The Perks of Meeting Stephen Chbosky

In honor of Banned Books Week, Stephen Chbosky, author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, among other things, was in town and held a reading/Q&A session in Lincoln Square. By now, the book may seem trite or unnecessary to some, in part due to the audience MTV books had a hand in generating, but I can still remember reading it in 11th grade and the overwhelming feeling of being so carefully and respectfully represented in a book. The book stayed with me, and even now reading passages can be an extremely visceral and powerful experience. 

So he's pretty much a regular looking guy. He read two passages, both more of the 'heavier' parts of the story. The first being the secret santa part where Charlie gives everyone gifts and reads that poem aloud, and then the second was the New Year's Eve party where Charlie does acid and really seems to be bottoming out. 

Normally at these things, I'm too terrified to ask questions, but I knew I'd probably never have this sort of chance, so I raised my hand and ask a question -- twice! The first question was theme-focused and delved into heavier, muddier issues. The second was about the quote 'we accept the love we think we deserve' and its origin, and he said he was so glad someone asked the question.

Afterwards, he signed my copy and wrote a puzzling, yet touching (and somewhat overwhelming) inscription. I'm not sure what he read into my first question (and maybe I'm flattering myself thinking Stephen Chbosky was even concerned with the undertones and innuendoes of my question), but I have to (or want to?) believe that it meant more than a canned inscription. After signing, he stood up and hugged me, and I felt even more overwhelmed, touched and star-struck. I was too shaky and nervous to stick around and see if this was routine treatment for his fans (I was second in the signing line).

Overall, I'm overtaken by the feeling of meeting someone who has created characters, a story, and honestly a universe that I felt so personally attached to for so many formative and difficult years. 

"So I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. and we can try to feel okay about them."