Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - The Perks of Being a Wallflower: 20th Anniversary Edition

The classic coming of age story.

This was a good, enjoyable read and certainly worth the hype that surrounds this book. Whilst its role as a modern literary classic might be overstating the texts significance, it is certainly worthy of its cult-classic status and perfectly encapsulates the undercurrent of emotion associated with young adult fiction, whilst still prevailing with that poignant message of hope all teenagers deserve to read.

A key plaudit I have for the book is the realism of every character, with Chbosky not being confined in his writing to create a character solely around the common tropes associated with the genre - eg. the villain. Every character possesses their own flaws and yet each can be said to win the readers affection (at least some point in the novel) as Chbosky intelligently isolates the actions of an individual (be that good or bad) from who they are as a person (not being defined by the adjective used to describe their actions).

Aunt Helen is the most interesting character for me in this respect, given the revelation at the end of the novel that she sexually assaulted the protagonist, (her nephew) Charlie, when he was younger. Given the narrative voice, we're are able to see Charlie ultimately grapple with her actions (with herself being a victim as well) and yet still rationalise the reprehensibility of her actions. The passage, 'So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.’ beautifully captures this overwhelming moral conflict and allows the reader to further contextualise Charlie as a character.

On reflection, one problem I do have with the novel is the lack of development around the theme of suicide. Being integral to the start of the book, I would have liked there to have been greater exploration into the effect of losing a close friend under such tragic circumstances. In fairness there is an element of juxtaposition between the characters of Charlie and Susan as to how they handle the death of their close friend Michael, culminating in the protagonists confrontation of the latter. Nevertheless, I can't help but feel that the theme is used more as a device to deceive the reader over Charlie's true deep-rooted trauma (unearthed at the climax of the novel) rather than being given the equal and worthy explanation of how an event as scarring as that would impact an individual.

In terms of the writing generally, I appreciate the epistolary format that makes the book easily digestible, as well as the teenage narrative perspective that means the writing is less dense than that of adult fiction. The novel is certainly humorous in places, particularly in the frivolous tone sometimes taken towards more serious societal issues. As an example I found the offhanded comment of 'Fritz's girlfriend was talking to him about women's rights, and he kept saying, "I know, baby."' very funny. However, the book also has a real profound nature in places. Don't get me wrong, this is not in the hyper-cynical way of adult fiction but the idea of Charlie as this 'wallflower', perceptive to everything and everyone, is captured very well.

Do I think this book has had the world-shaking effect on me like with other people? Probably not. Nevertheless, did I find myself engaged with the story and will the message of the book stick with me? I'd like to think so.

An enjoyable read!

Content Warnings

sea_sea's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

4.75

This book was almost 5 stars for me, but not quite because it was pretty triggering sometimes. I would definitely recommend it, but would also recommend to definitely look through the tws. I think this book is really special in a way, that probably everyone will see themselves in the book somehow. It articulates thoughts and feelings very well and gives you stuff to think about. This book dives into so many heavy topics, it’s a really good but also difficult read!
I think the book really showcases how messy, beautiful, confusing and hard it is to be a teenager.

Content Warnings

rory_john14's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

Content Warnings

elleisntabell's review against another edition

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4.5

I did not expect to like this book, so the fact that I'm here giving it a 4 star that is closer to a 5 than it has any right to be is crazy. But it was good. Seriously.

There are aspects of it that I really don't like, aspects of it that feel outdated, but luckily nothing inherently malicious. Regardless, I think it's really great, and I can't quite express why.
I definitely acknowledge that it's not gonna work for everyone though.

I think the fact that Chbosky is primarily a screenwriter is really obvious. It gives this book a quality that I can't quite explain, but it is something that a really liked.

Anyway, I can clearly not speak of this book in any way that isn't vague, so I'll end it here.

Content Warnings

shay_talksbooks's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

annabelreadsandwrites's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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