Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2285 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 324 pages

Amazon.com
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-length expansion won a Nebula. The Oscar-winning movie adaptation Charly (1968) also spawned a 1980 Broadway musical.

Following his doctor's instructions, engaging simpleton Charlie Gordon tells his own story in semi-literate "progris riports." He dimly wants to better himself, but with an IQ of 68 can't even beat the laboratory mouse Algernon at maze-solving:

I dint feel bad because I watched Algernon and I lernd how to finish the amaze even if it takes me along time.

I dint know mice were so smart.

Algernon is extra-clever thanks to an experimental brain operation so far tried only on animals. Charlie eagerly volunteers as the first human subject. After frustrating delays and agonies of concentration, the effects begin to show and the reports steadily improve: "Punctuation, is? fun!" But getting smarter brings cruel shocks, as Charlie realizes that his merry "friends" at the bakery where he sweeps the floor have all along been laughing at him, never with him. The IQ rise continues, taking him steadily past the human average to genius level and beyond, until he's as intellectually alone as the old, foolish Charlie ever was--and now painfully aware of it. Then, ominously, the smart mouse Algernon begins to deteriorate...

Flowers for Algernon is a timeless tear-jerker with a terrific emotional impact. --David Langford

From AudioFile
Flowers for Algernon is the journal of Charlie Gordon, a mentally retarded adult who becomes a genius after undergoing a brain operation. Keyes gives Charlie Gordon a voice that conveys the full range of emotions Charlie experiences before and after the operation. Keyes conveys the drama with such intensity that it becomes almost painful to listen: the yearning of an amiable adult who longs to be as smart as those around him, the pain of the transformed man who must live with the newfound memories of cruel childhood rejection, and finally the horror of his diminishing intellectual capacity. Flowers for Algernon has been popular in all its formatsÐshort story, television drama, movie and novel. This fine audio production should be equally so. C.R.A. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Review
"A tale that is convincing, suspectful and  touching..." -- The New York  Times.

"Fascinating, agonizing... Superb."  --Birmingham News.

"This novel should be on your 'must read'  list." -- Palm Beach Post-Times.  

"Strikingly original..." --  Publishers'  Weekly.

"Absorbing... Immensely original... Going to be read  for a long time to come." -- Library  Journal.

Customer Reviews

the second worst book ever
For the longest time I believed this was the worst book ever. After reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, I now realize it is the second worst book ever written. In both stories, nothing happens that is worth mentioning. It's just that kind of book that is critically acclaimed for how well it is written. However, the story is poor. I wrote better stories when I was in first grade.

Basically, things happen in chronological order as they would in real life. However, they are not connected. It's true that in real life not everything is connected. However, if I wanted to experience real life, I wouldn't read it, I would live it. The point of a book should be to tell an interesting story. That is not what this book does.

For book clubs or teens
It was a provocative and well written book. Both my teens also read and enjoyed it. I cringed at the look into how society treats mentally challenged individuals. The main characters have to make incredibly difficult and thought provoking choices. I cried at the end. It is short but has enough meat to be a great book club choice.

Are scientific advancements always good?
"Norma Screamed at her: "Mother! Put down that knife!" Seeing Rose standing there with the knife brought back a picture of that night when she had Matt take me away. She was reliving that now. I couldn't speak or move. The nausea swept over me now, the choking tension, the buzzing in my ears, my stomach knotting and stretching as if it wanted to tear itself out of my body. She had a knife, Alice had a knife, and my father had a knife and Dr. Strauss had a knife..."

The book Flowers for Algernon a science fiction novel by Daniel Keys is very intriguing, it begun with the surgery of 32 year old Charlie Gordan. Charlie lives in the suburbs of New York in the 1960's and is mentally challenged adult. With an IQ of 68 the surgery is meant to increase his intelligence by and almost triple his IQ. Once Charlie and his doctors notice a change in Algernon the lab rat who first had the operation they wonder if the same complications could turn up in Charlie. Will Charlie's IQ continue to sky rocket or will everything go very wrong? Could this hurt his relationship with the women he loves? Read FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON to find out!

I think that this story was so meaningful because of the strongly implied theme. That theme was that scientific advancement was not always positive. Scientist should realize that advancements are not always the best for human-kind and they don't have the right to change fate. Personally I strongly enjoyed this novel because it states a belief that I value. Science advancement I was delighted by this novel and think that anyone looking for an interesting book that changes the way you think about yourself, others and the world, then this would be a great book for you.