Reviews with content warning for Incest - The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I first read this book in high school and remember loving it. I decided to grab it from the library again because I was in the mood for something pensive and kind of sad and wanted to see if it held up as an adult. Boy, does it. This book is fantastic. Though the impact is different from when I was Charlie's age, this book is still so influential and offers so much with both its content and style. Weirdly, reading this book makes me feel inspired to write and like when I do so it will be better for having read this. Not that you could tell from the quality of this review!

I think this is one of those books you should definitely read at least once as a teen. As an adult I was definitely reacting differently to some moments -

for the love of god, why would you give a kid who's obviously having mental/emotional difficulties LSD! Even as a high school senior, you should know that's a no no

- but Chbosky and Charlie still draw me in. This book really elicits emotional reactions, and is best enjoyed on a quiet evening by yourself so you can really take your time to read between the lines and feel.

It's kind of ridiculous how many content warnings I just applied to this book, but I also think that's one of the reasons this is an important read for teens. That this book is written in the form of letters helps lower the intensity of these subjects/make them easier for the reader to handle, but things still get pretty emotional.

Content Warnings

mack_urdaddy's review

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

Content Warnings

chelseeaa's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

butlerebecca's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Top tier YA even after all these years

It was interesting reading this for the first time as an adult and reflecting on the themes and plot-points I couldn’t quite understand at 14

Specifically noticed what a beautiful reflection this is on masculinity

Also 1) Logan Lerman really did nail it aaaand 2) I have to read Catcher in the Rye again now

Content Warnings