Flowers for Algernon
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Flowers for Algernon

3.86 of 5 stars 3.86  ·  rating details  ·  73,105 ratings  ·  3,067 reviews
In this classic story that inspired the hit movie by the same name. Charlie Gordon, a retarded adult who cleans floors and toilets, becomes a genius through an experimental operation.
Paperback, 324 pages
Published May 1st 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (first published 1959)
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Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 94,025)
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Amy
I first read this book in 8th grade, in my english class. I remembered enjoying it, being fascinated in how the author painted the picture that I really was reading Charlie's journal by use of spelling, grammar and punctuation related to the level Charlie was at when writing the entries. What I didn't know at the time was the people who created the text book I used felt it was okay to chop whole chapters out of the middle of the book. They felt pulling out whole sections was okay in the name of ...more
Hui Lin
Hui Lin rated it 5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: people who wants to know MORE about people with disabilities
Shelves: 09th
Flowers for Algernon 2004, 311 pp.,$7.99
Daniel Keyes ISBN 9780156030083
“My name is Charlie Gordon…I am 32 years old…I don’t no why Im dumb…or what I did rong. Maybe its because I dint try hard enuf. ” Charlie Gordon isn’t like any adults that you see on the street. In this novel, Flowers for Algernon Charlie is a man who is naturally born with low IQ. But he does one thing that almost none of the men you see on the street could do. He changes the history of science with his h...more
Rita
Rita rated it 5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: Everyone, especially those who like to experience emotional journeys.
This is a first person narrative that has been written as a series of progress reports from a deeply retarded man, who can barely be considered literate. His writing is fully of bad grammar and spelling mistakes. At first, if you are not prepared for it, this makes this book a little hard to read, and some passages even have to be re-read a couple of times before you understand them.

Our protagonist goes through experimental brain surgery, that has the effect of gradually increasing ...more
Madame Charlotte
Si dans votre entourage vous avez des personnes qui n’ont un mauvais a priori sur le SF, offrez-leur ce livre, cela leur montrera l’étendue des thèmes d’une genre aussi vaste que profond. Avec ce roman on touche au sublime. Une histoire poignante, celle d’un jeune homme attardé mental, qui souhaite plus que tout devenir intelligent. Une fois son rêve réalisé, il prend conscience du monde qui l’entoure, des individus, et aussi de lui-même en tant qu’être humain, avec son passé, et ses souvenirs j...more
Simon
This has got to be one of my favourite sub-genres; psycological science fiction. This is up there with the likes of A Scanner Darkly and More Than Human. These are the sort of SF books that I would recommend to those who look down on the genre.

This book explores such themes as the nature of intelligence, the effects of intelligence on the way you see others and the world around you, as well as social attitudes towards people with mental problems.

The narrative structure i...more
Ariella
An absolutely wonderful page-turner...

A simply incredible portraying of the emotions of humans. A mentally handicapped young man with a heart of gold plunges into the world of adulthood as he agrees to become an experiment to increase his intelligence.

This is officially the sweetest book ever. You will absolutely fall in love with the main character, Charlie, as you read this book. I know I did. This book is an INCREDIBLE example of human nature, and it touched me so much...more
Jessica
I really enjoyed reading this book. It wasn't difficult and I got throught it in about a week.

I had read a very much shorter version of this story in about 8th grade, but I didn't remember much of it, so I was excited when I found this copy at a used book sale.

The story is of Charlie Gordon a mentally challenged man, who is able to recieve an operation to make him a genious.

The things I found most interesting was the relationship between his mental growth a...more
Jim
If you haven't read it, you should. I never re-read this book, although I get it out & look at it occasionally. It's too heart breaking.

Charlie, the title of the movie made from this book & the name of the hero, is retarded. Science gives him intelligence, along with Algernon, a lab rat. The story is told through Charlie's diary & feels very personal. Very well done.


