Perks of Being a Wallflower is a novel which encompasses themes of trauma, friendship, PTSD and abuse through the lovable protagonist Charlie Kelmeckis. Despite the fact that he’s a loner Charlie establishes a friendship with a guy named Patrick and his step sister Sam. As their friendship grows Charlie’s feelings for Sam grow, it becomes evident that Patrick is seeing a football player and Charlie has flashbacks about his dead aunt Helen. Through all the chaos this friend group learns more and more about each other, inevitably leading to their separation and their reunion. By then end I think it’s safe to say that each character goes through their own personal, upsetting experiences, but found ways to connect because of them.
I would 100% recommend Perks of Being a Wallflower to any teen out there. Perks of Being a Wallflower is the second best novel I’ve read when it comes to mental health (The Catcher in the Rye is first, obviously). Although I don’t live with PTSD the format of the novel helped me understand the pain behind it. One of my favorite things about this novel is how it begins with Charlie writing letters addressed “dear friend” and ends with him stopping his letter writing. I love how the book came full circle because it emphasized how far Charlie has come. Charlie’s development as a character makes him so lovable that I stayed invested in the story and didn’t stop reading it like most books I attempt to read. Because of the heavy subject matter I only advise you read the novel if you are either incredibly mature, or are over fourteen.
By Marjan
