The voice in my head that had prevented me from aligning too much with Holden Caulfield was silenced by the reveal that Charlie and I even had the same birthday - Christmas Eve. And I spent many nights in my feelings listening to The Smiths. I had a close relationship with one of my teachers. I felt drawn to gay people and community without being gay myself. I had a sister who had bad experiences with boys. I felt like Charlie’s story was my story. Charlie falls madly in love with Sam and enters their world of drugs and drama and cool music like The Smiths. He’s starting high school a year late and is anxious about fitting in until he meets two seniors, the beautiful and troubled Sam, and her step brother, the gay and fabulous Patrick. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is about Charlie, a 15-year-old who has spent the last year in a mental hospital dealing with clinical depression, the suicide of his best friend, and the death of his aunt. I knew that if I’d read it four years earlier, my entire life would be different.
And yet, despite my hesitance to give this book praise, it overwhelmed me with recognition. I hadn’t read anything considered YA in years, and I looked down upon a book I could finish in the time I’d take with a more pretentious short story. A new friend who had gone to the same school as me for twelve years and had loved this book for many of them gave me her copy.īy the time I read Stephen Chbosky’s coming-of-age tale, I was old enough to be dismissive. I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower during my last semester of high school. The book is targeted at teens, so I could have picked it up at any point once my age entered double digits, which was when I began reading books targeted at teens and adults. At least one copy likely sat on a shelf at my local Barnes & Noble throughout my childhood and adolescence. The Perks of Being a Wallflower was first published in 1999. “The problem is, how do you have some kind of emotional catharsis when you know you’re too old for it?” – Nevada, Imogen Binnie The Autostraddle Encyclopedia of Lesbian Cinemaįeature art: Autostraddle // photo: Cristian Bortes / EyeEm via Getty Images.LGBTQ Television Guide: What To Watch Now.
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