Rating: 
Summary: A Simple Wish
Review: Flowers For Algernon is a very emotional book. I am not a real emotional person, but I liked this book about a mentally handicapped man trying to become smarter. It uses a unique format, journal-like, making it from his point of view. A cool thing is, him being dumb, he misspells the words.
I liked this book because it was fun to see the man's progress. It was interesting to see how people reacted to him; it really changes your point of view of those people! The book is nice because it shows his emotions from his own view.
There are a few down sides to this book. One is in the middle of the book. He begins writing down the actual dialogue, which confuses you, `cause most journals don't have written dialogue. Also, all the misspelled words get confusing, but it makes sense having them. The final downside is the lack of description. This book would be better if it had more, but since it's a journal from a mental guy's point of view, I understand.
All in all, I would recommend reading this book. It's only 218 pages, so it's a quick read, though the font's small. It gives a good view of a mentally handicapped person's life, because it's from his point of view. I give this book 4 stars and believe anyone who wants to know about that, should read this!
Rating:
Summary: classic science fiction
Review: "Flowers for Algernon" is the story of Charlie, a mentally retarded young man whose intelligence is dramatically enhanced by an experimental surgery. He discovers the rewards of knowledge and learning, but he also learns about the cruelty of those around him - including his own family and friends - and his ultimate solitude as both an "idiot" and a genius. "Flowers for Algernon" is competently written and assembled, nearly seamless in the rise and fall of its story. The diary format is well-executed, and Charlie's changing intelligence is aptly demonstrated in his writing. The prose is honest and the story is unpretentious, holding the reader's attention without resorting to flashiness in either plot or style. The book's flaw is its excessive quietness. The author leaves the story to tell itself, and in so doing he deprives it of some of its power. The knife strikes true, but the final twist - best wrought by a well-placed phrase, a carefully articulated closing line, attention to the beginning of the book and the end - is left unturned, and the reader walks away too lightly, too unmarred.
Rating:
Summary: Flowers for Algernon
Review: Hello my nam is charly gordon I live at the the waren state home for sl-l-l-l-l-low adults. I talked with prof neemur today and I sed prof nemur I want to writ a book revew and prof nemur sed dont be absurd charly you cant writ a book revuew your eye Q is far too low for a task which requirs a much higher menta** than yors. In fact yew can hardly spel yoor own nam so why bother at all I was so sad but I just sed okay prof nemur. I wish prof nemur would stop being such a grouch. then Prof Neemur sed charly if you reely think yew can writ a revew i strongly advise yew to wryte lik yew tak but whatever yew do dont sey progris report at the top of eech payge cause that could yeeld catustrofic risults
Anyway, I deecided to writ a book revue, evn thew its hard to writ a book revue when yur eye Q is so low like mine.
Flowers for Algernon, by daniel keys is a real good book about a ment**** ratarded adult with a sixty eight Eye-Q who has a brain operashun which makes him smirt. After he gets smart, and can spel corektly, he comes to the terrible realization that the world is a dreary, cruel place, and that his so called,"friends", have in fact, been making a mockery of him his entire life.
At the beginning of Daniel Keyes absorbing, pathos evoking tale, Charlie is so dumb that he can't even beat the lab mouse ALgernon at a simple maze.
However, Charlie's "motivashun" is so powerful that he is ultimately selected as the ideal participant in the monumental operation.
As Charlie's intelligence gradually increases, and! shotly: after, he learns! proper, punktuation and spelling? from the diktionary! he falls deepky in love with Alice Kinnian, his former teacher.
Charlie soon realizes that superior intelligence is scarcely as ideal as he had envisioned it. Furthermoe, he is forced to contend with a seemingly endless list of tribulations, particularly the fact that he has surpassed both Professor Nemur and his envious "friends" in intelligence. He is also forced to confront the inevitable reality that his intellect is gradually deteriorating, and that he will soon be as foolish as he was before.
All the while Charlie maintains a fragile balancing act as he desperately struggles to prevent his lovely tenant fay and Alice Kinnian from discovering they are in love with the same man.
Charlie basks in his intelligence, but, before he knows it he is dum agin. Well, flowers for algernon is a reel good book and evrybody shud reed it- well I admit i didnt aktually reed it but i tryed reeding an exert on Amason dot com which all my friends like. Pleese tell prof.nemur to stop being such a grouch and please put some flowers in Algernon's grave.
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: Fascinating and very original
Review: I'm not a big fan of science fiction. Although this is classified as science fiction, it isn't the type of book that could easily fit into one specific genre. It raises philosophical questions about the nature of knowledge,genetic engineering, and the human spirit.
The plot is fairly straightforward. Charlie is a mentally challenged man who works in a bakery and remembers little about his real family. He attends classes at a special education center for adults. Through this center he meets Professor Nemur and Dr. Strauss. They preform an operation that alters his cpacity to abosrb and understand information, giving him a "super genius" I.Q.
The book is written from Charlie's perspective and follows his mental state from an eager, well-meaning, mentally challenged man, to a cynical, super-intelligent observer of human folly. The transformation in Charlie's emotinal state as well as his overall capacity to understand the world is what makes Flowers for Algernon so fascinating. I also found Charlie's recollections about his family very revealing. Through his memories, the reader is able to witness how a strugging family deals with having a mentally challenged child. His mother was an especially interesting character. I thought one of the best scenes in the book is when he goes back to confront her after "becoming smart". I had one image in my mind of what his mother would be like, but then when he met her in person I was amazed at just how frail and utterly human she actually was. The role reversal between Charlie and his mother and sister after his transformation is astounding. The ending of the book brought me to tears. I was really moved by the author's ability to capture the delicacy of the human mind as well as the stregnth of the spirit.
