Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Review from Amazon

Daniel Keyes wrote little SF but is highly regarded for one classic, Flowers for Algernon. As a 1959 novella it won a Hugo Award; the 1966 novel-length expansion won a Nebula. The Oscar-winning movie adaptation Charly (1968) also spawned a 1980 Broadway musical.

Following his doctor's instructions, engaging simpleton Charlie Gordon tells his own story in semi-literate "progris riports." He dimly wants to better himself, but with an IQ of 68 can't even beat the laboratory mouse Algernon at maze-solving:

I dint feel bad because I watched Algernon and I lernd how to finish the amaze even if it takes me along time.

I dint know mice were so smart.

Algernon is extra-clever thanks to an experimental brain operation so far tried only on animals. Charlie eagerly volunteers as the first human subject. After frustrating delays and agonies of concentration, the effects begin to show and the reports steadily improve: "Punctuation, is? fun!" But getting smarter brings cruel shocks, as Charlie realizes that his merry "friends" at the bakery where he sweeps the floor have all along been laughing at him, never with him. The IQ rise continues, taking him steadily past the human average to genius level and beyond, until he's as intellectually alone as the old, foolish Charlie ever was--and now painfully aware of it. Then, ominously, the smart mouse Algernon begins to deteriorate...

Personally, Flowers for Algernon was a very touching story for me maybe more than others. My older sister has a slight version of autism, but it's enough for her to be considered mentally impared. This story was very sad but made me wonder a little bit on a very tough situation that Charlie had to make.

Flowers for Algernon was a powerful book, it made you see what it was like to be mentally impared. Even though Charlie didn't understand most of the things that were happening to him, the reader will understand when Charlie's so called "friends" are really making fun of him.

Charlie was born mentally impared, now as an adult he decides to get some help and go to a clinic where he takes tests and tries to help himself get a better understanding of his disablity. When the doctors come to Charlie with a question that can change his life forever, it doesn't take Charlie that long to answer. The question? If Charlie would like to start over, but not as in go back in time, as in undergo an experiment that they tested worked on a mentally impared mouse named algernon to make Charlie Gordon Smart. Charlie practically leaps towards the idea sending him towards an understanding of how the normal person is suppose to act, how some of the things such as grabbing someone's arm when he got angry is no longer acceptable when he is smart. Charlie falls in love, goes through troubles with the truth that he was too blind to see.

The end of this story was ultimately SAD! so if you are looking for a book to cheer you up, this is the wrong book. But if you are looking for a book to cheer for and change your or someone you knows perspective on the mentally impared then this is a wonderful book.

This is ultimately a book

WORTH READING

5 STARS

by the way this book is based on diary entries, and if you pay attention to them you will start seeing a difference.