I did it. I found one. I wondered if I would. I found a book on my reading challenge list for which I think the movie is better!
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (1999) was definitely an interesting book in a very different format. The whole book is letters being written by the main character Charlie to some unknown correspondent about his first year in high school.
The format was the hardest part for me to get used to. So odd to read. It did make the book a lot easier to read though, as there weren't paragraphs and paragraphs of description. I had also seen the movie already, so I knew what happened before hand. However, the book did help put a lot of things in the movie into perspective for me that may not have been the most clear, described or as relevant as I thought.
I want to focus on the two most famous lines from the book. First, "We accept the love we think we deserve." This line makes a lot of sense in the context of the book (I won't elaborate, because spoilers), but it also has a real world application. If you don't think you deserve love, you won't seek it. And if love does find you, then you might find it impossible to accept that someone would love and accept you, for you. If you feel you need it too much, you can't live without it. You may seek out "false" or inappropriate love just to feel the rush, the high and can't stand to be alone. Might not even know who you are or how to be alone.
The second, "And in that moment, I swear we were infinite." Simply put, maybe it just felt like the moment wouldn't end. In more complex terms, maybe Charlie was acknowledging that he would never forget that moment, and that it would live on forever infinitely in his memory. Hoping, too, that it would stick with Sam and Patrick as well. Perhaps even, because Charlie cherished his friendship with Sam and Patrick so much, that his stories about their time and adventures would live on infinitely as "those" stories that get passed around and down through time, his school, his town.
There is a third line, or I guess moment in the book, that I also want to mention. It's when his sister is talking about a boy to their parents (she is getting in trouble because of said boy) and she says "He's my whole world." The mother replies back with, "Don't you ever say that about anyone again. Not even me." This really struck me. The line is so important because her mother is trying to teach her a very important lesson. Whether it is to never put a boy before herself, or her family or her happiness. It's very profound and subtly put in the book. Its just a small scene, but had a big impact. And I think it deserves to be up there with other two famous lines from the book. Its just as important, if not more.
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I re-watched the 2012 movie of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Holy, that was like 5 years ago already. Anyways, I much prefer the movie over the book. The characters are more fleshed out than in the novel, more like real people. Yes, there were changes, such as the addition of a lot more dialogue, because there is almost NONE in the novel due to the format, but that helped bring more life to the characters which to me, other than Charlie, were so flat and dull and just existed in the book.
The soundtrack of the movie was also a big thing for me. Music really helps me get into a movie, especially one that is supposed to get you to relate to the characters in certain ways. Charlie's character also cries a minuscule amount in the movie compared to the book. I prefer this as I don't think I would have liked Charlie as much. Not that crying is bad, it just suited the movie more that he didn't. And Ezra Miller as Patrick was the absolute highlight for me. He made the character so real and relate-able.
Up Next: Animal Farm by George Orwell. (Yes, I didn't read it in high school. I opted for The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger instead.)
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