The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Long time, no see...er, blog. I started back to work the week before last, and the students started school this week, so I've been a bit busy. Too busy to get much reading done.  I am halfway through World Without End by Ken Follett, but I think I've only managed to read a chapter or so the past two weeks.

We bought the blu-ray version of The Hunger Games on August 18th, and watched it that evening.  One of the previews on the movie was The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I had heard about this book from my days of posting on the message boards on the-n.com. Didn't really give reading it much of a thought until I saw the movie trailer. The movie has Emma Watson, Hermione from the Harry Potter movies.  Love her. Also has the guy who played Percy Jackson in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Looked good, so I went in search of the book. I checked ebay and Amazon, but it was going to be upwards of $12 for a paperback, and that didn't include shipping. Fast forward to today...we were at Target, and they had it for $11.20. My husband bought it for me. Took a little less than twelve hours to read cover to cover, and I kinda feel bad that he spent that much for something I read so fast. :/

Anyway...The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. The format of this book is that of an epistle novel, meaning that it is written in letters. In this case, the letters are from Charlie to A Friend. Charlie, as well as all of the other names he mentions, is not his actual name. He changed them to protect the innocent, so to speak.

Charlie is beginning his freshman year of high school. He is the youngest child; his brother is a football star, and his sister is pretty and smart. Charlie cries easily and alot. Charlie has a troubled past, and has spent time in the hospital-the kind for mental health issues. Charlie doesn't have any friends until one Friday night, he goes to a football game and sees someone he recognizes from shop class, Patrick. Patrick is there with his stepsister, Sam, who Charlie has a crush on.  Patrick and Sam introduce Charlie to their friends, and they go to alot of parties and showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Charlie also has what I would term a weird relationship with his advanced English teacher.  The teacher insists that Charlie call him Bill, and gives him special assignments. Toward the end of the book, Bill invites Charlie to his house-a huge teacher no-no.

The book chronicles Charlie's freshman year, and everything he goes through. Then there is the epilogue, which parts of came completely out of left field for me. I had to go back and re-read something because I missed it the first time, and it makes the revelations of the epilogue make sense.

Pretty good book. Right up there with Go Ask Alice by Anonymous, and Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. 

I will be taking it to school on Tuesday when we go back, and putting it on my classroom library shelves.

Now to finish the Follett book....