The eighth book that I’ve finished reading this year is Stephen Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”. Around 10 years ago I was recommended this book by a secondary school friend who said it was adapted into a good movie. 10 years later, when I finally laid my hands on this book, I knew quite quickly that it was not going to suit my taste.? First of all, the high school life described in the book felt quite distant from my own high school experience. Despite also being a wallflower (in the American system, too), I’ve only stayed too far away from all these traumatic issues mentioned: suicide, rape, abuse, drugs, smoking, alcohol, homosexual explorations, child molest, parties, fights, etc. This book makes these issues seem ubiquitous, but offers no in-depth exploration into any one of them. I understand that the protagonist, Charlie, is depicted as a boy with suggested autistic features (though possibly falling into the perceived stereotype that autistic individuals are gifted in particular areas/skills), and may be unable to express his thoughts on these issues lucidly, but I can’t decipher any morally relevant message conveyed from the author’s end either. Every teenager in this book seems to be messed up in one way or another. However, Charlie seems to take pride in his involvement with them, just passively taking all of their suggestions in, joining in their pot brownie sessions and? getting into chain smoking. All these activities that I loathe and consider bad influences, he enjoys. In the end, he miraculously comes out as having “made it through” his traumatic experiences. After finishing the book, I am left in bewilderment, confused about the moral of the story, and shocked by the poor safeguarding in the school. The afterword letter added 20 years later (real life time) seems quite redundant to me, jarring in its incongruent tone with the teenage letters. Perhaps time is the ultimate panacea to trauma, but time alone doesn’t work. It is also important to be careful of who you expose your vulnerability to; not everyone is as genuine as what Patrick and Sam are to Charlie, so I prefer to stay low key and keep my problems to myself.? The only valuable information that I’ve gleaned from this book is perhaps a better understanding behind the reasons of a ghosting experience. It probably stemmed from an inability to express oneself genuinely, possibly from fear of breaking a fa?ade, and also the frequently mentioned “trauma” that I was never disclosed to, but can now put a picture to. Suddenly, the passiveness and aversion to physical contact made sense. Though I may never know the truth behind that ghosting, I am now more empathetic to people who are emotionally inhibited. In any case, I am way past the age for young adult literature, which aptly explains why I didn’t find this book engaging. Maybe it still is for teenagers, but I wouldn’t recommend them to try out the activities described in the book; instead, I would advise them to stay away.