My book group has just discussed The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (thanks for lending it to me, Becca) - I don't have enough to say about it to make a whole blog post. Basically it's trying to be Catcher in the Rye for the late'90s - and it more or less succeeds, but is rather less annoying than Catcher in the Rye (does ANYBODY here actually like the book, or did you have to be a disaffected youth in the 1950s? Or stoned?). I'd love to hear from anyone who has read The Perks of Being a Wallflower...Anyway, the point of this post was my strong feeling that TPoBaW was trying to be an updating of CitR. I do think it's lazy criticism to just compare novels or writers, but I felt that Chbosky was deliberately trying to take on this mantle... do you ever feel like about a book? Other than obvious sequels, of course. Examples, please! Lots to give your feedback to there... c'mon, someone, defend the Great Disaffected American Novel.
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