How unpopular is this Wallflower? | Geraldine Carey

 looks at the 1999 novel and finds many reasons explaining its inspiring popularity. When a popular novel becomes “movie-fied”, I always find myself wary. One of my pet hates is people claiming to be die-hard fans of a story when they’ve only jumped on the popular-film-bandwagon. A classic example of this is the Harry Potter series. It is a favourite among young and old but there are too many for my liking who claim to be huge fans when they’ve never read the books. I vowed to never become one of those people. I much prefer to be the crank sitting in the back of the cinema shouting things like “that didn’t happen in the book!” and “how could they have left that part out of the film?”.Recent release The Perks of Being a Wallflower was advertised on television one night and I was taken by it immediately. It seemed quirky. It seemed interesting. It seemed so starkly different to most coming-of-age films. Being a fan of the Harry Potter series made me an automatic fan of Emma Watson and a recent obsession with Greek mythology, thanks to my watching of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, made me a fan of Logan Lerman (no, he’s not too young for me…). Keeping my promise to myself, I purchased the book (written by Stephen Chbosky) and read it. The time in which I read it (about a day and a half) is testament to just how good it is.The definition of a wallflower – according to Wikipedia - is a shy or unpopular individual who doesn't socialize or participate in activities at social events. Charlie, the protagonist of this novel, is a textbook wallflower. Extremely introverted, Charlie is perceived as odd by his peers and is generally avoided. His own company does not bother him. He doesn’t know what he’s missing until he finally finds some friends that he can fit in with. Sam and Patrick are step-siblings who are a few years older than Charlie and take him under their wings, understanding almost instantly that the young boy is not like others. The only other person who recognises and appreciates this at once is Charlie’s new English teacher, Bill. With the help of these new comrades, Charlie learns a lot about himself and grows substantially throughout the novel and that is clear to the reader.The book is written in the form of letters that Charlie writes to an unnamed person whom he doesn’t even know. The story spans over a year where Charlie has ups and downs and experiences just about everything from fights to drugs, and girls to a slight addiction to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Most importantly, Charlie experiences love; not only for his family and newfound friends but also, crucially, for himself.This book is a coming-of-age story like no other and I really thoroughly recommend it – especially to those of you who, like me, are fairly shy. As cheesy as it sounds, I do feel like a different person after reading it. Everyone has their quirks and things that make them unique. That doesn’t mean that they’re weird or should be isolated for being uncommon. Everyone should be treasured for what sets them apart. We all need the support of family and/or friends to help us as we go through life. We all need to feel love – particularly for our own selves. Read the book and learn this for yourself. Our dear protagonist wisely states: “We accept the love we think we deserve.” The truth is, we all deserve the best love going. So take it.