Audiobook Review: Perks Of Being A Wallflower By: Stephen Chbosky

Title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Author: Stephen Chbosky

Narrator: Johnny Heller

Published: February 1st, 1999

Goodreads Summary:

Standing on the fringes of life... offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.

Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.

My Thoughts:

Chobsky has taken a coming of age tale of a depressed teenage boy and given a reader everything you could ask for, I loved this book, it gave me every single emotion throughout the story. I laughed, I cried, I was angry, I felt everything along with Charlie.

As far as the audio book goes, I enjoyed it most of the time but, it sometimes felt repetitive. The book is told through letters to an unknown person from Charlie. Listening to the book I got a little bored with it because everything was told from these letters through Charlie, but the narrator had the perfect voice for reading this one. He felt genuine, young, and completely believable. 

This book was so full of everything a high school student goes through and more, I don't even know where to begin. Drugs, abuse, and sex, each aspect was discussed and talked about by Charlie in different ways. I loved Charlie, he was a character that you were rooting for the entire time. But, sometimes he did seem to innocent. I don't know if it was because the book was told through letters or not but, sometimes the way Charlie would talk it seemed too young and I couldn't believe that a kid his age was that innocent. 

My absolute favorite characters in this book though were Charlie's two best friends Sam and Patrick, stepbrother and stepsister, they really made the book for me and they definitely provided a more mature and humorous aspect to this book. Patrick is gay and he really opens Charlie up as a person and shows him that is all right to be different.  Sam is Charlie's crush and throughout the book he falls more and more in love with her. She w as great for Charlie, she really talked to him and taught him so much about what a man should  be. 

Overall, Perks was such a engrossing and powerful read. It was one of the best coming of age stories I have ever read. Charlie was one of those characters that you can't help but love and after going through this journey with Charlie, I felt like I knew him so completely and I loved that.