Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky narrated by, Johnny Heller

Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky narrated by, Johnny Heller

Published by, Recorded Books

Ok, we need to address this right away, Yes there is sex, drug use and drinking, Yes they are teens , But I thought it was written so realistically that none of these things mattered to me. Now on with my review.

I really liked this book, more than I expected to! I thought this was a very true to life story although I will admit I could have gone without the ending but I was waiting for the shoe to drop all the way through but I thought someone (probably Sam) was going to die that isn’t a spoiler because that never happens. I liked how loving and supportive Charlie’s family was. Also the friendship between Charlie, Sam & Patrick was just so well, for lack of a better word good, I liked how they all accepted each other for who they were.

I “got” Charlie’s love of reading some of my favorite quotes about reading were:

“I have finished To Kill a Mockingbird. It is now my favorite book of all time, but then again, I always think that until I read another book.”

                        “What's your favorite book?  "The last one I read.”

                  “It's strange to describe reading a book as a really great experience, but that's kind of how it felt.”

I also liked some of Charlie’s observations on life and the people around him, there were times he seemed so wise beyond his years and other times when he was so naïve you just felt like doing a face palm. I also had a little trouble with the timeline I guess to me it didn’t feel like the 90’s more late 70’s early 80’s,  that could be because that’s when I was this age and I was really “feeling” this book.

I listened to this on audio narrated by Johnny Heller who I thought was well suited for this one, he had this innocent quality in voice that worked so perfectly for Charlie. It was so different from other books I’ve listened to by this narrator and to me that is what makes a great narrator, not when they sound exactly the same in every book but play the part for each individual book. ****IF you can find this version I highly recommend it!

If you can’t tell I really enjoyed this book, and had a hard time not listening and got a little testy when people would try to talk to me. This is one that I think will stay with me awhile!

4 stars

****Audible has replaced this version with a version with a supposedly younger sounding narrator but I thought Johnny’s narration was spot on and don’t understand the need to re-do this one!