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Summary: Flowers for Charly
Review: This is a heart wrenching story, timeless in its relevance. Many of my female friends said they cried when they read it, and so did I. Accidentally, the book was introduced to me by my boyfriend, and so did he cry reading it too? Not so it seems for man. Nevertheless, the story of Charlie Gordon is a stirring and thought-provoking one. Regardless of race, culture and worlds we live in, we can't not empathaize with the simpleton, Charlie's desire to be smart and loved. After tasting these, would we have his courage and dignity to carry on, knowing that all too soon, nature must revert to itself? Must Read, compassionate telling.
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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.
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Summary: Truly touching
Review: I read this book for school when I was in 7th grade, and just finished re-reading it ten years and a degree in biology later. I loved it when I was a teen, and (after forcing myself to ignore my instinctive scientific skepticism) still love it today. It's a very thought-provoking story, all the more so when you consider that it was written about 40 years ago when society was a bit less tolerant of the mentally retarded than it is now. Charlie is a man in his 30s with an IQ of 68 when the book starts; through a controversial experimental operation, his IQ gets higher and higher until it soars at one point to 185. The story is told through the journal entries that he is told to keep for the researchers in charge of the study. Through Charlie's words, you can see how sharply his intellect grows and how difficult it is for him because as smart as he becomes, his *emotional* intelligence is still that of a child. Charlie's emergence from ignorance is painful for him; imagine learning all of life's hard truth's in a matter of weeks rather than the normal development from innocent child to worldly adult. And the ending of the book is heartwrenching. Everyone should read "Flowers for Algernon" at some point in their life. It's a classic.
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Summary: Emmotionally Draining
Review: This book was so so well written, and majestically put together. Like the Catcher in the Rye, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Flowers for Algenon is a modern classic that challenges opinion and turns over the stones of controversy. After the first few pages this book pulls the emotional cords and tugs your conscience in all directions. I thought it lost something in the middle, but it made up for it with a fantastic climax that could be seen a mile off, but was still heart wrenching.
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Summary: Great book, really surprising and interesting!
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read! It was surprising and I kept wanting to see what happens next or how things to turn out. At first I wasn't too intent on reading this book but I had to read it for school and after a couple pages... I didn't want to put it down! I recommend this book to everyone.
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Summary: MOVING, EMOTIONAL
Review: Daniel Keyes' book is at once a compelling fantasy, and heartbreaking, epic love story, written in such fresh, creative prose that it instantly takes the shape of a classic. The story, utterly original in its day, has been ransacked more than a few times in one shape or another (science fiction novels/movies/etc.). Yet this book feels as new as it was when it first appeared. The real human emotional landscape mined here is potent for any reader, because it deals with simple but perplexing questions about being human: how others see you, how you see yourself, smart, not smart, and, in the end, what really matters in life, not to mention matters of ethics, destiny, fate...It is infinitely easy reading, but leaves you with a profound, shake-you-to-your-core passion; an urgent cry. Though the film adaptations and the musical (some of it is actually decent, believe it or not) convey the essential messages of the book, the book, with Charly's elementary language starkly in front of you, packs the greatest wallop.
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Summary: Strikingly Original!
Review: Daniel Keyes masterpiece stands the test of time, and is as fascinating and original today as it was in the '60's. This tale of a daring human experiment has been described as "a love triangle between two people." With the scientific advances we are making today, this story no longer feels like science-fiction. A touching classic and a must read.
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Summary: Opening Your Eyes
Review: This book let's you see two different worlds which are more similar than most would think. One is from the perspective of a "mentally challenged" person, and the other is from the same person made a "genius". I liked this book because it points out both our potential and our shortcomings as human beings. This book is listed on Easton Press' Masterpieces of Science Fiction Collection which I have subscribed to, and is worthy of the price to add to anyone's personal library. This is one of those books which "expand your horizon" and contains several lessons for life within it's pages.
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Summary: Superb! Sensitive and Insightful.
Review: Daniel Keyes is a rare talent. I think that few people could tackle a story spanning such breadth and intensity of human emotions and behavior as he has in "Flowers for Algernon." Charlie is truly a captivating character from start to finish. He never loses his grace and sensitivity towards others -- especially his little furry companion in this wonderful/tragic experiment. As Charlie's perspective changes through the story we can all see ourselves in the people that he relates to every day. The scientists become as pitifully inadequate as the bakers. It is a reminder to us all to treat everyone with basic human dignity as we would want to be treated. A precious book well worth re-reading.
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Summary: A Good All Rounder
Review: There's been a lot of debate, at my place of work, over whether Science fiction can ever be considered 'literature' and over which of the two categories 'Flowers For Algernon' fits into. Why people insist on pigeonholing books in this way baffles me - why can't a book be both? 'Flowers for Algernon' fits comfortably into both, in the same way that Alice Walker's 'The Color Purple' fits into the Ethnic American Fiction category, AND the Modern Classic Literature category. This is science fiction, but written with a nod to the devices found in traditional literature. If you've read the other reviews here, you'll know what this book is about. The premise is a good one, but written in any other way it might have fallen flat. Keyes has used some simple but effective narrative devices here (translate as, 'he knows how to tell a story') which I just loved. The device of a diary showing a characters personal development is not an original one. His trick of using immature vocabulary, spelling and grammar to signify a character at the beginning of his journey, and much more eloquent language to show the pinnacle of their development is also not new; Walker uses both of these in 'The Color Purple'. What Keyes does though, is take the narrative and turn it back on itself until the story becomes completely rewound and we are back where we started. This narrative structure is always fun, but Keyes does it so well that this book is a delight to read. The language Keyes uses is simple, with little descriptive language or 'floweriness', but wielded deftly to create a very good and very unputdownable book. It's a good story well told; if you never thought you'd enjoy sci-fi, maybe you should try this.
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