The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Stephen Chobsky (Story of a Book)

It was during the first year of my university in Germany. I was so much excited to know about the university culture in Germany. Hence, I tried to participate in almost all of the events I could, including the student parties. I never drank alcohol by then. As a result, I ended up being a wallflower in those parties. The first few minutes were enough to say "hi" to everyone.  Then you have nothing to do. No drink to drink and no moves you can make, coz you don't know how to dance.

Once, my classmate saw me in a party in the new (in a sense that it was first party of the semester in that club) club of the town. I was among the early comers. So was she. She literally pulled me in the dance floor after I denied participating voluntarily. So, when that girl pulled me to the dance floor, I couldn't join her even though I badly wanted to give her a company. I had a bottle of beer thinking that it would give me some confident. But all was in vain. I ended up watching her dance all the time and later she vanished in the crowd. I felt so bad about myself. I didn't mean to disrespect her but I guess she took it that way. She never pulled me to dance floor from then on. Well that was one out of few other incidents. I was a decent student and had always this wide grin on my face. I was always the one to tell answers to the questions in the class and others noticed me. May be they knew I am quite harmless.

Just around that time came a movie, "The Perks of being a wallflower", which I enjoyed watching so much. I think the reason was that I could relate so much to the character in the movie. I even had a chat with a girl in my class, who too thought that she was somehow portrayed in the movie. She however handled herself better in the parties than me.  From that time on, the book, The Perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chobsky, on which the movie was based, became one of the books in my read list.

I found the book on a Windowsill while I was walking to meet my hitchhike. Normally, Germans keep books outside door or on a Windowsill once they are done with it and anyone willing to read them can take them away (interesting right). Out of 4 books, I choose to pick this one (the other 3 were in German). I didn't regret picking it up. And believe me; I enjoyed each and every page of it. It became one of my best read from the very first page. Unlike I imagined, the book was collection of letters sent to an unknown reader. The letters describe the Charlie's first year's experience at the high-school, his love, his struggle with his past, family life, and so on. The face of characters from the movie came into my mind while I was turning the pages. I could even imagine the whole scene in my mind. The way Charlie persistently kept his feelings for Sam till the end of the book was amazing. Charlie, being a good reader, can help you find some good reads via his letters. The issue about child sexual abuse and how it can be better handled is presented very beautifully in the book. Book and movie, both are highly recommended.

Some beautiful quotes from the book:

Charlie, we accept the love we think we deserve.

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I think the idea is that every person has to live for his her own life and then make the choice to share it with other people. Maybe that's what makes people "participate".

***

I figured that I should just do what I wanted to do . Not think about it. Not say it out loud. And if she didn't like it, then she could just say so. And we could go back to packing.
So, I kissed her. And she kissed me back. And we lay down on the floor and kept kissing. And it was soft.

***

So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.

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I gave Patrick On the Road, Naked Lunch, The Stranger, This Side of Paradise, Peter Pan, and A Separate Peace.

I gave Sam To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, Hamlet, Walden, and The Fountainhead.