Customer Reviews

Flowers for Algernon

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Flowers for Algernon is the story of a man named Charlie who works in a factory. Charlie was eligible to partake in an experiment which would make him smarter. He was deemed low-functioning when he was approached about participating in the study and the researchers assured him that undergoing the operation in conjunction with the study would improve his cognitive capacity threefold. What he did not know was what the long-term repercussions of having this operation would be and whether the results would be permanent or not. The entire story line parallels the experience of Algernon- the mouse who the experiment is performed on at first. As the reader, we see Charlie's rise and subsequent deterioration follow that of the mouse.

The story follows Charlie's journal entries from the time he was a man with an IQ of 68 approaching the operation, to when he becomes a practical genius, having tripled his initial IQ. The story resolves itself as the reader follows the disintegration of Charlie's intellect back to the base from where he started, with the potential to drop even lower.

I think that this book is perfect for middle school-aged children because of the variety of issues that it addresses-both scientific and psychosocial. After Charlie undergoes the operation and his intellectual capacity nears its peak, Charlie's awareness of his self and the way that others perceive him, and did perceive him when he was low-functioning, becomes apparent to him. Charlie realizes that his coworkers made fun of him and he grapples with his ability to stay at a place where he had been treated with such little respect before.

Reading the story with middle schoolers, lends itself to discussing issues of tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion. It creates a forum to talk about disabilities and how to treat people we encounter who have disabilities. It forces the children to examine the idea of inclusion versus isolation and what that means and how that can impact children who exhibit no disabilities at all. The story also calls on readers to be critical about their own situations-how they perceive themselves, and what their level of awareness and consciousness is with respect to their peers and the social dynamics of their communities.

The story is also a great book to read with middle schoolers in the technology era because it lends itself to creating interdisciplinary units. The book is perfect for bringing in issues of medical ethics. It's possible to discuss topics with students like cloaning and cryogenic freezing-even robotics and reconstructive surgery. When do we take science too far and when does it do more harm than good?

Finally, this book is a great means for studying literary devices-like symbolism, metaphor, etc. Overall, the book is timeless in its application to life because it will only grow increasingly relevant as technology continues to confront us with moral and ethical dilemmas. The lessons that it teaches young teenagers about acceptance and tolerance are also invaluable.

This was one of the few books I had to read as a school assignment that I really liked. Charlie is a janitor with a low IQ, and thanks to an experimental operation, slowly becomes smarter and smarter until he's an absolute genius. But when the mouse Algernon (who was also made smarter by the same operation) starts to lose his intelligence, Charlie realizes he will suffer the same fate and desperately tries to find a way to prevent it from happening, but without success. Eventually Charlie is right back where he started at the beginning of the novel. He even gets his old job back as a janitor, and so goes full circle. It's a sad story at the end, but at least Charlie had enjoyed a few weeks of being a genius, even though he hardly remembers anything about it at the end. The title comes from Charlie's request at the end to put "flowers on Algernon's grave," since the mouse died and Charlie remembers enough about what happened to want to show his respect. Another good book we read with this one that was An Audience for Einstein, a story about a young boy who also has an operation to become smarter, but isn't told that his personality will be lost forever if it works.

With complete honesty, I can say that Flowers For Algernon is one of the best novels I've read in a very long time. Daniel Keyes tragic story about a human experiment gone terribly wrong is written in such a way that it is simultaneously poignant and thought provoking. His excellent writing and use of perspective takes us so deeply into Charlie's life that, by the end of the story, it takes a very strenuous effort for one to not feel sympathy towards Charlie's final fate.
Charlie Gordon is a 35-year-old man working in a bakery as a janitor. His IQ is 69, and he has a very hard time spelling and writing correctly. However, acting upon a leap of faith, Charlie agrees to allow his body to be experimented upon in an intelligence-increasing surgical operation. What happens after is nothing short of miraculous - Charlie soon turns into a genius with an IQ of 170, and becomes an "information sponge" that soaks in everything. His intelligence soon surpasses those of professors and the very same doctors who operated on him. His discussions with them soon turn one-sided, as his colleagues no longer have any idea what Charlie is talking about. However, he is still treated like a test subject instead of as a human being by other people. In his frustration and anger, Charlie runs away and decides to live independently. On this journey, we come to see of how intelligence is regarded in society, and how people have come to worship it. Towards the end of the story, Charlie makes a point of showing that intelligence by itself is nothing - only when intelligence pairs itself with affection will it ever amount to anything. Unfortunately, Charlie never retains the intelligence and knowledge he's gained, and by the end of the novel he loses it once again while returning back to a world of slow responses and poor writing and spelling.
Daniel Keyes represents the notion of intelligence excellently in this novel. By using Charlie's transformation from dimwit to genius as his vehicle, Keyes shows us that other virtues in life are regarded more highly then intelligence. Also, as we follow Charlie's tortured life, we can't help but realize that in some ways, a lack of higher intelligence can prove to be a benefit. Ignorance, in some parts of life, is bliss. By writing the novel as a collaboration of Charlie's private progress reports, the audience can easily connect with Charlie's personality. Thus, at the end of the story, when Charlie loses his intelligence once again, a feeling of sorrow can't help but be felt.

