The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Dear Friend, 

It doesn't happen often that you pick up a book and don't put it down until you've read the entire thing. It doesn't happen often that you think about a story for days, weeks, or months after you've finished it. It also doesn't happen often that you want to pick up a book again and read it over and over, until you've enjoyed every single sentence you may have missed the last time.  This is what I have experienced by reading "The Perks of Being a  Wallflower,"  by Stephen Chbosky.  A book often compared with the classic, "A Catcher in the Rye," it digs deep into real feelings and experiences of high school students.  Readers feel a kinship with the fascinating characters, as they develop into more complex and more is discovered about each person.  The narrator, Charlie, is writing a series of letters to a stranger, always beginning his letters with "Dear Friend," and ending with, "Love always, Charlie."  Charlie's letters depict the ugly and beautiful parts of adolescence, examining the challenges faced as a young person living through the influence of others.  Love, dead aunts, friendship, mix tapes, drugs, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show envelop the life of Charlie and change him.  We all can become wallflowers, or spring away from the wall and feel as Charlie does. "And in that moment, I swear we were infinite." 

Love always, 

Nina