The Perks of Being a Wallflower in Bangalore Open Library

Dec 31, 2012 Amulya Arasinamakki rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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May be there is wallflower in all of us. A part of ourselves, which is just plain passive, basically absorbing things with nothing to give in return, without asserting our presence.

The novel is a bildungsroman or a coming-of-age story and the confusion that accompanies the period of adolescence. We look at the life of a teenager, his family and friends through his first-person epistolary narrative.

It's easy to write in a flowery language with embellishments, but it's incredibly hard to deal in May be there is wallflower in all of us. A part of ourselves, which is just plain passive, basically absorbing things with nothing to give in return, without asserting our presence.

The novel is a bildungsroman or a coming-of-age story and the confusion that accompanies the period of adolescence. We look at the life of a teenager, his family and friends through his first-person epistolary narrative.

It's easy to write in a flowery language with embellishments, but it's incredibly hard to deal in this genre by being simple, bland and sometimes, blunt. But, Chbosky succeeds in making this novel with the very same technique which evidently prevents his debut novel from being lost among the hundreds of bildungsroman books.

As the reader gets to know the character of Charlie through his correspondence with an unnamed receiver, we realize that Charlie is not a typical teenager or a "boyfreind material" per se, but still end up liking him. As a reader we do understand the motivation behind Sam's actions and the relationship she has with him. Charlie strikes us as a a pure human being, which sometimes feels just unreal!

"..I swear we were infinite"-- This fantastic feeling of being infinite that crops up every now and then in this 200-and-odd-paged novel sums up the experience of being an adolescent when the world is full of possibilities and there is always something to look forward to.

I can go on writing about this bittersweet novel, but I think a reader should pick up this book with little or no knowledge about the characters and plot .

As Charlie mentions somewhere in the novel that any art that does not make you feel "differently", has no meaning at all. I agree with you Charlie, and 'The Perks of Being Wallflower' did make me feel "differently." And that is the beauty of any art, which touches you in its own unique way and you are no longer the same person, as you can find something new added to your sense of self, with that, a new perspective, a new way of looking at things.

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