Flowers for Algernon

by Daniel Keyes and SparkNotes

Book Overview

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 158663514X
• ISBN13: 9781586635145
• Release Date: July 2002
• Publisher: Sparknotes
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.2" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Very Touching Book...A Must Read

I was so surprised by this book. Flowers For Algernon was one of the best books I've read this year and I really wasn't expecting it. It is the story of Charlie Gordon, a man in his thirties with mental retardation. Charlie is the subject of a psychological research project at a university that is examining the effects of a new surgical procedure on mental retardation. Charlie's estranged sister gives the university permission to perform the procedure on Charlie. The procedure proves to be at least a temporary success and Charlie goes from having mental retardation to having an IQ of 185 in a manner of weeks. The experiment is initially tried on a white mouse named Algernon. Algernon is tested through a complex maze where he is rewarded by food after reaching the end. Charlie races Algernon with a maze of his own and receives a shock if he goes the wrong way. At the beginning of the book, Algernon beats Charlie to the finish line every time. But Charlie soon soars past Algernon and through the process grows close to the mouse. The book is written in the form of journal entries kept by Charlie for the experiment. At the beginning of the book, words are misspelled, ideas are vague, and relationships are simple. As the book progresses, so does Charlie's thought process and so do his relationships. Charlie learns what true love is as he falls in love with his teacher, Alice. He learns what physical love is as he comes into contact with his artistic and eccentric neighbor, Fay. And he learns the pains of relational love as he relives memories of his family and friends. What was most touching to me about this book were these flashbacks and moments of recognition. When Charlie was still mentally retarded, he didn't realize when people were laughing at him or making fun of him. He didn't realize that when his mother was crying it was because she was ashamed to have him as a son. But now that he has had this operation he is able to look back on these situations and realize what was going on. You can imagine the pain of this. Charlie is initially excited about "becoming smart". He's been teased throughout his life for "being a moron" and has been the subject of people's amusement. What Charlie soon finds is that acceptance is a hard thing to come by. Charlie goes straight from mentally retarded to genius. As a genius, he is seen as arrogant and absurd and is once again estranged by his peers.

I like this book oh so much because its smart.....

I saw this book at the store and picked it up so I mite be smart in reeding it. It looked nice. I reed it when I was littel but didnt remember. So I picked it agin. The storie unfoles like a flower. Witch mite be how it got the titel. I'm still not sure on that. I know that Charlie Gordon isn't to smart in the begining but later he starts to get smarter. I liked that part. It was after some sort of operashun to his brane. And then Charlie's knowledge base begins to expand and things start to become clearer. But with this improved clarity comes a realization that previously held friends may not have been so friendly. And growing up as a moron wasn't necessarily such a bad thing. Does he have friends now that he's getting smarter?Charlie begins his ascent into genius level as his IQ passes 150. But the accumulated knowledge that he soon possesses can't prepare him for the retarded emotional state that he still finds himself in. The barriers he must break down are monumental and seemingly insurmountable. Can he do it? Does he want to do it now that he knows more about the world around him? Is the operation a success? Or a failure? Will Charlie remain at genius level or slide back into idiocy? Reed the book to find out more. Its a good book to. I like it a lot. I think Ill reed it agin sumtime. Now I just have to remember were I put it...

excellent!!

Charlie Gordon's "progris riports" make up the majority of the text in Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon. In his early thirties, mentally challenged Charlie works at a bakery, cleaning up and running errands. The only thing that Charlie has ever wanted in life is for people to like him. He thinks that if he were smart, people would want to be his friend. Charlie tries hard to learn how to read and write, but it is a long, ongoing process. Charlie decides to take part in a study conducted by some professors at the school he attends. The experiment involves Charlie's having an extraordinary brain operation that will help him to become extremely intelligent. After the operation, Charlie's new IQ helps him to understand how common it is for people to be cruel to others. Charlie soon realizes that all his life, people have been laughing at him, not with him. As Charlie becomes smarter, vivid memories of his childhood begin to disturb him. Unfortunately, after a few months Charlie's intelligence begins to fade and he regresses to a worse mental state than before the experiment. This book truthfully portrays how people treat others different from themselves and how unkind we can be to each other. We are able to get a glimpse of what it feels like to be made fun of and looked down upon by others. Unfortunately, this book is on the Banned Book List. Censors claim that "explicit love scenes were distasteful." It also contains limited profanity and references to drinking. I believe that these scenes are essential to understanding how Charlie is progressing mentally as well as emotionally. They also are necessary to help us understand the characters' personalities. I feel certain that eight graders and above would be able to handle this book. I would certainly recommend it to adults as well as young people.

Truly touching

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.

Great Book! Very Original! Very Good!

Flowers For Algernon is a very powerful book about a retarded man named Charly, who has an experimental operation done on him to make him a genius. I enjoyed this book for many reasons, one was the craft. The book is written in the form of Charly's journal, and as Charly gets smarter his spelling, grammar, vocabulary, etc. become more advanced. This allows the reader to see how he gets smarter through other means than what the book tells one. I also liked the characters, Charly in particular. I found it very interesting how Charly described being able to remember complicated things when before the operation he struggled to learn simple things. I also thought that all of the characters were very interesting and essential to the story. Flowers For Algernon is also one of the most original books I have ever read. Its craft, characters, and plot were all very original and unlike any other book I've ever read. Overall a must read; I strongly advise you read Flowers For Algernon.