The first time I read "Flowers for Algernon", I needed to find a good book for my 9th grade first quarter book report. When I told my mom that "all the good books" were taken, she told me to find "Flowers for Algernon", and she guaranteed that I would love it. And I did. Since then, every person who has ever asked me for a reccomendation of a good book, I always tell them they need to read this book. The story is so beautifully told, and you really feel Charlie's emotions with him as you get into the story. I also love that it's not a book that makes fun of Charlie as a mentally challenged person, but it shows what it might be like to be mentally challenged.
Anyone who hasn't read this book needs to. It will change your life.

Charlie Gordon's life is about to change. Born with an unusually low IQ he is about to take part in an experiment that will increase his intelligence. It's already proved successful on a mouse named Algernon.

As the book begins, Charlie is writing down his actions in progress reports. He'll take ink blot test, and race Algernon through mazes to show how far he has progressed once he's had an operation that promises to make him smart. As Charlie grows in intelligence, he also grows as a person. Experiencing love for the first time, and the memories of his family. And as he gets even smarter he sees that he wants to help people like him.

Unfortunately, it comes at a few prices. He ultimately loses all his friends. Where dumb Charlie really was dumb, he was, for the most part, a likeable guy. As Charlie's intelligence increases, even surpassing the scientists who worked with him, he becomes arrogant.

But one day, Algernon's acquired intelligence begins to deteriorate. Now Charlie knows it is destined to happen to him, and it shows throughout his progress reports as he begins to lose the intelligence he once had. Not only is this a compelling story about one thing just about every human being wants--to be smart, to prove they're not dumb--but it's also a story about the human psyche. The emotions that Charlie feels, and even understanding them help us to even feel for Charlie.

The story is very effective because of the unique style it is written in. It is written exactly as Charlie thinks and talks. That is to say, in the beginning it is written as if by someone who is still taking elementary school English. But as the story moves forward, Charlie's style of writing improves. Again, however, it's effective because as he begins to change back to the same old Charlie Gordon, it is reflected in his writings... to the point where he can't even understand his own writing.

It should be noted that this book has had a major influence on pop culture. Influencing plays, three movies, and even being the inspiration for an episode of "The Simpsons," (where Homer gets a crayon removed from his brain) and "Rugrats" (whre Chuckie dramatically improves his sense of smell, only to find the experiment is a failure) among other television shows. It has also influenced reams of fiction including comic strips and short stories.

The story also hits a high emotional level. Upon reading it I found myself in tears by the end. It's a remarkable story. One that not only shows us the cost of intelligence, but the rewards of determination.

A beautiful story, if there ever was. So thought provoking and moving that after i had read the simple sentence that concluded it all "put flowers of Algernon's grave, thanks" I had to get up and run with the accumulation of fear and frustration left in me by the book.

I dont know where to begin. I guess what really moved me about the book was the ultimate differnce between the two charles. Both were human in the end and both could dream. One understood his surroundings more but the other was blissful becuase of his inability to not understand his surroundings. Did it matter? One was happy and the other was not. It really came down to which one
was more fit to live. In the end the intelligent one was the one fit to live, but at the same time the one who died.

My other was Algernon. I felt that in both stages of Charley's existence Algernon was the true companion. The humans were either gods or fools, but Algernon was always a force that Charly could relate to. Algernon was not a hypocrit or controling. He was Charley's companion and the one being who he could truely relate too at both levels of his intelligence.

