I Couldn’t Put It Down

I couldn’t put it down.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

I started reading at around 11.30 this morning, I had a review copy sitting on my bedside table, waiting for me, and after a friend conveniently prompted me to read it, I did.

Not quite in one sitting, I do have children to look after and a husband whose company I quite enjoy, but in one day.

I simply got lost in the story.

This hasn’t happened to me in such a long time. It was a wonderful thing to immerse myself in a story, it thoroughly distracted me.

That is one of the ways I measure a good book.

There are my favourites, the books that I appreciate, the books that teach me something, and the books that transport me into the situation.

A brief synopsis and what I thought of the story? Oh, I suppose I can give you a quick review . . .

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is written in the format of letters to a “Dear friend”, you can easily imagine that you are the “Dear friend” – well I did anyway.

Charlie is starting High School.

He is nervous, he is extremely intelligent, and, after a close friend committed suicide, he is now feeling like more of an outcast than ever before. He observes the world and finds it difficult to “participate” in life with ease.

Charlie finds himself the newest member of a group of quirky, and far more life-wise, older friends. He learns about friendship, drugs, how to fit in with his family, and the secrets he is keeping from himself. He experiences love.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower explores how personality, family, the choices we make, and the things that happen to us can affect us in ways that we don’t even realise. The actions of others can affect the way you view your situation, even if you are not aware of it.

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when turning the first page, the cover advertising the upcoming feature film adaptation featuring Emma Watson aka. Hermoine Granger of Harry Potter fame. Was it going to be the typical coming of age novel? Everything tied up in a neat little package with decorative ribbon bows adorning the expensive packaging?

The writing style is easy to read, not complex or pretentious. I thought the behaviour of some of the characters was a little more mature than the written 15-18 years. But the idealism the characters spouted in the face of complex matters they were simply trying to understand, in the period between childhood and being a job-holding, “real”, adult, certainly reminded me of certain characters I have come across in my lifetime.

When life is too complex to fully understand, so you pretend to understand even more than an expert would.

This is not a book to read if you are simply wanting a “happily ever after”.

It will make you think, it might bring up pain you have felt or experienced in your lifetime, and there is no moment when Charlie finally has it all, so it might leave you feeling like there is something missing.

But I honestly got lost in this book, I couldn’t put it down.

And that is an achievement.

The inside of the cover tells me that the film will be in cinemas everywhere from October 2nd, I think I might just make a trip to the cinema for this one.