Flowers for Algernon
Ratings1,004
Average rating4.3
I'm not sure how to write a review for this. Did I enjoy it? Was locking myself in the bathroom sobbing enjoyable?
It's not a fun read, but it's an important one. We get inside the main characters head through journal entries. We see him as a simple minded person who is blissfully socially unaware. Then we see his mind expand to proportions where he experiences the social pitfalls of intelligence without experience. And then everything falls apart.
We as readers are forced to confront our biases against people who are more or less intellectual than ourselves, and confront possible ignorance over the subject of disability entirely. Most people still have a lack of exposure to people with these disabilities. They get swept under the rug. Out of sight, out of mind. People are often in the habit of ignoring what makes us uncomfortable. We shouldn't be doing that to people.
It hurt to read, but I'm glad I did.
And don't forget to leave flowers for Algernon.
What an amazing book! 5 stars no doubt! I highly recommend it even if you are not into science fiction.
This is a thought-provoking, heartwarming, and at the same time, heart-wrenching story
Must read!!!
And then watch the good (not awesome but good) adaptation of the book - Charly!!!
Merged review:
This is a thought-provoking, heartwarming, and at the same time, heart-wrenching story
Must read!!!
And then watch the good (not awesome but good) adaptation of the book - Charly!!!
A really intresting concept, that a young man with severe retardation can be medically made into a genius. As always, science overreaches itself, although there is no moralizing about the dangers of tampering with nature or god's work. Plenty of good fodder about identity and different kinds of intelligence and the right of retardates (as the book calls them in its marvelously archaic way) to be treated like real people. Plot starts to drag in the middle but otherwise a marvelous read.
An unexpected gem. I felt for Charlie as he grew more and more intelligent and acquired more and more knowledge but remained an emotional teenager. I think this book should be read by everyone, simply because you can't help but make up your own mind about a topic that usually everyone agrees on: Knowledge is power.
For a full review click here: http://sffbookreview.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/daniel-keyes-flowers-for-algernon/
Well written and emotionally engaging, but not my taste. It's sad and honest and well paced and does a great job portraying the more bittersweet aspects of being a human.
Merged review:
Well written and emotionally engaging, but not my taste. It's sad and honest and well paced and does a great job portraying the more bittersweet aspects of being a human.
Other than a few outdated terms (that are a bit offensive today) it held up better over time than I thought it would.
another top contender for favorite book of the year awards... cried and sniffled and pondered over this book..
a very poignant story of heartbreak and prejudice that everybody should read
Merged review:
a very poignant story of heartbreak and prejudice that everybody should read
fascinating read, maybe 4.5 stars as i looked for an existential epiphany thing that i couldn't materialize, but couldn't find bc i'm not smart enough
Merged review:
fascinating read, maybe 4.5 stars as i looked for an existential epiphany thing that i couldn't materialize, but couldn't find bc i'm not smart enough
Still as great as when I first read it. My little brothers are autistic and I saw a lot of my oldest little one in Charly. Absolutely heartbreaking.
I just finished this book this morning, so it is still weighing on my mind. The full effect may not be felt for days, but here is my first attempt at a review.
This book both is and is not what I expected. It is both more and less poignant than I expected. The end was both more and less impactful than I expected.
I guess that comes from having expectations. I'm familiar with the movie, but haven't seen it. I knew the plot. I've not read the book before, so my awareness was from some sort of cultural osmosis, hence my expectations.
First of all, it was published in 1959. It hasn't aged terribly poorly, but there are some kind of uncomfortable moments. It is unusual that a story would win both a Hugo (as a short story) and then a Nebula several years later as a novel. Despite the date of publication, I did find it relevant and insightful to the themes of family expectations and dynamics, adverse childhood events, treatment of the the mentally ill, our thirst for emotional connection, and the competitive and sometimes shallow “rat race” of science, if you'll pardon the pun.
