Rating: 
Summary: A true classic
Review: How many books can make this claim? 1) They are thought provoking. 2) They are exceedingly clever. 3) They are exceptionally well-written. "Flowers for Algernon" surpasses all criteria and is truely astonishing! The story is full of symbolism and ironies. Some are obvious while others are well hidden in the richly plotted text. This work can be read on many levels and can be enjoyed by all. Keyes transition from the dim-witted Charlie to the super genious who must write "down" to a level where his work can be understood. This transition is as smoothe as silk and completely convincing. Pay attention to Keyes use of sentence structure as a tool for Charlie intellectual growth it is very clever. The concept and the execution of Keyes' central idea is nothing short of remarkable. Do not kid yourself - this was not an easy book to write. Keyes was able to pull us into Charlies life and make us understand his struggles as a mentally challenged young man. More amazing is his ability to show us the emotional struggles of a man who becomes a genious. The story begs the question. Is better to have and lose, or to never obtain and wonder. All readers will draw their own conclusions. However, I hope I have not left any questions about my conclusion on the quality of this masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Very touching
Review: Charlie Gordon's "progris riports" make up the majority of the text in Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon. In his early thirties, mentally challenged Charlie works at a bakery, cleaning up and running errands. The only thing that Charlie has ever wanted in life is for people to like him. He thinks that if he were smart, people would want to be his friend. Charlie tries hard to learn how to read and write, but it is a long, ongoing process. Charlie decides to take part in a study conducted by some professors at the school he attends. The experiment involves Charlie's having an extraordinary brain operation that will help him to become extremely intelligent. After the operation, Charlie's new IQ helps him to understand how common it is for people to be cruel to others. Charlie soon realizes that all his life, people have been laughing at him, not with him. As Charlie becomes smarter, vivid memories of his childhood begin to disturb him. Unfortunately, after a few months Charlie's intelligence begins to fade and he regresses to a worse mental state than before the experiment.
This book truthfully portrays how people treat others different from themselves and how unkind we can be to each other. This book gives us a glimpse of what it feels like to be made fun of and looked down upon by others.
Unfortunately, this book is on the Banned Book List. Censors claim that "explicit love scenes were distasteful." It also contains limited profanity and references to drinking. I believe that these scenes are essential to understanding how Charlie is progressing mentally as well as emotionally. They also are necessary to help us understand the characters' personalities. I feel certain that eight graders and above would be able to handle this book. I would certainly recommend it to adults as well as mature young people.
Rating: 
Summary: A penny about thought
Review: (I just want to preface this by saying i've only read the short story, not the actual novel, but i felt i had to get some opinions out there, so take it or leave it) I found this story fascinating, since intellegence has always been something i've been trying to figure out. When i was 10 or 11, i was told that i have a very high IQ (not newhere near genius, but high nonetheless). Over the years i came to realise that intellegence is highly over-rated. Our society places way to much of an importance on intellegence, even so much that people think that if you are more intellgent, you are a better person.It is helpful, sure, but no more so than many other things, and it most certainly DOESNT make you a better person than anyone else. Also, there is terrible discrimination against stupid poeple. I have a good friend who is, and he faces much the same things Charly does, though mostly behind his back. Its terrible! Anyways, thanks for reading my random rant. I hope this was helpful at all, and p-lease read this sotry/book, its awesome
Rating:
Summary: Read this book!!!
Review: With Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes has created a story that has touched the hearts of millions. In this classic novel he tells the story of Charlie, a retarded man who undergoes an experimental proceedure to make him more intelligent. Surprisingly the process works amazingly well. Charlie gradually gets smarter. Eventually he would qualify as one of the most intelligent human beings in history. There is only one problem, the process is flawed. This flaw is emphasized when Algernon, a mouse test subject that has received the same treatment begins to regress. The mouse eventually dies as Charlie peaks and begins to regress himself. Unfortunately the only person smart enough to find out what is wrong is Charlie himself. The race is on for Charlie to find a cure before his regression leaves him once more retarded, or dead. This book is a tender, sad, and brilliant mirror on the light and darkness of the human spirit. There is also the underlying message of 'becareful what you wish for...you may get it.' I cannot recommend this book more highly. You will enjoy watching Charlie realize that being intelligent doesn't mean you don't have problems.
Rating:
Summary: On my list of favorites
Review: "Flowers for Algernon" is one of my favorite books. I am in 10th grade, and I first heard of this book in 8th grade when I read the excerpt version of the book. Later I purchased the book, thinking it would be much the same as the excerpt, but was very pleasantly surprised to find many issues and plot developments that were not included in the excerpt. The book is about Charlie Gordon, a mentally retarded adult who undergoes an operation that triples his IQ, and what happens to him and his life and those surrounding him as this process is carried out. Definitely a tearjerker, but also very believable, though the plot itself is as yet unlikely as far as I know! I think what makes it believable are the emotions that Charlie goes through as he becomes a genius - rejection and fear among them - emotions that all of us have dealt with at some point in our lives. I also enjoyed the writing style of this book - it starts out with spelling, grammar, and usage errors to show Charlie's innocent way of thinking and his moderate retardation, and progresses into extremely advanced language and ideas as his IQ triples. There have been two movies based on this book, but as is usually the case, I have to say the book is far far better and more complex. I can hardly say a bad thing about "Flowers for Algernon"; it is simply the ideal book for all those who think on a higher level.
