I was recently looking through old reviews that I’ve written, and I realized that in the 10+ years that I’ve been writing reviews, I’ve never written a review of Stephen Chbosky’s 1999 novel The Perks of Being A Wallflower (although I have written a review of the movie). This surprised me, because The Perks of Being A Wallflower is actually my favorite book of all time. It’s been quite a while now since I’ve actually read through it, but I definitely know the story well enough to talk about it, so let me explain why this is my favorite book ever.

If we’re going to classify it, The Perks of Being A Wallflower falls into the whole “coming-of-age drama” genre. The book is written in the form of letters, where the protagonist, whose name he gives himself is Charlie, is trying to anonymously write letters to someone in order to tell about his life without judgment. See, Charlie is a wallflower, and so he has a hard time opening up to other people and making friends. Charlie starts the book by entering into high school, and so the book chronicles his journey of self-actualization by detailing the ups and downs of his first year of high school. We get to witness Charlie’s journey of making friends, experiencing hardships, and coming out as a stronger person.

In my reviews, I usually like to focus mostly on telling whether or not the thing is good or not, as a review should do. However, these more “objective” measures never really crossed my mind when I first read the book, and so what I think will be more effective in this review is for me to tell you why The Perks of Being A Wallflower is so special to me, and why it’s remained my favorite book of all time. If you’re looking for some of the broader reasons to read it, I’ll say that it’s strongly written, has well-crafted characters that are both flawed and likeable, has a protagonist whose journey we care about, includes many big topics that you’re likely going to relate to at least one of, and really captures both the essence of the early 90s and of what it’s like to enter high school. These are just a few of the bigger reasons to love The Perks of Being A Wallflower, but for me the book has easily separated itself from other books in the genre.

So, without further ado, here’s my story and experience with The Perks of Being A Wallflower. I feel as though sometimes our favorite things become our favorites because they happen at the right time in our lives. That’s what happened for me here, and while that might give an unfair edge to the book, it still personally helped me through a really difficult time in my life.

I first discovered The Perks of Being A Wallflower in 2007. I was entering the final month of 8th grade, and I was in a pretty rough place. I was extremely introverted, and so I had trouble talking to people at school and making friends. I got bullied a lot, and so I actually started to prefer to be alone. I’d often come home crying after school, and I always wondered if there was something wrong with me. Since I couldn’t make friends in person, I spent most of my time at home online, talking to people over the internet. I had made many friends on AOL Instant Messenger, and so these were the people that I felt myself around the most. One night, one of these friends told me that I reminded her of the main character from one of her favorite books. This, of course, ended up being Charlie from The Perks of Being A Wallflower.

This comparison winded up capturing my interest, and so I decided to pick up the book. I read it in a few days and was blown away. Up until that point, I had never read a piece of fiction that spoke to me in such a profound way. When I read Charlie’s monologues, I felt like I was reading my own words on paper. I couldn’t believe how much I related to him, and so I don’t think I’ve ever connected with a character in a book quite the same way since. The book meant so much to me, and I instantly fell in love with it.

There was also the fact that I was in the same place in my life at the start of the book as Charlie was. I was finishing up 8th grade, and Charlie was just getting ready to start 9th grade. As I read through Charlie’s journey of overcoming his struggles, making friends, finding love, and shedding his wallflower persona, it gave me hope that all of these things would be possible for me. It brought me out of that dark period where I thought that everything was hopeless and that I’d never be happy with myself or with anyone else.

And when I think about it, it’s crazy how much my life did mimic Charlie’s. Just like him, in my freshman year of high school I also became close with my English teacher, met my best friend (who proved to be every bit as eccentric as Patrick), got into my first relationship (in which I also shared the freshman/senior dynamic), and overall just became a much more outgoing person. In a way, I almost felt like I had a guide through it all, and like I had a friend that experienced these things before I did that was there for me during it.

Twelve years later, people that meet me are really surprised to learn that I was a huge introvert. I’ve become my own person, and shared that person with other people. I’ve made strong relationships with a lot of different people, and all of them have meant so much to me in a variety of ways. I can fully acknowledge that all of this can come naturally with growing up, but I think that influences can really serve to help us become who we were meant to be. The Perks of Being A Wallflower is one of those influences for me. It helped me out during a pretty rough period, and helped me become a much better and much happier person in the long run. I’m honestly not sure where I’d be without this book.

Now, look, like I said earlier, timing plays a role in all of this. I’m not going to guarantee that The Perks of Being A Wallflower is going to mean as much to you as it means to me. I was fortunate to have discovered this book at exactly the right time in my life, and so it impacted me in a really profound way. If you’re not in the same headspace and point in your life as I was, then I can’t guarantee that this is going to mean as much to you as it does for me. Honestly, it might not even have meant as much to me if I read it for the first time now. However, regardless I will always think that this is a really strong and poignant book, and at the very least I think that it can take people back to what their lives were like in high school, and offer at least one experience or hardship that you can relate to. Regardless of my personal attachment to it, I still think it’s a really excellent read. However, my personal attachment to it is what truly sets it apart from the crowd, and what has helped solidify it into becoming my favorite book of all time. I will always see a little bit of myself in Charlie, since it’s where I came from. However, I’m thankful that this book has helped me grow in the same way that Charlie does, because it has truly changed my life for the better.

5/5