The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Hey guys! Sorry I have been posting in a while but I've been pretty busy. Anyway, my blog can no longer be accessed by www.claudiaolson.com just to let you know. On the with the review!

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is an excellent novel. It explores the life of a modern teenager accurately. Its characters are memorable with fascinating back stories to follow them.
The protagonist is Charlie. His best friend Michael commited suicide recently (by that I mean 1991). Charlie is very depressed about this so he decides to write letters about his life to you. Yes you, the person reading this very novel. That's another reason this book is so interesting, but I will get into that later. Anyway, it is his first day of high school and he doesn't have any friends,a so-called "wallflower". This is until he meets Sam and Patrick, seniors who are step siblings. Sam is a beautiful girl and Patrick is a gay boy. Charlie immediately falls in love with Sam, but he knows he can't have her. These two people lead Charlie into many experiences including performing at showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, exchanging great gifts at a Secret Santa, and feeling infinite. If you are confused (which I'm sure you are) this is a feeling Charlie got when they were driving through a tunnel at high speeds with the wind rushing through them.
Charlie's family is also very interesting. His father takes many sacrifices for his family and his mother just wants everyone to be well cared for. His older brother is a college football player on the rise to fame and his older sister has her share of ex boyfriends and failed relationships. But the most fascinating family member by far is Aunt Helen who is Charlie's mother's sister. She died many years before and had a tragic past that no one could forget. Once she died, Charlie had gotten extremely depressed, to the brink of insanity for he loved his aunt dearly. As we arrive to the end of the book, however, we learn Aunt Helen influenced Charlie's life in more ways than one. This twist will leave you speechless.
A recurring theme in the novel deals with Charlie's English teacher Bill. This man realizes that Charlie is wise beyond his years so to challenge the boy, he gives him a series of classic novels throughout the year and assigns him to write a report on each. These books greatly shape Charlie's character.
As you can see, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an awe-inspiring series of events filled with interesting plot points, a fascinating method of narration, and, as I mentioned before, a great twist you don't want to miss. I highly recommend you to pick up this book and start reading. You won't be disappointed.