A couple of the expectations I had were that Algernon would play a bigger part and that the downward spiral would be longer and explored more deeply. That was me focusing on the Algernon in the title, and not the flowers, which I find to be an important metaphor for the theme of emotional connection that runs through the book. And I'm not saying the downward spiral was given short shrift. It was done artfully, poignantly, and well. The point of the novel wasn't the experience of the downward spiral as much as it was the impact of the rise and fall and attempts to “go back home” and the perspective from inside and outside of someone with reduced intellect.
I think the book is deserving of its reputation and one I would recommend to anyone.
the ending of this book will make me cry forever, but you have to read it to know what I'm talking about.
Além de não estar bem, estou mal.
A gente vai lendo e acaba sofrendo por antecipação a partir de determinado momento, porque prevê o que está por vir. O destino inevitável do livro segue e vamos aprendendo bastante sobre a vida, sobre se relacionar com pessoas e que há coisas mais importante que outras nesse trajeto. Pensei que ia passar forte e tranquilo por essa leitura, mas terminei o livro aos prantos (o que já não seria difícil normalmente). Ver todo o processo pelo qual Charlie passa e onde o desenrolar da história vai dar, pra mim, foi bem forte e triste. Sofri bastante kkkk
Amei!
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.
I needed a couple of days to emotional recover from this book to write a proper review. Flowers of Algernon is brilliant and heart-breaking.“I am afraid. Not of life, or death, or nothingness, but of wasting it as if I had never been.” This book was first published in 1958 as a short story that won the Hugo Award, and in 1960 as a novel, winning the Nebula's award. Despite being a well-known Science Fiction work, studied in many schools across the world, I've only discovered it because it was mentioned on the [b:Bewilderment 56404444 Bewilderment Richard Powers https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1632843882l/56404444.SY75.jpg 87106649] novel by [a:Richard Powers 11783 Richard Powers https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1263155076p2/11783.jpg] (and I am so glad I did).The book tells us the story of Charlie, who has an intellectual disability and is the first human subject to an intelligence-enhancing surgery, after the success of the same procedure on Algernon, a laboratory mouse.This book looks at what it means to be human, to love, to be intelligent, about what grounds us and can contribute to our happiness, while grasping ethical and moral issues such as the treatment of intellectual disabled persons. For me, it is also a book about inevitability. “I don't know what's worse: to not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you've always wanted to be, and feel alone.” There is a reason why some books become classics: they are simply good. This is one of those books and it should be read by everyone. Merged review:I needed a couple of days to emotional recover from this book to write a proper review. Flowers of Algernon is brilliant and heart-breaking.“I am afraid. Not of life, or death, or nothingness, but of wasting it as if I had never been.” This book was first published in 1958 as a short story that won the Hugo Award, and in 1960 as a novel, winning the Nebula's award. Despite being a well-known Science Fiction work, studied in many schools across the world, I've only discovered it because it was mentioned on the [b:Bewilderment 56404444 Bewilderment Richard Powers https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1632843882l/56404444.SY75.jpg 87106649] novel by [a:Richard Powers 11783 Richard Powers https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1263155076p2/11783.jpg] (and I am so glad I did).The book tells us the story of Charlie, who has an intellectual disability and is the first human subject to an intelligence-enhancing surgery, after the success of the same procedure on Algernon, a laboratory mouse.This book looks at what it means to be human, to love, to be intelligent, about what grounds us and can contribute to our happiness, while grasping ethical and moral issues such as the treatment of intellectual disabled persons. For me, it is also a book about inevitability. “I don't know what's worse: to not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you've always wanted to be, and feel alone.” There is a reason why some books become classics: they are simply good. This is one of those books and it should be read by everyone.
Me reading the book:
“Looking forward to discussing this and what that concept means in society. Is it eugenics? How ethical was it? Is fixing someone's brain like fixing someone's eyesight with glasses, or is it despicable to even think about it? Are we giving people a chance or erasing who they are? Would be such a good book to have in a book club cz there a bunch of questions to think about”
Me after finishing book:
Stupid book made me cry
Oh my. Not sure what to write. Brilliant piece of work. But believe what it says on the cover, it is absolutely heartbreaking.