*** Spoiler Alert *****



Charlie gains intelligence, love & yet no mastery o...more
Michael
When I was in junior high school the movie Charly was big. Everyone saw it, and one girl, I can’t remember her name, had a Charly protective book cover and was so obsessed with the movie that she’d write the name, with the backwards “R” on everything, including adding it as a middle name to her own name on tests and papers she would hand in. She was in all the school plays and sang beautifully so my guess is her connection was with the play and the movie as opposed to the subject of the story. O...more
Leslie
Leslie rated it 5 of 5 stars
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Jackie
This is one of my favorite books, and movies, of all time. Gotta love a good tear jerker told in a profound way.
Jean Holloway
Oh, my, I'd forgotten about this one. An ALL-TIME fav! I laughed, cried, U name it. WONDERFUL!!
Lowed
Lowed rated it 5 of 5 stars
Algernon-Gordon Syndrome

The power indicator lit up and a humming sound from the amplifier was audible to the sensory perceptions. I pressed the number five button on the remote to get to the music I intend to listen to, and Gilman started to be heard from the speakers:

"My time on Earth
Long as it seems
Is just a moment
In the grande scheme of things

A short refrain
Of life's endless song
Sung only once
And then we're gone"

...more
Ranee
Before anything else, I thank Emir for this book.

The story is simple, the approach is complexed. But over all, it was a good read. To summarize it, the book is all about acceptance.
The main character of the book is Charlie, a simpleminded individual given a chance to fulfill his wish, to fit in. As a child, he disappointed his mother for just being himself. He was a moron, an idiot, his intelligence is below par. He did not comprehend this but his heart did, all these repr...more
Robert
From a severely retarded bakery worker to a genius at the highest echelons of the scientific world, the journey of Charlie Gordon is a humorous and often heart breaking one of self discovery and a testament to the riddle of what it means to be truly "intelligent." When Charlie is approached by scientists at a local university to be part of a breakthrough experiment to enhance his I.Q, he seizes the opportunity. Finally, a chance to be smart like everyone else! As Charlie's I.Q grows, h...more
Lucy
Lucy rated it 5 of 5 stars
Another familiar title perched atop the "most commonly banned books in America." With that kind of attention, I just can't help myself.

I loved it. I really loved it. I even cried at the end, which is so, so rare these days (unless I read Nicholas Sparks who always seems to get me at the end with his overtly emotional drama. Blast him.).

Charlie Gordon is a thirty-two mentally retarded man with an IQ of 70. He works as a janitor and errand boy in a bakery and c...more
Julie
Julie rated it 5 of 5 stars
This book is about a human being who is born with undescribable low IQ. In this book, it is all written in a way that words are spelled incorrectly, which then improves as time passes. Since the protagonist is born with such low IQ, many people treat him low and takes advantage of him. As he gets treatments for this sickness or disorder, he starts to get better each day. He starts to understand life better, and his IQ increases uncontrollably. It might seem as thought the treatments are doing hi...more
Joseph
Joseph rated it 5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: Teens
Shelves: booksiloved
I really liked this book because it gave me a harder understanding of what a person who is mentally challenged goes through. what i really liked about this book was that everything changed once Charlie got smarter. it is really exciting and cool. it is also really cool to actually get a look-at at what happens to people when others around them change.
what basically happens is that Charlie is a mentally challenged adult. he works in a cafe only because the owner knows him. he goes t...more
Sri
Sri rated it 4 of 5 stars
A touching story about a man, named Charlie Gordon. He had low IQ and he realized that he was dumb :(. People made fun of him and he was happy for that. He laughed with them and he even considered them as nice friends :(. He was chosen as a research object in neurology field. After an operashun--operation, that's how Charlie spelled it-- he became smarter and smarter, even smarter than the neurologists who did the research. And, of course, smarter than Algernon, another research object, only it...more
10-11Sarah
my teacher was reading this book to us, get the picture? YA it was Miss Maples but sadly my schedule was alterd so i was unable to listen to the rest of the book. But i want to read this sooooooo bad just because Miss Maples was reading it to me! Hows that for the power of reading?


I it read but it was the kid version!!! so it didn't have all the info but the ending is so sad, but you'll have to read it and find out!!
Kitty-Wu
Un experimento neuropsicologico y sus consecuencias: unos cientificos someten a una operacion a un retrasado mental quien, rapidamente, experimenta una mejoría espectacular. Entonces se da cuenta de ciertas cosas...

