Review - POBAW

Perks Of Being A Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky.

Oh, Stephen Chbosky. You wrote a passable account of teenage life in the early 1990s without too much intelligence or imagination and suddenly millions of awkward teenagers see your book as their Bible. Well done for perpetuating the MTV SEX DRUGS ROCK N' ROLL WEEZER BEVERLY HILLS pop-punk Charlie Ralph myth. It probably wasn't intentional, but constant references to The Smiths, Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana mean that POBAW is always going to be stuck in that 'young adult fiction' category, where it seems that authors can write complete shit about one-dimensional characters and get away with it in the name of 'growing up'. You were the literary equivalent of The Feeling - quite good, but Chris Moyles is a fan, so all are red-faced when the 'Sewn' 7" is found in one's record collection.
The cliches are nearly almost endless. Charlie, the chronically introverted narrator, writes for a fanzine, run by a feminist riot-grrrl. Chbosky is practically yelling 'IT'S 1992, PEOPLE. DIY PUNK IS SO HOT RIGHT NOW!!' It's too relevant to be endearing and too much like Catcher In The Rye to be interesting. Charlie isn't likeable enough to hold your attention. They all listen to music and get drunk and smoke pot and cry all the time. The best bit is when he takes LSD. It's Skins, but even worse.
There's a pretty girl he can't have and a gay guy and nightly screenings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It's like the best teen movie ever. But it's still on that teen movie level. There's a lot of child abuse, though. You don't see much of that in Judd Apatow coming-of-age rom-coms.
Aforementioned molesting is the only real 'redeeming' quality (how strange) because it creates something that resembles depth in a book riddled with GAPING PLOT HOLES and other terrible things. The blurb is bad enough,
'Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dancefloor'. And then ; 'The world of first dates, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show, where all you need is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.'
It's like something off Postsecret.com, which should be nice and intriguing and A Window Into Humanity, but it's a bit unsettling and unfortunate and makes you feel a bit sorry for a generation that thinks Charlie an emblem of youth.