Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

191 reviews

lydias1's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad fast-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

One of my favourite books; a treat to re-read. I love it so much and it feels so comfortable to read it. It makes me feel so seen and accepted - even when I don’t relate to the characters I feel like I can bring my whole self to this book. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Drug use, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, and Child abuse

Moderate: Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Grief

Minor: Car accident and Infidelity

lily_kruse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

Moderate: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Suicide, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Abortion, Rape, Sexual assault, Bullying, and Suicide attempt

mollyporteous's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Child abuse, and Incest

naima0615's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Sexual harassment

florixer's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Adult/minor relationship, and Drug use

pooja_12's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective fast-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

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Addiction, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Homophobia, Grief, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Xenophobia

jlebon's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-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? Yes

3.75

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

Moderate: Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, and Sexual violence

Minor: Car accident, Suicide, Sexual assault, Incest, Sexual content, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Domestic abuse

elisabethshanahan's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Drug use, and Mental illness

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

jjjjo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring relaxing sad 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Abortion, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Bullying, Rape, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Addiction, and Adult/minor relationship

nospar's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

One of my favourite books, a gritty telling of how hard high school can be, how difficult it is to fit in and how our trauma can effect us in ways we didn't realize. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship