| The Perks of Being a Wallflower | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephen Chbosky
Publisher: MTV
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy Used: $5.97
You Save: $8.03 (57%)
New (65) Used (64) from $5.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  1269 reviews
Sales Rank: 843
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0671027344
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780671027346
ASIN: 0671027344
Publication Date: February 1, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Good copy with moderate reader wear. Spine tilted, covers creased and lifted. Minor stains and scuffs to outer page edges and covers. No writing on text. Orders Shipped in One Business Day! Great Customer Service. Your Satisfaction is Guaranteed!
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Amazon.com Review
What is most notable about this funny, touching, memorable first novel from Stephen Chbosky is the resounding accuracy with which the author captures the voice of a boy teetering on the brink of adulthood. Charlie is a freshman. And while's he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. He's a wallflower--shy and introspective, and intelligent beyond his years, if not very savvy in the social arts. We learn about Charlie through the letters he writes to someone of undisclosed name, age, and gender, a stylistic technique that adds to the heart-wrenching earnestness saturating this teen's story. Charlie encounters the same struggles that many kids face in high school--how to make friends, the intensity of a crush, family tensions, a first relationship, exploring sexuality, experimenting with drugs--but he must also deal with his best friend's recent suicide. Charlie's letters take on the intimate feel of a journal as he shares his day-to-day thoughts and feelings: I walk around the school hallways and look at the people. I look at the teachers and wonder why they're here. If they like their jobs. Or us. And I wonder how smart they were when they were fifteen. Not in a mean way. In a curious way. It's like looking at all the students and wondering who's had their heart broken that day, and how they are able to cope with having three quizzes and a book report due on top of that. Or wondering who did the heart breaking. And wondering why. With the help of a teacher who recognizes his wisdom and intuition, and his two friends, seniors Samantha and Patrick, Charlie mostly manages to avoid the depression he feels creeping up like kudzu. When it all becomes too much, after a shocking realization about his beloved late Aunt Helen, Charlie retreats from reality for awhile. But he makes it back in due time, ready to face his sophomore year and all that it may bring. Charlie, sincerely searching for that feeling of "being infinite," is a kindred spirit to the generation that's been slapped with the label X. --Brangien Davis
Product Description
Standing on the fringes of life... offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor. This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1264 more reviews...
 Permanently in my Top 5 December 3, 2008
It's been awhile since I read Perks, and I don't recall when I first started reading it, but I distinctly remember the night I finished it. I couldn't put it down, reading until the middle of the night, out on the couch while my husband slept. And that's where he found me, sitting with the book in my lap, crying deeply. Stephen Chbosky created a protagonist who's adolescence was incredibly real and familiar, and in Charlie's story I saw my own high school memories - of being taken under the wing of an older crowd, and of being left behind as they graduated. The novel, written in the form of Charlie's anonymous letters to 'a friend', creates an interesting format for the narrative and truly reveals the author's gift for natural voice. We are voyeurs, reading letters not meant for us, written by a high school freshman who perhaps feels things too deeply. And maybe that's why I was so moved by it - because as I read Charlie's letters about his own life, I got to know him, and care about him, and relate to him in a way a third person account, or even a standard first person account wouldn't have facilitated. I'll surely reread Perks every few years, when I want to remember the good and bad of high school and shed some tears, the way you do with an old box of letters you keep under the bed because they mean too much to throw away.
Simply the best. November 24, 2008
My younger sister bought this book and then after gave it to me-and it is one of those books that I will pick up and read again and again. It is so beautifully written and continues to leave the reader with a new outlook each time it is read. I am in college now and have passed this book along to others to be read and every one of them has loved it so far. It is by far one of the best books I have ever read, hands down. I would recommend it for everyone to read!
 Zzzzzz... October 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm not sure why the reviews on this site are so positive. I thought this was fairly boring and seemed to be somewhat of a copy of 'Catcher in the Rye' (which is over-rated in the first place). I think if I was still in high school I would have liked this more but having read these types of stories I was fairly bored with this. Recommended for readers of Young Adult books only.
 Thoughtful coming-of-age story October 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Perks of Being a Wallflower tells the story of Charlie, an awkward and introspective high school freshman. The book is comprised of a series of letters that Charlie writes to an unknown recipient, relating the news of his life, the friendships with a group of seniors, his complex relationship with his family and his bond with a teacher who believes Charlie is special.
This is a wonderful coming-of-age tale. It's such a cliche to compare every tale of a misfit boy to The Catcher in the Rye, but Charlie's alienation and struggle to find himself are every bit as compelling as in the classic stories of troubled youth, like Catcher. Chbosky's writing style is honest and straightforward. Charlie's desires and inadequacies are palpable. I highly recommend this intelligent and moving novel.
Pretty good. September 30, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
exactly what i wanted, in great condition.
and super cheap!
but it was a little late on shipping...
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