Over the winter break, I re-watched the 2012 adaptation of “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky. This film never fails to make me cry, and I think that is what makes it such an amazing movie. I was curious to see if the novel also held the tear-jerking factor, so I bought the book and read it in three days — so yes, it had the same ability.

The coming-of-age story follows a freshman boy named Charlie who is struggling with mental health and making new friends. He meets seniors Patrick and Sam, who are stepsiblings, and they take Charlie under their wing and introduce him to all their friends. From there, the story shows and follows how Charlie is navigating through past traumas and new experiences.

I wanted to see which one was better. Again, I think the film and the book should be different, no matter what, but I needed to know if there were any scenes or feelings that were conveyed to the reader that the watcher missed out on and vice versa. 

The movie does a good job with narrating and trying to insert Charlie’s voice as much as they can. The book, however, is all in Charlie’s head. We get to see more of those inside thoughts — some very dark — that Charlie has. I enjoyed the more intimate feel with the main character to where I felt more connected to him. Obviously, inner dialogue can only go so far into a movie before it turns into a straight-up documentary. 

My favorite parts of the movie were when Charlie was talking to his English teacher Mr. Anderson. In the book, we get more scenes between the two. Mr. Anderson is a positive force in Charlie’s life and is one of the main people that believes who he can do great things, especially with his writing. 

My favorite scene in the movie is when Mr. Anderson, who is portrayed by Paul Rudd, tells Charlie this wholesome advice: “We accept the love we think we deserve.” I think about that quote almost daily. 

Another aspect that I found interesting and different was that Charlie cries so much. I wish this would have been added to the film to show the vulnerability with his character and show the realities of anxiety. At the same time, I feel like a lot of audience members might have made fun of this, unfortunately. I felt protective of him so many times while reading the book, like he was a family member, and I do not even know him. 

The version of the book that I had included an epilogue that Chbosky added 20 years later. I did not enjoy it, personally. I thought it may be nice to see where Charlie was 20 years later, to get more closure with his character and to maybe know that he is OK; however, it felt like a therapy session. Now, the point of the book is to show the journey of mental health and how hard it can be, but even though it is hard, it does not mean that is where your story ends. Therefore, the epilogue needed to carry that same weight. I think it carried that weight a little too much. It felt more like a motivational speech and snippets of updates on everyone. Granted, we did meet Charlie in a dark time of his life, so this new voice may seem foreign because he not only has matured more as a writer, but also mentally.

Overall, this has been one of the best book-to-film adaptations in my opinion. There were minimal details left out, and the ones that were, I understand why they were. It was such an easy read because of the letter entry format and the deep empathy Chbosky was able to bring to the table. I would recommend this book to anyone. Actually, I think everyone should read it.

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