"She said for a person who God gave so little to you did more than a lot of people with brains they never even used. I said that all my friends are smart people and their good. They like me and they never did anything that wasnt nice. Then she got something in her eye and she had to run out to the ladys room."Ah! Right in the feels! (Don't worry about the typos, they are supposed to be there!).I read Flowers for Algernon decades ago in its original short story form, this is one of those stories that will always stay with you. If you are a science fiction fan and this story has somehow been overlooked you don’t even need to read the rest of this review, just grab a copy and read one of the all-time greats.The short story version is so memorable that I never really felt the necessity of reading this longer novel length version. Until now that is, I was looking at NPR’s Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books list and it occurred to me that one of the three top 40 books that I have yet to read is the novel length version of Flowers for Algernon. There are numerous other “Best sci-fi books ever” lists online and practically all of them include “Algernon”.Flowers for Algernon is the story of Charlie Gordon a mentally handicapped young man with an IQ of 70. He volunteered for an experiment to boost his intellect with the result that his IQ is more than tripled. The story is narrated in the first person by Charlie in epistolary format, in the form of Progress Reports for the brain boosting project. Prior to the experimental operation Charlie was living almost blissfully as a "retard" (this very blunt word is frequently used throughout the novel, so I won't employ a euphemism here) he had a simple job he could do and friends. However, he is understandably frustrated that he can not understand most of what is going on in the world. What people are talking about, the jokes he laughs along with, the news etc. After his operation his intellect develops fairly rapidly and he begins to understand that people are not as smart or as nice as he had hitherto believed them to be.The first salient theme of this book that I noticed is that possessing an intellect is a mixed blessing. Ignorance is indeed bliss. As Charlie’s IQ begins to jump by leaps and bounds he finds that his EQ is lagging far behind. Being intelligent does not equip him to deal with people. What happen later on in the book is tragic but definitely ventures into spoilers territory so I won’t go into it.The book is beautifully but unpretentiously written, making for a fast, emotional reading experience. The characters are all believable, Charlie himself, Alice, his former teacher at a school for “special children” and the love of his life, and the various professors. Special mention must be made for the eponymous Algernon, the mouse that has his intelligence boosted before Charlie and become a sort of mini-Charlie, or a trail blazer for Charlie to follow. Daniel Keyes has made the mouse a very vivid character even without speaking parts. His eventual fate is one of the saddest parts if the book.I find that the original short story is a more intense reading experience and has a stronger emotional impact. This is due to the conciseness of the story. The novel, however, fleshes out the story with much more background details about Charlie’s family members, his childhood, his changed attitude toward the scientists and even his sex life. The additional details are interesting enough not to be superfluous but they do not make a great story greater.While the science of the intelligence boosting project is not explained in details this is not actually a “soft sci-fi” novel, there is enough discussion of “competitive inhibition of enzymes”, “cortical control”, “blocking the metabolic pathway" etc. to lend the book some verisimilitude (and to keep hard sci-fi fans happy).There are several notable profound passages in this book, I particularly like these two: “But I've learned that intelligence alone doesn't mean a damned thing. Here in your university, intelligence, education, knowledge, have all become great idols. But I know now there's one thing you've all overlooked: intelligence and education that hasn't been tempered by human affection isn't worth a damn.”Also this existential question: “Who's to say that my light is better than your darkness? Who's to say death is better than your darkness? Who am I to say?”Read it and weep my friends.__________________________________________EDIT June 18, 2014: I have just heard that Daniel Keyes died on June 15. It is sad to lose yet another great author, but I also envy him to have achieved immortality of sorts through his works. Flowers for Algernon especially. R.I.P Mr. Keyes, thank you for this beautiful story which I will always cherish.
Original post here."..the men of the cave would say of him that uphe went and down he came without the eyes..." - PlatoThere hasn't been a book - so far - that has moved me to tears like Flowers for Algernon did. I still had several pages to go before the end of the novel, but already I was clumsily wiping my eyes and runny nose, concealing my face from my husband lest he think me silly for crying over a book.Flowers for Algernon is about Charlie Gordon, a 33-year-old mental retardate whose (in)capacity makes him perfect for an experimental surgery to increase intelligence. The experiment was highly successful in the case of Algernon, a lab mouse. After Charlie's surgery, the results seem to be exactly the same as that of Algernon – Charlie becomes so brilliant that he learns 20 languages and even eclipses the intelligence of the surgeons responsible for his operation... until Algernon begins to show signs of deterioration. It makes Charlie wonder if the same fate will befall him.The novel reminds me a lot of the 90's movie, Awakenings, which starred Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro. Yes, it also made me shed tears. Buckets. The plot of this movie is somehow similar to that of Flowers for Algernon: survivors of an encephalities epidemic during the 1920s, who have become catatonic ever since, are “awakened” by the administration of a new drug discovered by a physician, played by Robin Williams. De Niro, on the other hand, played the role of one of these catatonic patients (and really, really well at that). I won't reveal how the movie ended lest I spoil the ending of Flowers for Algernon, too, so I'll leave it at that. Suffice to say, however, that Awakenings was as heart-rending and dramatic as Flowers for Algernon.And no, it's not because I'm a crybaby. They really are touching.Daniel Keyes wrote this novel using the epistolary style – Charlie was made to write “Progress Reports” by the doctors in order to document and keep track of his mental development. The “Progress Reports” began from when he was a feeble-minded cleaning/errand boy at the bakery where he worked, and went on to describe in detail how he lived his life before and after the surgery. Essentially, the novel is Charlie's journey to self-discovery, to acquiring knowledge and recognizing his history, to life itself – for once, Charlie is not just the little boy looking out the window into the outside world, but becomes part of that world.What tore at my emotions was the point in his life when he began to recall his childhood – his parents and younger sister, Norma, and episodes from the time when they realized that Charlie was no ordinary boy. As a result of the successful surgery on Charlie, he began to remember snippets from the past, which he didn't even realize were there, in his subconscious, just waiting to be recognized. It pinched my heart as I read how Charlie came to terms with his past, and the people who were largely responsible for the memories that came to the surface.While admittedly, it was effortless to predict how the novel would wrap up (also because of the similarity to Awakenings), its brilliance and appeal were not diminished in the least. Even now, when I stop and remember Charlie, and how he lived out his life before and after the experimental surgery that made him smart, I can't help but get teary-eyed. The jurors who bestowed the Hugo and Nebula awards to the novel must have been moved to tears as well, I bet.Finally, let me share with you one of the most poignant passages from the book, and one of my favorites. This was spoken by Charlie to Dr. Strauss, one of the surgeons who performed the operation:“Intelligence is one of the greatest human gifts. But all too often a search for knowledge drives out the search for love. This is something else I've discovered for myself very recently. I present it to you as a hypothesis: Intelligence without the ability to give and receive affection leads to mental and moral breakdown, to neurosis, and possibly even psychosis. And I say that the mind absorbed in and involved in itself as a self-centered end, to the exclusion of human relationships, can only lead to violence and pain.”Flowers for Algernon is all heart, and I love it.
