Review and opinion of the book "THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER -STEPHEN CHBOSKY".
Living on the fringe offers a unique perspective. But the time always comes to enter the scene and see the world from within.
This story takes us in a profound way, as we deal with issues that we have all faced at one time or another. It delves into our minds and we into the mind of the protagonist, so it makes us identify and think "I was once Charlie”.
Charlie is a really special guy: he reads a lot, he doesn't go out with friends or girls and he reflects on the world from a very particular point of view. His naivety, his inability to relate normally and his extreme sincerity create more than one problem for him, especially now that his only friend is dead. Meeting Sam and Patrick, the school's most popular and vital kids, will cause a radical turn in his life that will fully immerse him in adolescence.
Being a story told in an epistolary way (through letters) makes this book easier to read and cope with its content, in a simple and entertaining way, without many complex terms or heavy reading, makes it impossible not to delve into the story and feel that you are part of Charlie's life.
Covering raw and directly with issues such as social marginalization, sex, love and lack of love, drugs, abortions, homophobia, violence, alcohol and psychological problems leaves quite significant moral teachings, especially to young people entering adolescence.
It is also suitable for adults, as they have characters who intervene directly in the life of this 16-year-old boy and radically change his way of thinking and acting.
Fountain
The story begins with a letter sent on August 21, 1991 by Charlie, a 16-year-old boy a little withdrawn and insecure, writes this letter and the following to a stranger, with the purpose of seeking an alternative to his adolescent life.
Charlie just lost his best friend and started high school, things are not going well when his first and only friend is a professor of literature who insists on demonstrating and polishing Charlie's innate talent for writing and writing. His teacher, Bill, advises him to do his best to get involved and take part in events that any boy of Charlie's age would be used to. Being forced to interact and socialize, Charlie goes through a series of phases and new experiences.
Along the way he meets Sam and Patrick, two rather unusual and more experienced boys than Charlie, they offer him an unusual friendship, take him to parties where Charlie experiments with drugs, meets new people, learns about music and for the first time in a long time he feels happy.
Charlie has a functional family, his older brother is in college, his sister is busy with kids, although his father is a little severe he can also be understanding and his mother cares about his family, he is the only one who feels not fit.
Charlie lives in constant martyrdom for the death of his aunt Helen, who was his favorite person and died on his 8th birthday due to a car accident. This triggered a series of mental collapses in which Charlie ends up in the hospital.
Despite maintaining a somewhat distant relationship with his sister, Charlie cares for her and loves her, so when he witnesses her boyfriend, who until then seemed sensitive and tender slaps his sister asks him to talk to his parents, but she refuses. After that her sister learns that she is pregnant, the boy rejects her and she decides to abort and end her boyfriend; Charlie goes to his literature teacher to understand why people are so attached to things that hurt so constantly, this as a reasonable explanation told him "we accept the love we think we deserve.
Charlie falls madly in love with Sam, without being reciprocated, but he doesn't try to fall in love with another girl either, without being able to get Sam out of his mind.
He also establishes a close friendship with Patrick, who is gay and is in love with Brad, a popular boy with macho ideals; Charlie is a witness of how they look hidden in parties and reserved places, and seeks to understand how despite the circumstances and even consequences that brings Patrick this does not stop believing that it is worth it.
On Charlie's birthday, at Christmas, his group of friends have a party at Sam and Patrick's house, as a secret gift Patrick gave Charlie a second-hand suit, Sam on the other hand gave him a typewriter, placing in it as the first words "Write about me someday" and he answers "I will". That and a kiss from Sam make Charlie's birthday unforgettable, although when he gets home he doesn't stop thinking that it's the anniversary of his aunt Helen's death, he takes the blame since she took the car to buy him a present, and can't stop crying.
Fountain
Charlie is very sensitive and sentimental, so he cares a lot about the welfare of others before his own, in addition to being manipulated and subjected to extenuating situations with the intention of making others feel comfortable with him instead of being the opposite. This brings as consequences the broken heart of a girl, endure family problems, be kissed by Patrick in moments of disloyalty of this, to experiment socially with him among other uncomfortable situations.
Things start to get complicated for Charlie as he distances himself from his friends for a while, problems resurface in his mind, reliving the death of his aunt Helen over and over again... more than that, his childhood, something he had forgotten or perhaps never remembered; he saw his aunt Helen doing things with him, he saw her crying for what had been done to her. Her mother once told her that Aunt Helen had not had an easy life, so she ended up living with them the last months of her life.
The reason that Aunt Helen was Charlie's favorite person is that she listened to him, understood him, and didn't see him as a weird kid; when he was very young he didn't realize that she was abusing him, it wasn't until this time that he had a nervous breakdown again and ended up in the hospital, where they tell him that there are signs that he was abused as a child.
Charlie is hospitalized and stays in the hospital for a while, there his friends visit him, including his brother, also his professor Bill, all those people who at one time Charlie sought to understand the reasons for their actions, but now understood, for him it was clear, after all if we accept the love we think we deserve.
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