2018 Beyond the Classics discussion

Going into high school is one of the most exciting yet terrifying experiences. Being a teenager is an emotional rollercoaster that we all go through. For Charlie, in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, we get to experience all the highs and lows he goes through as he starts high school.

In the Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie writes letters to a stranger as he begins his journey being a freshman. Charlie is a quiet kid. Just a few months before he starts school, one of his best friends killed himself. This was very hard on Charlie because he didn’t understand why he did what he did. When Charlie was younger, his aunt Helen, whom he was very close with also passed away. Charlie never fully recovered after his aunt died. He went into a type of depression and never actually got better even though he may have seemed “okay”.

Throughout the book, we see how much love Charlie has for his family and friends. Charlie is shy yet aggressive when it comes to someone picking on someone he loves. He puts everyone before himself which makes him a great guy. But he will always be a mystery. He cries at practically anything, gets angry for no reason, and sees things. He has seen a lot more than a kid his age should have seen which clearly had an effect on his life.

Charlie is confused of whether he is happy or not. He has been through many traumatic situations and he never understood how to handle them. Charlie was always stuck trying to figure out how to feel.

I would recommend this book to anyone in their teenage years. This book gives a glimpse of what being a teenager is like. The book goes into depth about substance abuse, sexuality, and mental health. Yet the book still shows how being a teen is fun and adventurous. This book can relate to anyone in high school because it shows what’s going on in a teenager’s head at all times. So much goes on in the book which makes you never want put it down.