What do You think about Flowers For Algernon (2005)?
I am finding it hard to put into words the vast range of emotions I experienced whilst reading this little tale of hope, perseverance, truth and humanity. When it comes to science fiction, I would hesitate before declaring myself a fan, simply because there's only a certain amount of aliens, spaceships and intergalactic battles I can take before I start to become distracted. A good action scene on a distant planet only takes my enjoyment so far and the books I have enjoyed most from this genre tend to be the softer, more humanity-focused stories. I'm a huge fan of science fiction that doesn't seem too far away, something that I could imagine lingering just around the corner after a few more scientific experiments - and that's how I feel about Flowers for Algernon, I can imagine it as a possibility and that makes it all the more meaningful for me.This story is about Charlie Gordon who with an IQ of 68 can only hope to sweep the floors at the bakery... well, that is until he is invited to participate in an experiment previously only tested on animals. The experiment is an operation that will gradually make him a genius and allow him to become the person he's always longed to be. But, as with Adam and Eve in the genesis story we all know, intelligence comes with a price. Charlie learns that the people he's known for years are not what he'd always thought, where he once associated laughter with friendship, he soon learns that it is mockery. Stephen Fry once said that intelligence is almost entirely about the strength of your memory - and Charlie Gordon finds that out the hard way. Memories that had been forgotten come flooding back, bringing pain with them.Flowers for Algernon looks at so many different things: mental disabilities, human nature, intelligence and love. It made me feel sad, angry, frustrated and hopeful, it made me shake my head at people's behaviour and it made me incredibly thankful for so many things - I know how cliche that sounds but it's true. Even though Charlie's intelligence grows to beyond that of a normal human, he is emotionally still very much a child and has to learn the things other people learned long ago. He doesn't understand what is happening when his body becomes sexually responsive to a woman and he often doesn't understand why people say one thing but mean something completely different. The abuse he has endured because of his disabilities runs back through the years to his first public school and even his own mother. This is a very sad story that made me think about so many things and the ending just about broke my heart.
—Emily May
How strange it is that people of honest feelings and sensibility, who would not take advantage of a man born without arms or legs or eyes - how such people think nothing of abusing a man born with low intelligence. It infuriated me to remember that not too long ago I - like this boy - had foolishly played the clown.And I had almost forgotten.It's been a long time since a book has sucker punched me in the stomach both intellectually and emotionally. Flowers for Algernon is Charlie Gordon's journal: he begins as a mentally disabled adult, but after a procedure designed to increase his intellect, his brainpower beats even those who created the experiment to change him. His transformation from mentally retarded to extraordinary genius models that of Algernon, a mouse given the same treatment. However, when Algernon starts to decline, Charlie realizes that he might follow in his footsteps.Flowers for Algernon could have felt gimmicky, but Daniel Keyes pulls off Charlie's voice with an amazing attention to detail and character development. I felt so much sympathy as he grew more aware of himself. Even as his smartness enlarged, he was alienated all the same. One of the best parts of this novel is how Keyes makes Charlie so flawed in every stage of the story - from ignorant to arrogant, from helpless to hurtful - and still captures his humanity in a way that makes us ache for him.Part of me expected this book to appeal only to my intellect, but it reached me on an emotional level too. Flowers for Algernon asks difficult questions: why do we treat mentally disabled people so horribly? How does intelligence set us apart from our peers, both in good ways and bad? How does compassion factor into the human experience, and what makes us human? You can't help but contemplate these topics as you witness Charlie struggling to address them through his progress reports. It makes me happy to see scientists and psychologists devoting their efforts to these issues nowadays, focusing more on ethics and emotional intelligence than they did before. Still, as Flowers for Algernon so poignantly points out, we have a long way to go, and Keyes deserves all of his accolades for pushing us in the right direction.Highly recommended for fans of literary or science fiction, as well as to those who are interested in any of the questions I listed above. A finely-crafted, thought-provoking book.*review cross-posted on my blog, the quiet voice
—Thomas
Flowers for Algernon is a work of art. It was both heart rending and sobering, from beginning to end. It is, without a doubt, one the most powerful books I have ever read. It's full of lessons about life, people, intelligence, social standing, consequences, and acceptance. The emotional impact it had on me was huge.“The ending closes the book, but the memory of the book shall never fade.”The highest form of recommendation possible. A must read for all.“Thank God for books and music and things I can think about."- Charlie Gordon
—Abdulrahman Alhussain
