February's Book vs. Movie: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

February's Book vs. Movie discussion is The Perks of a Wall Flower by Stephen Chbosky. We'll discuss the background of the book and the plot and then we'll get to my thoughts.

Here's a little bit of background on the novel and the movie:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a coming-of-age epistolary novel by American writer Stephen Chbosky which was first published on February 1, 1999 by Pocket Books. Its narrator is an introverted teenager known as Charlie, who describes his experiences in a series of letters to an anonymous stranger. Set in the early 1990s, the novel follows Charlie through his freshman year of high school in a Pittsburgh suburb. Intelligent beyond his years, he is an unconventional thinker; as the story begins, the reader learns that Charlie is also shy and unpopular.

Chbosky took five years to develop and publish The Perks of Being a Wallflower, creating the characters and other aspects of the story from his own memories. The novel addresses themes permeating adolescence, including introversion, sexuality, and drug use. Chbosky makes several references to other literary works, films and pop culture in general.

Although Chbosky's first book was a commercial success, it was banned in some American schools for its content and received mixed reviews from literary critics. In 2012, he adapted and directed a film version starring Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller and Emma Watson. The film boosted the novel's sales, and the book reached The New York Times Best Seller list.

Here's the Plot: 

The story begins with a quiet, sensitive, 15-year-old boy named Charlie writing letters about his life to an unknown recipient. He discusses his first year at high school, grappling with two traumatic experiences from his past: the suicide of his only middle-school friend, Michael, a year before, and the death of his Aunt Helen (his favorite aunt) during his early childhood.

His English teacher Bill notices Charlie's passion for reading and writing, and assigns him extracurricular books and reports. Charlie befriends senior step-siblings Patrick and Sam. Charlie quickly develops a crush on Sam and subsequently admits his feelings to her. He is accepted by their group of friends and begins experimenting with tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. Charlie witnesses his sister's boyfriend hit her across the face, but she forbids him from telling their parents. He eventually mentions the occurrence to Bill, who tells Charlie's parents about it. Charlie's relationship with his sister rapidly deteriorates and she continues to see her boyfriend against her parents' wishes. As Charlie engages with his new friends he can control his flashbacks of Aunt Helen, who died in a car crash on her way to buy him a birthday gift. Charlie discovers that Patrick is in a relationship with Brad, a deeply closeted player on the school's football team. It is revealed that Sam was sexually abused as a child, and she kisses Charlie to ensure that his first kiss is from someone who truly loves him.

Mary Elizabeth, a member of the group, invites Charlie to the school's Sadie Hawkins dance and the two enter into a desultory relationship. Charlie's dissatisfaction with the relationship grows steadily over the next few weeks, and he begins heavily smoking both marijuana and cigarettes to distract himself. Eventually, the entire group is hanging out together and Charlie is dared to kiss the "prettiest girl in the room;" he chooses Sam over Mary Elizabeth. Mary Elizabeth storms out, Sam grows angry with Charlie, and Patrick suggests that Charlie stay away from Sam for a while. His flashbacks return, so he goes back to seeing a psychiatrist. He discovers that his sister is pregnant and agrees to bring her to an abortion clinic without telling anyone. His sister breaks up with her boyfriend, after which her and Charlie's relationship begins to improve significantly.

Patrick and Brad's relationship is discovered by Brad's abusive father, and Brad disappears from school for a few days. Upon returning, Brad is cold and incommunicative towards Patrick. Patrick's attempts to reconnect with Brad at school over the next few days backfire when Brad derogatorily attacks Patrick's sexuality in a public environment. Patrick physically attacks Brad until other football players join in and gang up on Patrick. Charlie breaks up the fight, regaining the respect of Sam and her friends. Patrick begins spending much of his time with Charlie in an attempt to drown out the lingering negativity surrounding him and Brad. Patrick kisses Charlie impulsively and then apologizes, but Charlie does not resist in an attempt to be a good friend in Patrick's time of need. Soon Patrick sees Brad engaging with a stranger in the park and Patrick is able to move on from the relationship.

As the school year ends, Charlie is anxious about losing his older friends—especially Sam, who is leaving for a summer college-preparatory program and has learned that her boyfriend cheated on her. When Charlie helps her pack, they talk about his feelings for her; she is angry that he never acted on them. They begin to engage sexually, but Charlie suddenly grows inexplicably uncomfortable and stops Sam. Charlie begins to realize that his sexual contact with Sam has stirred up repressed memories of having been molested by his aunt Helen as a child.

In an epilogue, Charlie is discovered by his parents in a trancelike state. He is catatonic and does not show any movement. After being admitted to a mental hospital, it emerges that Helen sexually abused him when he was young, and his love for her (and empathy for her troubled youth) caused him to repress his traumatic memories. This psychological damage explains his flashbacks and derealization phases throughout the book. In two months Charlie is released, and Sam and Patrick visit him. He comes to terms with his past: "Even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there". Charlie decides to "participate" in life, and his letter-writing ends.

The Differences Between the Book and the Movie

The book needed the movie to bring it to life. I liked the book but reading it first almost made me not want to watch the movie. Being that it's written in 2nd person, the reader is limited in what we learn about the characters. Some of the book drags because of the one sided story-telling. However, I think that it is very relevant to today's kids and that it shouldn't be banned from schools. Today's children are much smarter and need books like this to relate to. 

Admittedly, the back part of the book picked up for me and I became more excited about the story as the plot became a little more clear for me. Though by the end of the book I was still unclear as to why Charlie was having a mental break. The writing was good but the plot wasn't clearly laid out.

I was so excited to find this graphic comparing Perks of a Wall Flower and The Breakfast Club because half way through the movie I thought "This is the Breakfast Club of the new generation" and I am HUGE Breakfast Club fan. Its about kids that are seemingly different but bond in a way that nobody understands. I could do an entire blog on the similarities between the two movies, but I'll keep it between the book and the movie.

I was happy that the scenes I didn't care for in the book were cut out of the movie. The movie ran much smoother for me and it was easier to get into right from the beginning. The characters are written better and much stronger in the movie. And even after reading the book, I love that I didn't see the twist about Aunt Helen coming. 

The movie made me care about the other characters and what happened to them. I didn't see Patrick's character coming a million miles away and I LOVE him. He was breath of fresh air and was probably the most 3 dimensional character in the movie.

The common complaint about movies that are made from books, is that they cut out some huge things from the book. In this case, cutting out some things really worked. They were more clear about Charlie's issues and did a better job of incorporating it in the movie.

It is my opinion that the movie is much better than the book in this case. It gets to the heart of the story faster and much better. Perks of Being a Wall Flower touches my heart in the way only few movies have. I am so happy to have watched it. It makes me happy and I feel like someone else gets me.