Rating:
Summary: If I Could Give It Six Stars, I Would!!
Review: Along with John Updikes's "Rabbit Run" this is one of the great novels I have ever read. Period. Through the eyes and heart of Charlie Gordon, we see the best and the worst of humanity, we see a person with little resources available to him struggle with enormous challenges. Thanks to a scientific invention that leads to a startling new procedure, Charlie's IQ raises from about 70 to over 300. It was interesting how getting smarter did not make Charlie any happier. He was probably happier mopping floors at the bakery than when he was able to understand "higher echelons" of society. The message of this book is that the goodness of the human heart can be pure regardless of educational level or intelligence. I found most interesting how Charlie attempted to understand his earlier life as he gained more reflective abilities and how he attempted to understand his family. Also interesting...how he
attempted to understand women. As a lower functioning person, he barely grasped sexual politics if at all. When he is forced to understand, he still doesn't because he sees the old Charlie in himself no matter how smart he gets. He sees the old Charlie glaring at him in the mirror. Even as he starts losing his intelligence because of a procedure that was not perfect, he still has the great desire to retain as much as he can, and to keep reading books, a brilliant way to say through a novel, that learning leads to more learning in life and you can never completely get back to where you were before, but hopefully always moving forward. This, for me, made me more sure of my unconditional positive regard for humanity, especially the potential for learning and love that we all have. Charlie taught me a lot and I know he will teach you a lot too!(...)
Rating:
Summary: Moving, wonderful, sad, and life-affirming
Review: Oh, my God! This book is just incredible. There are only a handful of books that I've read over the years that really "stuck" with me. Books that I refuse to lend to people for fear they won't give them back. FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON is one such book. McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD was another. ALGERNON reminded me somewhat of the movie AWAKENINGS with Robbin Williams (an excellent film by the way). But if you get past they "story" of the book, you'll see that ALGERONON is also a commentary on human nature, or the lack thereof. I literally wanted to strangle some of the characters, especially the ones who were laughing at Charlie behind his back. And how painful this book becomes when the main character comes to realize this! Is it better to be in the dark? This book is just wonderful and I can't recommend it enough.
Rating:
Summary: Flowers For Algernon
Review: Flowers For Algernon
By: Daniel Keyes
Reviewed by K. Wong
P.6 This book is about a 32 year old man named Charlie. He worked at a bakery. He wasn't like other people. Charlie wanted to learn how to read, write, and go to college. He would write in a journal everyday about what he's thinking. One day Charlie took a test to see if he can be operated on to be smarter. He did the operation and he tried doing some mazes with a mouse that had the same operation done to him. It took a long time to see if he was getting smarter. He still had to write in the journal everyday. Before the operation was done, his writing was weird but a few weeks after the operation was finished, his writing got better.
I like this book because it's about a person who really wants to learn something. He wanted to get smart and go to college. There was an operation done to him so he would get smarter. Everyday that he writes in his journal you can see he is getting smart because his spelling and grammar is improving. That was the first time that experiment has been done to a person.
"He sed sit down Charlie and make yourself cunfortible and relax." This is what Charlie wrote in his second entry before he was operated on. "As far as I can tell, in the daysbefore the operation, I never really understood what planes were." That was a quote after the operation was done.
My favorite part in the book is when they start doing the operation on him. A few days after he has to listen to a TV that helps you learn. It teaches you in your sleep too. I also like the part where his co-workers try to get Charlie in trouble with the boss. They try getting him in trouble by telling him to make dough when he isn't suppose to touch that machine to make dough. Charlie starts making the dough then Charlie's boss walks in and Charlie did a good job in making dough.
Rating:
Summary: Heart-wrenchingly perfect
Review: "Flowers for Algernon" tells the tale of Charly Gordon, a man with an IQ of 68 who works at a research laboratory. The laboratory is working on surgical methods to enhance cognitive abilities and, when the surgery works on Algernon, a mouse in the laboratory whom Charly has befriended, Charly volunteers to become the first human to undergo the surgery. The post-surgery change is slow, but it becomes clear that the procedure worked. What also becomes clear, to Charly, is that his life had not been has good as he had thought it was. And, then, the story takes a heart-wrenching turn, that I will not divulge as a spoiler. Daniel Keyes did not write much science fiction, and this is the only novel of his I've read, but it's brilliant. The portrayal of Charly's gradually-growing understanding of the world, with the resulting triumphs and heart-breaks, was gripping. The writing was flawless, especially as much of it was in the form of Charly's journal, with it's varying degrees of sophistication. This is not a novel for the light-hearted though, as it is genuine tragedy, done perfectly.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful book
Review: This is such a beautiful book, full of hope and longing at the same time. The story is upsetting though, for it shows us the stupid side of human nature. Anyone interested in adversity and how human beings overcome it should read this book. There are three "musts" for anyone interested in a great story, such as this: Harper Lee's TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD, and this book, FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON. Of all of these, FLOWERS is by far my favorite, but the others are good as well.
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