Apollo's Rebellion

Charlie is a freshman. 

And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. 

Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But he can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.                                                                - Taken from Goodreads.com

Some stories are better as a book and others are better portrayed in a movie. I could never imagine Inception as a book because that type of movie wouldn't translate well or I couldn't ever see The Book Thief being made into a movie because I know it will never live up to my expectations.  The Perks of being a Wallflower is the type of story better as a movie than a book.

I was speaking to a friend about it and she that the movie was better because it was "shown from a different perspective" which I didn't agree with (but I didn't tell her that). The movie is exactly the same as the book, albeit some parts were appropriately left out. The only reason the movie, in my opinion, was better was because it wasn't full of Charlie's disjointed narration. Although there was some voice over work, it wasn't as bad as reading the book, rather than a retelling of his day we were shown what was happening, it allowed me to see exactly what was meant.

There's something about style-writing that makes me cringe a little. I was given the first Adrian Mole book to read and I hated it. Partly because the story line didn't amuse, but mainly because it was written as a journal. Don't get me wrong, there are diary/letter-style books that I do like such as Spud and Diary of a Wimpy Kid because the story and humor put into it was good enough for it to be written like that. With this style of writing you have to be sure not to just state what happens or it starts to sound like an eight year old. The Perks of Being a Wallflower was fantastic enough for me to look past the style it was written in, but when I started it, I couldn't help but shout sometimes. It sounded as if this boy was a ten year old starting high school and I couldn't, for the life of me, understand how this boy was in AP English when the way he described Sam as "nice and pretty". Seriously? As the book went along I told myself to ignore it and just read on. By the end of it, I was able to safely read it without stopping every two seconds to question him out loud. I guess, in a way, this could be seen as Charlie growing up, but it still annoys me that whenever I read it, I don't see someone who is starting high school, but rather someone who is starting primary school. For this reason and this reason only, that's why I preferred the movie.

Looking past the irritating narration and Charlie's childish way of explaining things, it's a good book. I can see why it was a bestseller and how that had gotten people like Emma Watson, Logan Lerman and Paul Rudd to act in the movie adaption. The book deals so much with issues that faced teenagers in the '90's and that still plague the minds of teenagers today. Sexuality, drug use, suicide and trying to fit in are things that teenagers are faced with today. The things that the three main characters have gone through in their short lifetimes have been huge and life changing. Patrick with his sexuality and how others treat him because of it, Sam with the way people think that can take advantage of her because of her past and Charlie with his decreasing mental state. All of them are special in their own way and we can relate to one, if not all of them. Charlie was the character I saw myself most in. Not because of what happened to him, but mainly who he was. Charlie is a wallflower, an outsider looking in. Seeing and understanding what is happening around him, but never being directly involved in it. Charlie, like me, wants to become a writer when he's older, but I wish that I had friends and a teacher like him. They support and love him so much and never put him down. Charlie, unlike me, never wanted to fit in, he just wanted to have a friend, someone who he could talk to and he found two great people that love him and care for him.

I was wrong when I first started reading this book. I didn't know how much of an impact it would make on me, especially after watching the movie. I cried not because it was sad or I had to, but because I was happy for Charlie and because I knew that, no matter how much I tried to find them, I would never have friends that will love and support me the way Charlie's did. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a special book. Is it my favourite? No. Do I completely dislike it? Definitely not. It's the type of book that comes into your life, allows you to see things differently and goes away as quickly as it entered your life maybe even quicker.