The perks of being a wallflower - samenvatting

The perks of being a wallflower

Charlie is a 15 year old boy who feels happy and unhappy at the same time. He lives with his father, mother, and sister. He also has a brother who doesn't live with them anymore. In the spring, his friend Michael commits suicide. Charlie doesn’t know why, and even when he meets up with student mentors he does not get answers to his questions.

He meets a boy named Patrick in his technical class and decides to say hi to him. He sees him a second time at a football game. Patrick was with his step-sister Sam, who Charlie thinks is his girlfriend. Even though he doesn't want to, Charlie falls in love with Sam immediately. He tells her this, but she says that he's too young for her and she suggests for them to just be friends. Charlie decides that he's gonna try to no longer 'think of Sam that way'.

Charlie’s teacher Bill decides to give him extra lessons. He gives him books to read and write essays about. He also tells Charlie that he shouldn't constantly be thinking about everything and instead try to 'participate' more. Charlie tries to do that and starts hanging out with Sam and Patrick more. They take Charlie to a party where he eats 'space cake' for the first time. At the party he spots Patrick with a boy, Brad. Brad plays in the football team and doesn’t want others to know that he is gay. Charlie decides/promises to keep his mouth shut.

Sam gets in a relationship with a boy named Craig. Charlie decides he can handle that, as long as Sam is happy. Through Sam and Patrick, Charlie becomes friends with Mary Elizabeth, Bob and Alice. They celebrate Christmas together and Charlie feels really good with them.

When it's Charlie’s birthday he, like every year, thinks of his aunt Helen. Aunt Helen died a few years ago when she got in a car accident while she was buying a second present for Charlie. She was the only one to ever buy two presents for him instead of one. She and Charlie had a very special bond and every year on Charlie’s birthday he's sad about the fact she's not with him anymore. He sometimes goes to visit her grave, to ''talk to her''.

It turns out that Mary Elizabeth has a crush on Charlie, and she asks him on a date. Despite the fact that Charlie is in love with Sam, he says yes. They go out for a few times and get in a relationship, even though Charlie doesn’t actually like her. She only talks about herself and stuff she likes, and never asks him anything about him. Later, when they play the game truth or dare with a small group, Charlie decides to only pick 'dare' so he doesn't have to admit he doesn't like Mary Elizabeth. He gets the dare to kiss the prettiest girl in the room and even though Mary Elizabeth is next to him, Charlie decides to kiss Sam, who's there too. Mary Elizabeth is very mad, and since she's Sam's friend, Sam is too. Patrick tells Charlie it's better to leave for some time. Charlie becomes feeling very lonely and starts to smoke weed. He now realizes what it's like to have friends, and especially how lonely it is to not have them (anymore).

Brad’s father catches Brad with another boy and gets really angry about it. He hits him with his belt and Brad disappears from school for a while. When he comes back he ignores Patrick, who just wants to talk to him. A little later, Brad calls Patrick a fucking faggot. That starts a fight. Charlie wants to stand up for Patrick and gets involved in the fight too. Patrick appreciates this and says Charlie is welcome in the friendgroup again. Later on, when Charlie apologises to Mary Elizabeth for the second time, she forgives him. With that, so does Sam.

The school year is almost over, which means all of Charlie’s friends are leaving school to go to university. Sam and Craig broke up, since Craig cheated on Sam. While Sam is leaving she asks Charlie why he didn't do anything 'when the whole Craig thing happened'. He says it's because of what she said before (now 9 months ago), that he's too young and that he 'shouldn't think of her that way'. She tells him that's true, but despite that she likes him a lot. They kiss, but when she touches Charlie's genitals he panicks although he doesn't know why because 'it felt nice'. Sam asks him if he's not ready yet, and Charlie nods even though that's not true. He apologises and Sam says it's okay, and that they don't have to do that yet. Nevertheless, Charlie still feels really bad.

Later on, he is laid on the couch where he has a dream in which his aunt Helen also touches his genitals. Later his parents find him naked on the couch, watching a TV that is not on. They can't seem to 'wake him up', no matter what they try.

He ends up in a clinic/hospital and as he remembers more and more from when he was younger, he realises that his aunt Helen previously sexually abused him.