For all us Wallflowers

Hey, guys!

So, I'm guessing that a lot of you have already seen the major film The Perks of Being a Wallflower starring Emma Watson and Logan Lerman. Well, I'm going to try to convince you guys to read the book by Stephen Chbosky whether you've seen the amazing movie or not.

My brother read this book before I did, loved it, and then demanded that I read it as well. So, I did.

The story is told in the form of letters from Charlie to the reader. My guess is that writing letters is Charlie's way of dealing with everything that could possibly happen to a high school student. And let me just say something about his voice . . . not his physical voice, his writing voice. It sounds almost childish, but a better word for it would be innocent. And it makes the reader love Charlie right away.

He's just moved up from middle school to his freshman year of high school after one of his friends killed himself. Not good, and Charlie took it pretty bad. So, now that he's a freshman, he doesn't have any friends. Especially since the first friend he makes is his English teacher who gives him extra books to read and essays to write.

That is until he meets Patrick and Sam, who are step-siblings. Patrick: fun-loving, hilarious, and gay. If you are planning on watching the movie, he will be your favorite character. I am not kidding. Sam: complicated, beautiful, and Charlie's love interest. But she is currently unavailable, and Charlie just wants her to be happy.

This book is the story of Charlie trying to survive high school and everything that comes with it: drugs, alcohol, girlfriends, peer pressure. And the pain that everyone deals with as teenagers that comes with relationships. And Charlie sees it all. Because he is a wallflower.

Maybe he notices it all because he wants to be a writer. Maybe he notices it all because he has his demons as well. Maybe he notices it because he can't help it.

I will warn you guys: there is a huge reveal at the end. And I mean HUGE. And it creates a mixed bag of feelings for the reader: happy and sad and angry and everything under the rainbow. Which is by design.

So, I highly recommend the book for high school students and beyond. It's a quick read and an amazingly good one. For those of you who love John Green, this would be a book for you, because even now I keep forgetting that it is not by John Green. Anybody who reads this book will most likely fall in love with Charlie as a character and root for him at every turn.

Also, watch the movie. Seriously, if you haven't seen the movie yet, watch it. I make it one of my missions in life to get my friends to see the movie, and none of them have regretted it.

For example, when the movie came out on DVD, I bought it and wanted to watch it. My brother refused to see it on the grounds that it could not be as good as the book (which, of course, it can't be). But I still wanted to see the movie and I convinced him to watch it with me and our parents as a family.

Suffice it to say that, although a movie can never measure up to a good book, it is still a beautiful movie. My best friend and my boyfriend agree. So, please watch the movie. And read the book. You won't regret it.

Hope you enjoyed and hope you will check back later.

Happy reading!!