Growing up, wallflower-style.

...Then, Patrick pointed at me, and said something to Bob.
"He's something, isn't he?"
Bob nodded his head. Patrick then said something I don't think I'll ever forget.
"He's a wallflower...You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand."

Charlie has already seen a lot in his life, and he's only about to begin his freshman year of high school. In a series of letters to an unnamed friend, Charlie records an angst-filled year of love, betrayal and becoming infinite. Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower could succumb under the weight of all that it tackles: teen suicide, molestation, forbidden love and nasty acid trips--and that's all within the first third of the book. But somehow it all seems to work.

This is due to most Chbosky's believable characters: unlike many high school dramas which try to pigeonhole the players into preconceived types. They may make wrong decisions, but that doesn't immediately set them on an inevitable course that other authors might resort to. In a nutshell, that is really what the story is about: even though wrong decisions might be made, there's always an undercurrent of hope running through the narrative. Observing all this is Charlie, in whom all the characters tend to confide their fears, hopes and frustrations with their own lives. Ironically, Charlie's desire to do right by his friends and remain on the sidelines nearly costs him his own chance at living.

I found this book after noticing that it often came up as a title that has been challenged. True, it deals with some sensitive topics and does contain some objectionable language. But after reading Wallflower, I'm rather at a loss to say why it comes under attack. While one would hope that all teens wouldn't have to face some of the situations present in the book, the reality is that many can relate to similar problems. At the close of the book, the story isn't so much about the ordeals the characters have gone through, but about how they've lived and grown up in the process. It's a conclusion full of hope, and you can't help but feel that in the end, the kids will turn out just fine.