Book Reviews of Flowers for Algernon

This is the most exciting and heartbreaking book I have read in a long time. I can see why it is a classic.
This book is about a man, Charlie Gordon, in his 30's who has an IQ of 68 and a strong desire to learn to read and write. Through a class for retarded adults at a local college, he finds out that a study is going on to test an operation that is supposed to increase a person's IQ. The rest of the story is about the operation, study, and Charlie's participation in them. The format of the book is that of a journal through which, in Charlie's words, we learn of his depressing childhood and his reactions as he does indeed become smarter and can finally understand things about his life that were beyond him until the operation. It is a very uplifting and emotional story that is, even after all these years, (since 1956) still original and haunting. I recommend this book to everyone!

As a rule, if a book is on "required reading lists" I won't like it. This book is very much the exception to this rule. I read Flowers for Algernon the first time 35+ years ago when a Jr. high teacher suggested it. I'm sure I "got it" to some degree then but rereading it now I have to say it is one of the most poignant books on the human condition I have ever read.
If you have never read it do so, if it has been several years it is time for a reread.

I don't know why I never read this before now, but I'm glad I did. It was very moving and thought-provoking. A must-read.

I thought this book was pretty good, but it was very sad, disturbing. I'm glad I finally read it.

A story of a human experiment -- tampering with human intelligence and a love triangle between two people. This story is utterly fascinating if you know the story behind the story. Flowers of Algernon was originally a short story that was translated into English. The character "Charlie" undergoes several operations upon his brain with some rather unexpected results that will make you laugh and cry.

Flowers for Algernon is written as personal journal entries, starting before the experiment and leading the reader through it and what happens afterwards.

The journal technique is quite effective in bringing the reader into the story and conveying Charlie's intelligence level, using spelling and grammar as superficial clues and the sophistication of Charlie's observations as a deeper clue to his current intelligence level. Over the course of the book, the writing slowly becomes more sophisticated, in tune with the underlying thoughts. I liked the balance between first-person immediacy and thoughtful retrospective that the format of a journal entry at the end of each day or two provides.

While this is clearly speculative fiction, the point of Flowers for Algernon isn't the technology that lets Charlie become more intelligent but rather how people react to him, both before and afterwards, as his perceptions of the world change. This is, in part, a sharp rebuke of the way that the mentally retarded are treated, but there are also interesting explorations of identity, friendship, and the results of revisiting one's past. There are several wonderfully memorable characters, particularly the free-living artist living next door.

Parts of this book are a bit painful to read, particularly Charlie's attempts to come to terms with his sex life, and the pacing does suffer from the expansion from a short story in a few places. The story also isn't easy; human cruelty and failings are sharply portrayed. But this is a classic of science fiction for well-deserved reasons, even though there isn't much here in the way of science. The reader's growing ability to understand Charlie and Charlie's attempts to understand himself touch on the exploration of alienness and human reactions to it that underpin so many great science fiction stories. Highly recommended.

Wonderful, read it for school

Wonderful! My eighth grade literature students loved it too! (good for reluctant high school readers)

A classic science fiction "must read".

I read this book back in the 70's. I just re-read it in Sept 2006. With a few tiny exceptions, (ie stenographs), it is just as relevant today. An excellent book.

Excellent book about a human experiement with a boy named Charlie. This was also a movie.

This was an assigned read for a college level sci-fi literature class. It was interesting topic, although sad, I feel that it was worth reading.

This was a great book. I reccomend it to anyone.

Got this book for my son for English class at school, but also recall the sad, dramatic story as a movie.

From the back: Flowers for Algernon made its first appearance as a short story which was rapidly and widely anthologized, and translated internationally. It received further acclaim asa memorable television drama, and as a motion picture production. Now, full-bodied and richly-peopled, Flowers for Algernon is the daring novel of a startling human experiment!

From the back of the book
Flowers for Algernon made it firts appearance as a short story which
as rapidly and widely anthologized, and translated international.
This fascinating tale of a daring human experiment has been described as " a love triangle between two people," a suspenseful, gripping story, " and a brilliant fanstasy." It is all these things. It is one of the most strikingly original and engrossing novels of our time!