The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a complex path of twist and turns through the life of a high school student named Charlie.
Charlie doesn't have many friends; in fact, his only friend Michael killed himself during junior high school. He is left with his mom, his dad, his older brother and sister, and the only person who ever called him special, his Aunt Helen.
Charlie's Aunt Helen died as well, and Charlie was really close to her. He was crushed. Charlie loved his family a lot, but he needed something more in life, something normal. Charlie was by no means normal. I believe he had some type of anxiety disorder. He would thing about things too much, bad things. When he was a lone, and wasn't distracted by anything, he focused on the bad. He had panic attacks, he would start freaking out, he couldn't breath, and sometimes he would go into a coma like state, where he would just sit there. He wouldn't talk, move or react. He was just lifeless.
Charlie is the main character of the book. The book goes through his life in a letterform. I think that it is really amazing how personal letters can be. I think that's why Steven Chbosky chose to write it in this form. It allows you to really dig in to Charlie's life, and get a feeling of his issues and problems. You never find out whom he is writing the letters to, this gives you a feeling like the letters are to you. .
Charlie becomes best friends with Sam, and Patrick who only continue to complicate the plot. Sam and Patrick are brother and sister. Sam's boyfriend cheats on her, and Patrick is gay. Charlie thinks that Sam is the most incredible and beautiful thing on earth.
The book never actually tells you where they are, because Charlie wishes to remain anonymous to the person he is sending the letters to. To do this, he leaves out details giving any clues to who he actually is. Although, a lot of the book takes place at Charlie's high school, at his house, and at his friends houses.