The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Stephen Chbosky
ISBN 0-671-0273-4
213 pages
MTV Books/Pocket Books, 1999

Genre: Coming of Age, Epistolary

Reader's Annotation:
In a series of frank and funny letters to a virtual stranger, Charlie, a sad loner, details his sophomore year of high school and his struggle to participate in life more actively.

Plot Summary:
Charlie begins his sophomore year of high school by finding out that his one friend, Michael, has killed himself. He decides to write a series of letters about his feelings to an unnamed person (presumably a recent graduate of the high school) whom he does not personally know, but about whom he has heard other students say kind things. Through these extremely frank and funny letters, we learn about Charlie's past and home life. His beloved Aunt Helen, who came to live with his family after a tragedy, died unexpectedly on his 7th birthday, sending him into a spiral of depression and into psychiatric care.  His parents are good and loving, though they both come from troubled backgrounds, and his older siblings are successful. His brother is a player on the Penn State football team and his sister is a top student at the high school.

Charlie's English teacher Bill recognizes his potential and assigns him a series of great books (The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye) to read outside of class; throughout the book, Charlie gives his reactions to these works.  Music is also very important to Charlie, and throughout the book, he uses songs and music to express his emotions in a way he has trouble doing otherwise.  Bill is concerned that Charlie is experiencing his life on the sidelines, so encourages him to "participate" more actively. Charlie befriends a brother and sister, Patrick and Sam, who include him in their circle of friends and expose him to a wider world that includes drug use, drinking, and homosexuality.  Charlie also must deal with problems at home, including his sister's abusive relationship.

Throughout the novel, Charlie grows and becomes more involved in both his family and friends' emotional lives, but to truly participate in life, he must figure out why he put boundaries up in the first place.

Critical Evaluation:
What an excellent and moving book! I knew very little about this book before reading it, so it all unfolded for me naturally, without any spoilers or anticipation of major plot points.  I think the epistolary format of this novel was a smart one; it lets us see into Charlie's mind and his thoughts on the day-to-day happenings of his life, but since we, like the unknown recipient of these letters, are not privy to his history, we slowly get filled in on Charlie's backstory as he realizes that for certain events to have context, he needs to fill in his reader on things that happened before.  The reader becomes used to the conceit and accepts it, but later in the story, Chbosky reminds us, to great effect, that it's rather strange for Charlie to be opening up this frankly to a complete stranger and makes us wonder what it would be like to be the recipient of these letters.

Chbosky is very smart at depicting the role of adolescent friendships. While Patrick, Sam, and the rest of their friends open up to Charlie and give him a social network he's been missing, Chbosky is also very smart at portraying the ways in which Charlie does and does not reciprocate their friendship.  Chbosky explores a lot of hot-button issues in this novel--homosexuality, molestation, teenage sex and pregnancy, teen drug use and drinking--but he wisely lets them be explored largely "off-screen" by Charlie's friends, forcing Charlie and the reader to make up their own mind about them.

The depiction of Charlie's nuclear and extended family is realistic and nuanced. While his extended family on both sides is quite dysfunctional, his parents are good and loving people who try to do the right thing. The sibling relationships in this book are smart, too: the brother off in college who still leaves a large and looming presence, and an older sibling who suddenly and unexpectedly becomes a close friend once you reach a certain age.

Chbosky also effectively uses culture--music, books, movies and television--to let us into Charlie's world. Music allows him a way to express himself to friends and family, especially ideas and emotions he does not yet have the ability to put into words, a trait many readers may relate to.

About the author:
Perks is the only novel Chbosky has written, though he has worked in film and television as a screenwriter and producer. After Perks, he is perhaps best known for his work as creator of the show Jericho.

Curriculum Ties:
Many people (including Chbosky himself) have commented that Wallflower explores many of the same issues of adolescence as does Catcher in the Rye. The book and the character of Charlie could definitely be explored in a high school English class--there's a lot going on here both structurally and emotionally that would be exciting for teens to discuss--but the controversial nature of the book (see below) may preclude its use in this fashion in many districts.

Booktalking Ideas:
1. Give the talk in the form of one of Charlie's letters.
2. Talk about the friendship between Charlie, Patrick and Sam
3. Talk about the role of books and music in the novel.

Reading Interest/Level:
9th and up

Challenge Issues:
Teen sex, teen pregnancy, homosexuality, violence, teen drinking, drug use, molestation, suicide

This book is often listed as one of the most challenged books of the year by ALA.  Librarians facing a challenge should be aware of their library's selection policy and be able to explain and defend it to challengers. One could point to the many positive critical reviews it has received and its selection as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults as proof of its merits.

Selection Criteria:
I knew very little about this book, other than the fact that I had heard of it many times. When I saw it on the library shelf, I decided to pick it up.  I was pleased to see so many classmates mention it during our discussion for Luna!