Al principio me pareció que la transformación era muy rápida, que le faltaba algo, supongo que debido a que el personaje del Charlie "original" es entrañable, pero luego se aprecia que la gracia está en las cosas que puede "ver" y "descubrir" ...more
Cassandra
This book taught me that sometimes we can take life for granted. Some people have life bad; if they're disabled in some way life is everything to them and they don't take it for granted. They cherish every moment and go on living each day happily while we can mope and be sad because we don't have this or that.
Bryce
Bryce rated it 3 of 5 stars
I was wandering through Barnes and Nobel when I picked up this book just to flip through. I had fond memories of it from middle school and decided I should revisit it.

Charley is a mentally handicapped man who is offered the chance to be the subject in a medical experiment; to have an operation that will make him smarter. The operation is a success and Charley becomes an unsurpassed genius.

My teacher must have assigned the abridged version, because I certainly don't remem...more
Lavinia
Lavinia rated it 3 of 5 stars
Shelves: 2008, fiction
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Tal
Tal rated it 5 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed reading this book! I think it was great the contrast with mental age and emotional age. It was really strange the budding relationship between Charlie and the teacher - being a teacher. It well-written and easy to read. I like that it was mostly story and not a lot of background information - my best type of read! I was a little put off by the thought process that genius Charlie realized that retarded Charlie went through. That was not believable for me. Other than that - a real...more
Kimberly
Kimberly rated it 5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: someone in love.
I finished Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, which I picked up a few months back on some nostalgic childhood whim. I remember reading it when I was probably 10 or 11, I'm thinking it was 5th grade, and have been left all these years with the distinct impression that it was one of the best things I'd ever read. Not quite remembering the intricacies of the plot, I was curious to see why that was and if it is still true. It is.

I have said this before, although perhaps not comprehen...more
Karen
Karen is currently reading it
This book is very interesting. I started to read it when I was in the 7th grade, but my teacher told me to stop reading it because it was "inappropriate". But even after I put the book back I knew it wouldn't be for long. The book stayed in my head. So I'll share a little bit about this fasinating book. It is about a man named Charlie Gordon. He is 34 years old and he is mentally retarded. Even though he is mentally retarded he tries extremely to "be smarter" as he says. That...more
Adam Silvera
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Jen Fabico
At first, I was a little hesitant to pick up this book. I had no clue what it was about and the book clerk just told me it was a story about a disability. So I bought it. That's a good reason to buy a book, right?

It actually wasn't too bad of a book and made me think twice about our society today and the norms which we have created for ourselves. Not to say that the book was great, because it wasn't, but it definitely teaches the reader to question their own beliefs on human abilities ...more
Lauren Alparaz
I chose this book because critics like the New York Times called this book a classic, a must read, and one of my goals over winter break was to read a classic book. "Flowers for Algernon" is about a mentally retarded man named Charlie Gordon who undergoes a surgery making him incredibly intelligent, but over time he goes back to being mentally retarded. My favorite quote was, "Alice knows everything about me now, and accepts the fact that we can only be together for a short while....more
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Flowers For Algernon Discussion 8 51 Jan 31, 2012 03:40pm  
is it better to have learned and lost...? 15 54 Jan 02, 2012 02:26am  
MBC Book Club: The Movie 3 4 Nov 11, 2011 08:25pm  
MBC Book Club: Discussion Questions 1 5 Nov 02, 2011 03:07pm  
Questions 11 136 Sep 29, 2011 02:59am  
Cliff Robertson died 7 79 Sep 22, 2011 03:20am  
Pronunciation 3 42 Sep 16, 2011 03:46pm  
Flowers for Algernon (Mass Market Paperback)
Flowers for Algernon (Paperback)
Flowers for Algernon (Paperback)
Flowers for Algernon (Mass Market Paperback)
Flowers for Algernon (Heinemann Plays)

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“Its easy to make frends if you let pepul laff at you.” 90 people liked it
“Thank God for books and music and things I can think about."

--Charlie Gordan”
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