I first read the novella version of "Flowers for Algernon" when I was in junior high school, and remember being profoundly moved by it. I recently decided to revisit the story in full-length form, and it's every bit as powerful as I had remembered, if not more so. Charlie Gordon suffers from phenylketonuria, a form of mental retardation. His IQ is only 68. He desperately wants to be smart, and when offered a chance to be the first human to undergo an experimental surgery that may increase his intelligence, Charlie is enthusiastic. The most recent test subject, a laboratory mouse named Algernon, underwent the surgery with tremendous success, and the researchers expect the same result with Charlie.

The story is told by Charlie himself, in the form of written progress reports intended to serve as data for the research team. The early reports are primitive, with terrible, inconsistent spelling and almost no punctuation to speak of: "I tolld dr Strauss and perfesser Nemur I cant rite good but he says it dont matter he says I shud rite just like I talk and like I rite compushishens in Miss Kinnians class at the beekman collidge center for retarded adults" (pg. 1). Charlie, 32 years old, thinks and writes as a child of six would. After the surgery, Charlie is initially disappointed, having expected that the operation's effects would take place immediately. He grows frustrated, but at last we begin to see changes taking place. The progress reports steadily improve, not only in spelling and grammar, but in substance and comprehension.

As Charlie reaches an average level of intelligence, he begins to realize that the world isn't as he originally perceived it. The other men at the bakery where he works, whom he thought were his friends, laughing and joking with him, have actually been laughing at him instead, making jokes at his expense. And as Charlie's IQ continues to climb, to 150, to 185, and onward, he finds himself just as alone and alienated on the other end of the spectrum as he had been with an IQ of 68. The tables are turned. Now it is the rest of the world that cannot understand him.

Charlie's progress reports are touching and thought-provoking, revealing a wealth of personal discovery and growth. Keyes has managed not only to allow us to see the changes in Charlie himself, but also to see how Charlie's perception of those around him changes throughout his progression. It's absolutely fascinating. But the story doesn't end there. The researchers' hopes that the experimental results will be permanent are called into question when the mouse Algernon begins to display strange, erratic behavior, an ominous foreshadowing of Charlie's own fate.

"Flowers for Algernon" is heartbreaking, but it is also beautiful, profound, and well worth anybody's time to read. Though successful ways to limit the effects of phenylketonuria, if begun early enough, have been developed since the story was written in 1959, the issues the book raises and the messages it carries are still as compelling as ever. Charlie's story is a stark reminder that all people, despite whatever handicaps they may have been dealt, are still people, with thoughts and emotions of their own, and deserve to be treated as such. The book is both a moving story of self-discovery, and a critical social commentary, and should not be missed by any thinking reader.

For the past 25 years I have bought this book for every teenager I have gotten to know. They have all thanked me for it. It is such a touching, wonderfully written story. In our world today we consistently witness the horror that results from the mistreatment and bullying of those who don't fit in. This is an engrossing tale of what it is like for those who are mentally disadvantaged, a tale of wonder, a tale of hope, a tale of real humanity. Please buy it and give it to young people you know. It is a story that is important for them to read.

This book is about a man named Chalrlie Gordon that hasn't mentallyand emotionally grown up. Charlie is 32 with an astonishing low I.Q. of 68. He is so determinded that he agrees to undergo an operation to increase his ability to learn but what Charlie learns is that the world is not quite what he thought it to be all his life. He learns that after all these years of thinking that his co-workers were his friends "laffing," (as he calls it) with him, they were only making fum of him to make themselves seem surpirior. Charlie Gordan's tale was much of innocence and as the story develops you start feeling how cruel the world really is. It was very touching and I give Daniel Keyes 5 stars.

I read this book a year ago and when I think of all the hardships he went through, I still cry. I enjoyed this book because of what it taught and how it puts you in a different world. Charlie Gordon a mentally-retarted man gets a chance to be "smart", but he finds that the world is difficult and full of horrors. Yes his intellect surpasses that of the doctors who operated and they, too become an foe. Algernon is the lab rat they tested the experiment on first, and now his brain is tuning to mush.

Will the same happen to Charlie? That is a question yo will have to fingd out. I'm no spoiler! But even if your older a tear could probably come to your eye, go and read this wonderful book. "Flowers for Algernon"