Yanery's bookshelf: read

Champion
That Summer
The Goddess Inheritance
Eleanor & Park
Prodigy
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
The List
The Maze Runner
NW
The Rosie Project
The Dead House
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Code
Seizure
Virals
Crash
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The Selection
Goddess Interrupted
One Little White Lie


Yanery's favorite books »

Wednesday, 11 February 2015

Review of The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Status: re-read.
Format: my own paperback.




"Dear friend..."

Charlie is a high-school freshman after a very difficult summer. And it is going to be a difficult year. Unlike many other coming-of -age young adult novels I have read, Perks is one story which I can re-read and re-read. It is a book less reliant on its surprise ending than the writing. Sincere. Poignant. i have never read from a more pure perspective.

Much of Charlie's memory is marred by anxiety and his brain's attempt to block trauma. It comes to him in undecipherable pieces. When he sees his sister with an abusive boyfriend he remembers his Aunt Helen. When he sees his friend Patrick being bullied he remembers his brother's wrestling training. Chbosky impresses with his ability to gently introduce us to Charlie without scaring us off.

The characters are antique pieces not cardboard cut-outs. From Patrick's intensity, Sam's kindness and Mr Anderson's honesty.I highly recommend this book to any one wanting an introduction to YA fiction. It will transport you to a time when you felt weak and happy and infinite.

Favourite quote:
"We accept the love we think we deserve."

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