Hello everyone! My name is Ashley. I'm a senior high school student from Taoyuan. English has been part of my life since I was born. Consequently, I like to spend time doing things relating to English, and reading English books is definitely one of them. I enjoy fantasy, romance, and realistic fiction. The Percy Jackson series and Wonder are my favorite novels. By reading, I get to probe different kinds of life which I haven't experienced, thus learning life lessons that can possibly be used later in life.

There is this one period, from the age of ten to the age of nineteen, when all humans undergo the foremost awkward yet unique stage of growth in their lives: adolescence. And what are the problems that can be encountered when being a teenager? During this period of life, adolescents are subjected to all sorts of pressures and struggles. It could be coping with hormonal changes, bullying, emotional problems such as acceptance and love, and many other matters. To me, the problems I am facing are mostly academic-related, exams, grades, and which university to go to, for instance. However, in comparison to me, the main character in this book, Charlie, suffered from much more critical problems than I did. There were two tragic incidents he needed to go through. One was the death of his best friend, Michael, who had committed suicide by shooting himself. The other was the death of his favorite Aunt Helen, whom he then discovered had molested him, resulting in him keeping having hallucinations and suffering from trauma throughout the entire story. The things Charlie went through were quite unimaginable to me since I grew up in a simple environment which is full of peace and love. By reading this book, I get to probe the sordid underbelly of teenagers and high school life, which I'm fortunate not to experience it.

Just as in the title of the book, Charlie is referred to as a "wallflower" in this novel. "You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand." This is what Patrick, the first friend Charlie met in high school, said when Charlie attended the party after the homecoming game. In the Cambridge Dictionary, the word "wallflower" describes a shy person who is frightened to be involved in social activities and doesn't attract much attention. This is just what Charlie did in the book-standing on the side and not joining in. The word may sound negative and rude. Yet, Patrick thought of it as Charlie's strength, making it a compliment. He made Charlie feel welcomed for who he is. Charlie's quality of observing things and remaining silent later then gave Patrick the courage to share everything with him, including being a homosexual and having a relationship with a football player, Brad. From this, we could see how they helped each other and grew up together, which shows the value of friendship.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower was presented in a special way by the author Stephen Chbosky. It's a novel written in the form of letters that Charlie wrote to an unknown "friend". The initial goal was to help Charlie overcome the two traumatic events that had befallen him. Throughout the story, we could only see the whole story from Charlie's point of view. After reading the book, I found that the letters act as a diary. Charlie begins every letter with "Dear friend," making it easier for him to open up and speak about his misery. As for the anonymous friend, I figured that he or she would be a great listener Charlie trusted to pour all his secrets and negative thoughts out. In the letter written on September eighteenth, 2012, I speculated that the letter was intended to encourage readers who had the very same problems as Charlie had mentioned. "You are not alone." Said Charlie in the letter, "Understand, friend, there are millions of us." In my opinion, this is definitely a story that could flip one's life. You could see how hard Charlie changed his life from a wallflower to a person trying to overcome all his agony. You could also see the ups and downs of a real teenage life. Last but not least, you could see the objective of the author writing this book. By reading this book, readers can escape from the outside world and alleviate depression. What's more, as you dig deeper into this book, you can possibly find a similar situation you're troubled with, which might teach you a strategy to manage the same problem. This novel being written with plain words, you can easily connect the lines between each dot and be surprised at the outline of the whole story.