Flowers for Algernon

by Daniel Keyes

book data

17,438 ratings, 3.88 average rating, 1,203 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		28%
4		38%
3		25%
2		5%
1		1%

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published

May 1st 2005 (first published 1959) by Harvest Books

binding

Paperback, 324 pages

characters

Charlie Gordon, Alice Kinnian

literary awards

Nebula Award for Best Novel (1967)

isbn

0156030306 (isbn13: 9780156030304)

description

Daniel Keyes wrote little SF but is highly regarded for one classic, Flowers for Algernon. As a 1959 novella it won a Hugo Award; the 1966 novel-lengt...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 20,915)

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05/09/07

Amy rated it:

(review of isbn 0553274503)

bookshelves: own, read-multiple-times

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

Like this review? yes (7 people liked it)

5 comments

11/13/07

Hui Lin rated it:

bookshelves: 9th

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: people who wants to know MORE about people with disabilities

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 scie...more

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

15 comments

03/16/08

Madame Charlotte rated it:

(review of isbn 2290312959)

bookshelves: _romans

Read in January, 2007

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 pass�...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

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06/14/08

Ariella rated it:

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

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09/19/08

Jim rated it:

(review of isbn 0553124986)

bookshelves: science-fiction

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

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

1 comment

05/31/08

Leslie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

1 comment

06/06/08

Jackie rated it:

bookshelves: 5-star, formative, pleasure-reading, youth-school-reading

Read in January, 1978

This is one of my favorite books, and movies, of all time. Gotta love a good tear jerker told in a profound way.

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10/29/08

Jean Holloway rated it:

Oh, my, I'd forgotten about this one. An ALL-TIME fav! I laughed, cried, U name it. WONDERFUL!!

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

2 comments

11/13/08

Cepellos rated it:

Read in October, 2008

recommended to Cepellos by: Mr. Colmenares.
recommends it for: people who like coming-of-age stories or stories of self-discovery.

Charlie Gordon is a 33-year-old retardate who undergoes surgery that's supposed to make him smarter. His explosive mental and intellectual development quickly outpaces his emotional level, and as he discovers the truth about the world around him (i.e. how cruel people can be, how complicated life and relationships can get, etc.) he gets very sadly disillusioned.

After my sister (and roommate), Pati, re-read this book, she pointed out a few things to me that I hadn't quite considered:...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

1 comment

09/26/08

Lucy rated it:

Read in October, 2008

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 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 considers his life good and happy because he has lots and lots of friends. He is aware, however, of not being very smart. He thinks if he can learn to read and write properly, he'll be smart and able to understand and participate in what everyone else is talking about.

When an opportunity to undergo an experimental surgery as part of a neuro-psychological study to artificially increase intelligence arises, he happily signs on. He can't wait to become smart.

Algernon is the name of a mouse who has reached unprecedented levels of intelligence following the same surgical procedure. Charlie, the first human subject, mirrors Algernon's success and reaches levels of intelligence far beyond what the doctors behind the study are capable of understanding. Alongside his increased intelligence are emerging emotional capabilities, such as romantic feelings towards women, and troubling memories he was previously unable to remember or understand with his lower IQ, about his childhood and friends.

The entire story is important and poignant. The author, Daniel Keyes, includes part of Plato's, The Republic, to begin the story. Plato writes:

Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderment of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he sees any one whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter life, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light. And he will count the one happy in his condition and state of being, and he will pity the other; or, if he have a mind to laugh at the soul which comes from below into the light, there will be more reason in this than in the laugh which greets him who returns from above out of the light into the den.

I don't know if he read Plato's words and then wrote this story, or if he serendipitously found it afterward, but it is the perfect prologue. As Charlie adjusts his sight from living in the den of his limited mind to the brighter light of understanding, the growing pains the rest of us have had years to adjust and become accustomed to, are uncomfortable and awkward.

Likewise, at the peak of Charlie's intelligence, when he viewed the world around him in the brightest light possible, Charlie understands the flaws of the experiment that those who developed it were unable to see. With that understanding, the tragedy of watching him lose his grip on so much knowledge feels overwhelming.

As far as being commonly banned, I have no idea, at all, how this could be. The only thing even mildly questionable, to me, is Charlie's struggle to come to terms with the negative sexual conditioning he received from his mother as a boy. As he begins to express the feelings he has for women in general, and specifically towards Alice, a woman he loves, he struggles to understand, beyond theoretically, the complexities of the male-female relationship. While these situations are included, I actually think it's a critical part of the discussion of light and dark. Perhaps not for middle schoolers, but definitely for those of us who live with our own conditioning and judgment.

I highly recommend reading this. Even if you know you've read it long ago for school, read it again as an adult. And then test your own eyes. (less)

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03/02/08

Julie rated it:

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

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10/03/07

Joseph rated it:

bookshelves: booksiloved

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: Teens

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

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04/29/08

Sri rated it:

Read in April, 2008

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

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05/04/07

Jessica rated it:

(review of isbn 0553274503)

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in April, 2007

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

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

1 comment

12/31/08

Cassandra added it

Read in October, 2006

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.

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

1 comment

08/06/07

Bryce rated it:

Has a copy to sell/swap

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

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10/27/08

Lavinia rated it:

bookshelves: 2008, fiction

Read in November, 2008

unfortunately at one point i accidentally opened the book at the last page and although i didn't read it, i saw the spelling mistakes and everything was clear, the mystery revealed and the ending spoiled.
i'm not sure though whether i liked it or it was just ok. i enjoy 1st person narrative, diaries and confessions, so probably that's the reason i would say i liked it. and yes, my curiosity would have been satisfied if more psychological explanations were given, regarding the surgery and ev...more

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01/14/08

Tal rated it:

Read in June, 2008

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

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

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03/23/09

Kimberly rated it:

Read in March, 2009

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

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02/28/09

Omo added it

you would think the main characters name is algernon but its not. that is his pet rats name. this book is about a mentally challenge man who gets an operation to make him smarter. he takes the deal and the operation does indeed make him smarter. you will be able to tell because in the beginning his word are spelled like a kindergartner wrote them and then as you get deeper into the book you see the spellings of the words being correct. but even though it has made him smarter he still lacks the k...more

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quotes from this book

"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 little boy--had foolishly played the clown (177)." More quotes...