Helen. However, through his first year he learns to cope and understand death in his family. He meets friends, falls in love with a girl, dates a girl he doesn’t like, and fights the star of the high school football team. These adventures are only some of the experiences that Charlie shares with his reader in this coming of age tale of high school life. I highly recommend this book to not only high school students, but to college students, and even parents because the dilemmas that arise are intriguing for anyone’s interests. Charlie is a modern day Holden Caulfield and anyone who liked The Catcher in the Rye will love The Perks of Being a Wallflower.