Rating:
Summary: RU smart?
Review: It is a human quest to search for what we are, what makes us what we are. In Daniel Keyes' "Flowers for Algernon", Charly, the main character, is in search of these things -- with that, the writer pose a simples question: what makes us what we are? Charly is a mental disabled thirty something who accepts to go through a surgery that is expected to improve his intelligence and make him a `normal person'.
The very same procedure has been successfully done to a white mouse, named Algernon. After Charly meets the hamster he is impressed of how smart the animal is, and believe that he can be even smarted than it. And he (and his doctors) is right. After the intervention, the man's IQ is skyrocketed. He starts to learn contemporary and dead languages, understand economy, geopolitics, and science... anything. Charly is a sponge that absorbs as much information as he comes across.
But, like everything in life, there is an on-the-other-hand. Charly past memories -- that seemed to be lost somewhere in his mind -- start to arise and they are not pleasant. Most of them are related to how their parents dealt with his inabilities when he was a child. Both of them weren't able to deal with a special kid. And, while the father tried to seek for some help and loved his son, the mother pretended he was normal, at first. After another daughter is born, his mother starts to avoid Charly until she forces the father to commit him to mental facility.
As these facts are remembered, Charly's mind starts to play tricks on him. What was real? What was a dream? What has he made up? There aren't simple answers for that. But he wants to clarify these points. At the same time, Algernon, the mouse, starts to show the first sings of deterioration. He is not as bright as he used to be. Moreover, Charly becomes a sort of celebrity in the medical world. His doctors want to show him in a convention as the living proof of how their methods can increase intelligence and help everybody -- not only disabled people.
Everything is told by Charly, who writes compulsively reports about his evolution. One of the most interesting things about "Flowers for Algernon" is its language. At first it is like an illiterate child, with many grammar and spelling mistakes. As Charly's mind starts to evolve, so does his language and ability to express himself.
But, little did Charly know that mankind is more complex and difficult than he could imagine. He starts to realize that the people he thought to be his friends are not really friends, and when love comes up, the man realizes that it is a complex feeling and no matter how bright you are, it is always difficult to deal with this feeling.
Keyes has created a magnificent cast of characters. From the believable Charlie to his teacher and lover Alice, everyone is very human. His parents are beautifully developed. And however much you may hate the mother for how she treats her son, you can't blame her. The doctors, mostly Nemur --who is believed to have done something important for the mankind-- are part humanist, and part mad scientists, like Dr. Frankenstein -- and at one point, the creation surpasses the creator.
"Flowers for Algernon" is considered science fiction. But this is one those books that makes you think and consider a many ethical and moral issues, when you try to bring the plot to real life. This is kind of science fantasia that we should encourage to be largely explored in movies and books, so that in the real world we would never take such a dangerous step.
Rating: 
Summary: One of The Worst Books Ever Written
Review: Okay, I bought this book yesterday after reading the million positive reviews on amazon saying that this book was heartbreaking, moving, profound, etc. And at the bookstore the clerk even said "Great Book," as I bought it. So I came home to read it and had high hopes and for the first pages, I was actually fooled into thinking it was a good book because it kept my attention and was not boring. But... if you think about it, this book is written from the point of view of a retarded man and so it is almost impossible not to be interesting at first. This is because the voice is so new and weird, and you get interested for novelty value. See also, catcher in the rye, the bell jar, and the curious incident of the dog at nighttime. these books all have basically insane or retarded main characters and are okay for the first few pages. But then you keep reading and it gets annoying. As soon as Charlie starts speaking smartly the book turns to sentimental dreck, like Nick hornby or Nick Sparks. And you can probably see that the writing goes down in quality too. I think Mr. Keyes should have stuck with writing like a retard because when he doesn't, he just sounds even more retarded. Here is a line: "Each step forward was caution. At what point would the ground give way and plunge me into anxiety?" that is supposed to be smart. So I guess when someone turns smart he starts using obtuse metaphors and overgeneralized words like "anxiety" to describe emotions?
I guess it's kind of sad, for the rat, but I have shed no tears over the fate of Charlie. He was unlikeable as a retard and even more hateable as a smart person. Who needs him? He should have been the one to die and the mouse should have got the job at the bakery.
Rating:
Summary: Always classic!
Review: Severely retarded Charlie's heartbreaking journey to genius, and, sadly, back again can't help but inspire, especially in this day of genetic engineering. Can we change a person, what will happen if we do, and should we do it at all? What is the cost to the individual? This book still makes me cry every time I read it. Highly recommend for sci-fi fans and anyone else
Rating:
Summary: the Forgotten Quest
Review: This extraordinary book used to be required in better schools for the importance of its sensitivities. Sadly, today it is unlikely to be found on reading lists or in classrooms. Bringing back these "classics" would be an effort to maintain the gentler design of teaching students how their behavior can make a world of difference in a world which requires them to survive. If schools are not offering it, parents should examine it for the values taught for their own budding geniuses, and even for those who aren't.
Rating:
Summary: sad but ITS A great book!
Review: this is a great book it teaches a great life lesson.. i had to read for my english class and i don't regret it. i recomned it to people who like a sad stories with a more or less happy ending.
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