The Perks of Being A Wallflower // Stephen Chbosky

published: 199 (really!?)

isbn-13: 978-0-671-02734-6

read from: 9/22 to 10/1 2014: 

nail polish: pink all the way!

hhmm....what to say?

most people have either read the book or seen the movie by now. 

i saw the movie when i had a movie marathon day in the theaters and this was out (you can figure out what I'm saying) i saw it i think maybe 20 minutes in I'm not sure but i LOOOOVED the movie. 

i will say this, i wasn't aware until after i saw the movie and asked, that Charlie **SPOILER** was molested by his aunt Helen. **SPOILER OVER** i mean not a huge spoiler but ya get it. 

i don't know how i didn't catch it in the movie. it was so long ago that i don't really remember the movie itself. (i will be red boxing this when i can...or getting at Target since its only $5) 

so, to the point.

jump on over. 

--SPOILER--

this book is based on Charlie and his life...per say?
this book is written in letter form. he sends these out daily, weekly. to who, we never know. 

i don't think there's ever a huge gap. i didn't really catch the dates listed all the time. he does skip a few days but never months i don't think. 

he talks about being lonely and then meeting his friends Sam & Patrick and the rest of the gang. 

for the most part, everyone in this book is (pardon my french) fucked up. 

-his dad: left his mother and sister(s) due to the fact that they were beaten by men and didn't change a thing and i think this kind of eats him up inside specially around the holidays.  

-his sister: dates her "boyfriend" for a while even though he hits her. Charlie witnesses it and tells Bill (his teacher) who then tells her father. it's not until she tells him she's pregnant that she realized what a jerk he is (i mean really!)

-his mom: her sister Helen was abused and while nothing directly happened to her, she still gets traumatized due to events. 

-Sam: one of her father's friends would kiss her at a young age. i don't think it went further than that but still ya know. 

-Patrick: i don't think there's anything "wrong" with him per say. just the whole Brad thing (football quarterback whom he fools around with but has to keep under wraps from everyone.)  him and Sam are the 'carefree' type. they are step brother/sister. 

-charlie: he was molested by his aunt at a young age. his birthday falls on the 24th of December. his aunt Helen is the only one that buys him 2 gifts. she dies on his birthday on her way to buy him a present. 

from the story she dies on the way to buy him a present but other people have told me that it was more of a 'bribe' present to keep him shut. i don't know. i didn't over analyze the book

i can only speak from book experience (because gold fish memory!) but its not til the very end that his parents find out about what his aunt did to him. once he has landed in the hospital because things got real bad with him. 

let me back up a bit. from the get go he has fallen in love with Sam but she lets him know that nothing was to happen between them. 

she then dates Craig and that goes on for a while until she learns that he has been cheating on her since day one. the last day that she is at home getting ready to leave for college, she takes him back up and she asks him why he never made a move. he explains and she says he needs to be more than that. 

they get to hooking up and its not until she touches him down there that he has a full blown attack. 

it brings back memories of his aunt. (although its not spelled out like that for you....he just freaks out.)

his mom and dad get home and find him naked on the couch watching tv (his aunt would let them watch all the tv they wanted so i guess that's why he was 'watching' tv) even though its off. they take him to the hospital and he spends 2 months there. 

eventually he makes it out. 

of course he does. its amazing to me how he NEVER once blames his aunt. maybe he did at one point but in the end, he clearly states that staying mad at his aunt will never help him in any way and while i agree (holding on to anger never helps nor heals) its just aahhh!!!

its amazing to me how like 90% of the people in this book are all fucked up in a way and they're all here sharing their story, well he is. i mean yes i know its fictional but you get what i mean. 

an old coworker of mine was reading this book i think in 2012 on her nook and all she had to say was that she wasn't crazy about the book. i cant say that i agree with her but i can say that i sort of see her point (what!). once i was done with the book i was kind of left in a ? mood. 

i liked it but i think i prefer the movie a bit better. 

have you read the book / seen the movie? 

what are your thoughts?

ill leave you with this: 

"Charlie, we accept the love we think we deserve."

& 

"i guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. and maybe we'll never know most of them. but even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. we can still do things. and we can try to feel okay about them." 

thanks for reading along!

good night! (: