The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Name: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Rating: 4 (1 reviews)
Author: Stephen Chbosky
ISBN: 9781451696196

Stephen Chbosky • 1999

Devastation Rating

Emotionally Ruined

trauma young adult friendship letters

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Our Take

Charlie is participating — that is the whole project of the novel, the hopeful terrible act of participating in a life that has already hurt him. Chbosky writes adolescent trauma with epistolary distance that keeps breaking down. The reveal in the final letters reframes everything. You will need to start over.

Appears In

► Coming of Age — When Growing Up Breaks You ► Queer Coming of Age — The Cost of Becoming Yourself ► Suicide and Its Aftermath — The Question That Stays ► Eating Disorders — The War Inside the Body ► Foster Care — The State as Parent ► Friendship Loss — The Grief Nobody Talks About

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