“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 go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them” -Stephen Chbosky. This quote is from my favorite book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This quote represents the thoughts that the main character must have going through his head at the end of his first year of high school. A few of the reasons that I enjoy The Perks of Being a Wallflower so much is that it is full of many kinds of drama, it is journal written, and it is a popular well-know teen book.

I like how The Perks of Being a Wallflower doesn’t start with a lot of petty high school drama right away like a lot of other books. The drama is mostly tragic and serious. Charlie, the main character, journals about his best friend Michael’s death. Charlie writes about the day when Michael took his own life. Charlie also writes about his aunt’s death when he was nine. She was out getting his birthday present when she was killed in a car accident. He also witnesses his sister’s boyfriend hit her. Charlie makes the decision to tell their parents about the abuse, this causes a major fight between him and his sister. The book does have some of the traditional high  school drama that is in most teen books. Charlie is introduced to a couple of seniors. He makes the mistake of assuming that they are boyfriend and girlfriend but later he finds out that they are actually brother and sister. He ends up being great friends with both of them. Later on, Charlie is put in a hospital for two months, the doctors explain he has severe depression. All of the many types of drama in this book, from family, high school, and Charlie’s health is why I like this book so much.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is written with a journal format. I like this style of writing because when I read it is as if I am in writer’s head. I get to know especially what Charlie is thinking and what is going on in his head. The only time I have  knowledge of other people’s thoughts are when they tell Charlie something or if somehow Charlie finds out. Journal format books are my favorite type of book to read because they are easy to read and understand. I usually never read on my own and I never take this time to read during the summer. In the past, I would only read on my own to get A.R. points. I would read other books like this on my own because The Perks of Being a Wallflower is not cluttered with insignificant details because Charlie writes every few days, so he only writes about the significant parts of those days. As the book progresses Charlie’s entries get even further apart from every couple weeks to even a month later. He finally finishes his journals when summer ends. Even though I don’t enjoy reading, I enjoyed this book with its journal format.

Another reason I like this book is because it’s popular. The book is set in the 1990’s and a lot of 90’s is coming back around. I liked that it was the 90’s, it’s hard to relate to books that are set way back in the past. If it was set later a lot would have changed of the way they would have acted. The book was very simple how it was written. Throughout the book I learn Charlie isn’t very social or popular. In most books there’s something that goes on with the shy kid and the popular kid, but this book is about Charlie figuring out who he wants to be since he is the new kid in a new school during his high school years. Many of my friends have also read this book and a movie was also made based on the book. I usually choose reading popular books because I see them advertised and they look interesting. So many times when I get a book that isn’t popular I end up never finishing the book, because it loses my interest.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is full of lots of family drama, high school drama, and personal health issues. The written journal entries style and the fact that it is a popular well-known book makes this my favorite book. Although this book is full of many conflicts and dark serious issues, it’s an interesting, quick, easy book to read. The quote by Stephen Chbosky shows that Charlie’s life is worth living and after those couple months in the hospital he still wanted to live and not give up.