standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. but there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dancefloor.

I haven't read The Perks of Being a Wallflower in a good four months, so I decided now would be a good time to start again.

The author of the book is Stephen Chbosky. He was born sometime between 1970 and 1972 (every stinkin' site is giving me a different date) and lives in Los Angeles, California. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is his only novel, but he's also known for writing the screenplay for the highly overrated (in my opinion) musical Rent and writing, directing and acting in the independant film The Four Corners of Nowhere. In the late 90s, he wrote several screenplays including Schoolhouse Rock and Audrey Hepburn`s Neck, though they were never produced. Chbosky`s only television project was a CBS series called Jericho, which he was the co-creator, writer and executive producer of. The show only ran for about a year before it was canceled. On another note, Chbosky`s influnces include F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tennessee Williams, Stewart Stern, and J.D. Salinger. He also looks a lot like Jim Carrey.
Anyway, the book is an epistolary coming-of-age novel that tells about the life of a teenager named Charlie. It consists of a series of letters sent to an unknown recipiant. The letters have the same effect as a diary, and describe Charlie`s experiences and feelings during his first year of high school. Throughout the story, Charlie befriends a group of senior students, who introduce him to a whole new world full of music, drugs and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The book is set in what I`m guessing to be a small suburban town in the early 90s. The atmosphere depends on where the story is taking place at the time.
The main character of the book, Charlie, has a unique personality. In parts he can seem sort of naive, but he just has a different way of looking at the world. Throughout the book, you learn that he is a thoughtful, deep person who is optimistic at the worst of times.