The Perks of Being a Wallflower Audiobook by Stephen Chbosky
Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an epistolary coming-of-age novel narrated by Charlie, a watchful freshman who writes letters to a stranger he'll never meet. It's quiet, tender, and quietly devastating, a book about standing on the outside of your own adolescence and slowly learning to step in.
Why the audiobook wins
Noah Galvin reads Charlie's letters in The Perks of Being a Wallflower with the plain, slightly-off cadence the book needs — not performed wisdom, just a smart, watchful kid trying to say true things to a stranger. That restraint is the whole trick of this novel, and Galvin never oversells Charlie's naivete or his pain; he lets both sit in the same sentence the way Chbosky wrote them.
At just over six hours, this is a book you can finish in a single quiet evening or a couple of commutes, and hearing Charlie's voice aloud — rather than reading his letters silently — changes the intimacy of it; it feels less like reading someone's diary and more like being spoken to directly, which is exactly the effect the epistolary format is going for.
This is a book many people return to at specific ages and specific griefs, and Galvin's performance holds up to rereading. A six-hour listen, one credit, and you're inside Charlie's freshman year.
Listen free with a trial
Start a free Audible trialNew to Audible? Start a free trial to listen: stream or download titles in the Audible app and cancel anytime.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support the site at no extra cost to you.