The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky

Reviewed by Henry Hsieh

Fall 2016

Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

ISBN#: 1451696191

The Story:

A fifteen year old boy named Charlie begins high school with no friends because his best friend Michael, suicided. As a result, he becomes a wallflower who watches people from the sidelines. He lives in Pennsylvania with his family including his mother, father, and sister in 1991.  Along the way, he meets his English teacher, Bill, and sees him as a good friend. At first, Charlie is a shy boy until he approaches someone in his shop class named Patrick and his stepsister Sam. When Sam learns that Charlie’s friend

suicided, Sam and Patrick step up to become Charlie’s friend. Throughout the story, he deals with multiple hardships such as drugs, dating, and making friends. He made a bad choice kissing the “prettiest person in the room” and did not kiss his date, Mary Elizabeth which made him lose a lot of friends. One particular moment was how Charlie regained his friends. At the nutrition center, Patrick and Brad get into a fight, but Charlie steps in and stops them because he could not watch Patrick being hurt. Sam appreciates Charlie for saving his step brother and gains back his friends. Sam and Patrick are Charlie’s best friend who taught him friendship and love threw parties and other events. He also deals with many family situations especially one critical family secret. He was sent to the hospital multiple times due to a mental breakdown. One mental breakdown was when Charlie was dreaming and then passed out in the snow. When it comes close to the end of the year, all his senior friends were leaving. He was sad and missed them, especially Sam. Charlie changes and learns to face his struggles. He seems to become more like an adult by the way his friends are treating him. (297)

My Opinion:

When I first looked at the front cover, I assumed that this novel was about loneliness because there was a picture of a pair of shoe next to the wall. My hypothesis turned out to be correct but as the book came to an end, he was surrounded by friends. I felt that this book was going to be simplistic compared to other novels I read because it uses a letter format. The format helped to make the easier to understand because it was moved from one segment to another segment.  When a dramatic scene ends, it moves on to another letter a couple days later and resumes. It includes a decent amount of sophisticated vocabulary words in the story. As I continued to read the story, the book got more interesting because multiple conflicts occurred, and I kept wondering what was going to happen next. The story provides useful advice to teenagers and adolescents in the world today. One which I found interesting was “to be honest about your feelings.” This story also gave me a good idea of what high school will be like but I believe that some events do not happen often today such as smoking as a highschool student. A weakness of this book is that it contains a lot of inappropriate content. I would recommend this book for older middle school students to high school students. I would give it a 9 out of 10 stars, and I definitely  would read this book again. (250)

Study Questions and Vocabulary:

First Section

1. “Nothing seemed like the kind of guy you could just walk up to at a football game even though you were three years younger and not popular.” What does he suggest about Nothing?

1a.   Nothing is approachable and non-intimidating when he is able to talk to random people and popular people without fear. (pg.18)

2. What is the significance of the book The Mayor of Castro Street that is mentioned in the book?

2a. The author uses the book The Mayor of Castro Street to represent hope and inspiration., Even though he faced obstacles, he was able to overcome it without fear. In this book, Charlie faces a lot of challenges. (pg. 64)

3. Why does Charlie have interests in “winter kind of songs”? Ex: Asleep by the Smiths, Landslide by Fleetwood Mac

3a. It could suggest rebirth because when things do not go your path, there is always a way to restart. (pg. 61-62)

4. Why does the author use first person perspective in this book?

4a. You know the feelings of Charlie deeply but we only see it from one lense. You can also look closer to the perspective of high school. (the beginning)

5. How would you characterize Aunt Helen?

5a. She seems to be odd and mysterious. Giving books that were too old for Charlie and also saying that something bad happened to her without an explanation. (pg. 5)

corpulent  (pg. 14)

pragmatic (pg. 16)

wallflower (pg. 37)

fraternity (pg. 51)

Slack (pg.64)

Middle Section

6. Why did Charlie pass out in the snow?

6a. With so much events going on in Charlie’s life that are disturbing and never stops, he stayed down in the snow and passed out. “... don’t tell anyone… you pervert… Sam and Craig… Sam… Christmas… typewriter… gif… Aunt Helen.” ( pg. 98-99)

7. Why doesn’t Charlie’s sister tell her mother or dad that Charlie was smoking?

7a. She realizes that when she tells Mom or Dad about Charlie smoking, her parents would ask where Charlie and her sister are at. (pg. 119)

8. What made Sam like a wallflower during the dance?

8a. Craig did not attend the dance and he said that he did not want to go to some stupid high school dance. (pg. 115)

9. Charlie thinks that Mary Elizabeth acted so different ever since his first date  and does not like her being in charge. Both his sister and psychiatrist both find the best thing to do. What is it?

9a. Both his sister and psychiatrist tells Charlie to “be honest about your feelings.” (pg. 131)

10. After his sister and psychiatrist’s recommendation (be honest about your feelings), he screws up by the dare, “kiss the prettiest girl in the room” and he kisses Sam instead of Mary Elizabeth (his date). Charlie says, “I wasn’t ready to say goodbye just yet.” What does Charlie mean?

10a. School is starting and Charlie does not want to be alone. He wants to work hard back for his friends and attended the parties he went to as a freshmen. He wants to apologize and be better of himself. (pg. 142)

transcendental (pg.83)

psychiatrist (pg. 99)

cynical (pg. 106)

cleavage (pg.117)

adroit (pg. 132)

Last Section

11. What was the conflict between Brad and Patrick at the Nutrition Center and how did Charlie react to it?

11a. Patrick walked up to Brad but was ignored. When Patrick said “faggot” and punched Brad’s face. Brad and his four buddies ganged up on Patrick. Charlie stepped into the fight and put everybody down. He said to Brad, “If you ever do this again, I’ll tell everyone. And If that doesn’t work, I’ll blind you.” (pg. 150-151)

12. It is an exciting time because people are busy finishing up the year. All of Charlie’s friends are talking about prom and college. Why is Charlie upset?

12a. Charlie misses his friends especially Sam who is going to Penn State. (pg. 168)

13. Charlie had a couple special moments at Bill’s house. What was it?

13a. Bill considers Charlie as a friend even though he is a teacher/his student. (pg. 181)

14. Sam realizes what Charlie thought about when Sam and Craig were together. What did Sam tell Charlie?

14a. “You can’t just sit there and put everybody’s lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love.” (pg. 200)

15. Why was Charlie in the hospital multiple times throughout the book?

15a. A disturbing family situation about Aunt Helen happens when Charlie dreams. (pg. 208)

valedictorian (pg. 159)

publicist (pg. 168)

pact (pg. 179)

frantic (pg. 197)

communion (pg. 206)