Flowers for Algernon

Would you trade the intelligence you have for anything else in life?
Better looks? More money? What about love and affection?
As the introduction to this book quotes Plato, ‘Would you rather be Socrates, or a happy pig?'

This book was written at first as a short story apparently and the author had the right mind to turn it into a heart-rending novel that would make anyone cry. It does not merely deluge you with emotions making you wonder why exactly you had to read this book; it makes you think and form opinions about what they are doing in here and about the characters in it. This is a book about which you could have a healthy discussion with your friend. There is a certain logic, no pretense, and the honesty maintained by the lead character throughout his reports is a page turner.

The story is about Charlie Gordon age 32, IQ 68 working as a janitor at a bakery owned by his dead uncle's friend. He gets accepted as a candidate for the first-ever experiment to improve his IQ. The story arc follows the changes in his intelligence, his emotions and social life. Written in the form of progress reports, we see the whole thing from Charlie's perspective.

I'll stick to three aspects of the novel. There is much more to it, but writing about it just ends up being aimless rambling.

1. Charlie's growth.
If you kept a journal as a kid you'd know - the ‘diary' I kept as a kid is filled with mundane details of the day. Charlie starts at the age of 32, but he as well might have been 8. Riddled with spelling errors and lack of punctuation, it is fun to read - only I have to keep reminding myself that this guy is 32. As the pages turn you'll notice an improvement, he writes more feelings than details of the day. The disillusionments, his realization of the appalling dehumanization of people with low IQ. Only when the fog clears he sees the marsh he is in.

For him it is like waking up from sleep to utter clarity and trying to figure out the vague dream which was his past - a past that doesn't really seem to want to leave him alone. Still he makes the best of what he gets and will leave you in tears at the end.

2. Imagery
Sometimes movies just won't do. Not always, just sometimes. Right after I finished the book I checked out its movie - couldn't watch for more than 5 minutes. I didn't want it to taint the images I had in my head.
Of the scared little boy looking out the window with his cheek pressed to the window
Of the look of disgust on the mother's face that sets him trembling
Of the innocent smile
Of the bohemian Fay in her house with no straight lines and of Alice's unsure countenance.
Of him overhearing Norma telling her friends that Charlie wasn't her real brother

3. Language and characters
Everyone is imperfect in this story. The egotistical Prof. Nemur, the horrible mother, the dad who just didn't care, Alice who allows herself to get hurt, Fay who's always drunk, the people at the bakery and even Charlie himself with the consequences of his varying IQ, his panic attacks due to childhood trauma. It is a mess. A beautiful mess.
All these broken pieces are glued together with phenomenal writing and imagery-by the end forming this exceptional piece of writing.

“I see now that when Norma flowered in our garden I became a weed, allowed to exist only in places where I would not be seen, in corners and dark places”

It's a little like Forrest Gump, but better. Must read.