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seagul's review against another edition
5.0
Heartbreakingly beautiful
Merged review:
Heartbreakingly beautiful
Merged review:
Heartbreakingly beautiful
gabrielanbt's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
gabyadams's review against another edition
4.0
so heartbreaking what the fuck
Merged review:
so heartbreaking what the fuck
Merged review:
so heartbreaking what the fuck
seke09's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
cosmicbutton's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
majorharris162's review against another edition
4.0
The book was pretty good! The story was very interesting and I really liked how the writing changes throughout the book depending on how intelligent Charlie is. But I didn’t really get connected to Charlie/Algernon enough that I really got sad at the end when it implied that they both died. Another thing was the romance between Miss Kinnian and Charlie was forced and I didn’t think they had any chemistry. Again it was a good book, but I think it had some flaws.
Merged review:
The book was pretty good! The story was very interesting and I really liked how the writing changes throughout the book depending on how intelligent Charlie is. But I didn’t really get connected to Charlie/Algernon enough that I really got sad at the end when it implied that they both died. Another thing was the romance between Miss Kinnian and Charlie was forced and I didn’t think they had any chemistry. Again it was a good book, but I think it had some flaws.
Merged review:
The book was pretty good! The story was very interesting and I really liked how the writing changes throughout the book depending on how intelligent Charlie is. But I didn’t really get connected to Charlie/Algernon enough that I really got sad at the end when it implied that they both died. Another thing was the romance between Miss Kinnian and Charlie was forced and I didn’t think they had any chemistry. Again it was a good book, but I think it had some flaws.
youngthespian42's review against another edition
5.0
This book touched me in profound ways. I am neurodivergent and Charlie’s experience speak to my own. I don’t understand how this book could be read as ableist and it feels ahead of it’s time in the debate of IQ/EQ and how we measure intelligence. Any one who has struggled with belonging in a neurotypical world should read this. Have space for it and a plan as it was really triggering for me.
eesh25's review against another edition
4.0
I've been trying to figure out what to make of this book. Going in, the only expectation I had, given the format, was the I'd get to see the changes in Charlie's intelligence from the way he wrote the letters, and I got that.
The book is about a few different things. Mainly it's about Charlie, a man with a mental development disability, who volunteers for an experiment that will increase his intelligence. And throughout the book, we deal with the various repercussion the success of this experiment has. And those repercussions have to do with the experiment itself, how well it works, and with how the experiment changes Charlie and the people around him. The sci-fi elements are minimal though since the novel mainly deals with Charlie's self-discovery and some thoughts about people and their behaviour.
My favourite part of the book was, without a doubt, the effect Charlie's increase in intelligence had on his emotional state. Charlie gets smart very fast, and it opens to him so many things about his past that he'd never understood before. But emotionally, he's still a child and struggles to deal with the discoveries. His thoughts and actions reflect that.
Honestly, the entire book is written very well. Even the couple of writing choices I didn't like fit Charlie's personality. Like a few months after the experiment, Charlie would use several paragraphs to describe something in a convoluted way even though the same could've been said in half as many words, and simpler ones at that. But again, that was the person Charlie was at the time. And the only issue I had with that was how much smarter Charlie got. I would've preference normal smart instead of him becoming possibly the smartest human to ever exist.
I'm also not entirely sure how I felt about Charlie's backstory. I guess that's just not something I wanted with this book. It was so personal and heartbreaking. And though I didn't dislike it, I was a bit indifferent toward the existence of the subplot.
One last complaint, and this the only real one. I didn't like how the female characters were written. One was a manic pixie dream girl, plain and simple. The other was a flawed person I could've gotten behind. But the relationship she had with Charlie never made sense to me. It was honestly a tad creepy. And she was too emotionally fragile for me to see her as a positive presence in Charlie's life the way the book wanted me to.
The aspects of the story relating to human nature were done well. Some of them were from the flashbacks of Charlie's family, but a lot of them had to do with how his coworkers and doctors treated him before and after he started getting smart. And some even related to Charlie's own behaviour.
Finally, the ending was good. It wasn't a surprise since the GR synopsis itself gives it away, and the book doesn't make a secret of it either. I liked both what it was and how it was written. So overall, I had a few issues, but I liked the book, and I recommend checking it out.
The book is about a few different things. Mainly it's about Charlie, a man with a mental development disability, who volunteers for an experiment that will increase his intelligence. And throughout the book, we deal with the various repercussion the success of this experiment has. And those repercussions have to do with the experiment itself, how well it works, and with how the experiment changes Charlie and the people around him. The sci-fi elements are minimal though since the novel mainly deals with Charlie's self-discovery and some thoughts about people and their behaviour.
My favourite part of the book was, without a doubt, the effect Charlie's increase in intelligence had on his emotional state. Charlie gets smart very fast, and it opens to him so many things about his past that he'd never understood before. But emotionally, he's still a child and struggles to deal with the discoveries. His thoughts and actions reflect that.
Honestly, the entire book is written very well. Even the couple of writing choices I didn't like fit Charlie's personality. Like a few months after the experiment, Charlie would use several paragraphs to describe something in a convoluted way even though the same could've been said in half as many words, and simpler ones at that. But again, that was the person Charlie was at the time. And the only issue I had with that was how much smarter Charlie got. I would've preference normal smart instead of him becoming possibly the smartest human to ever exist.
I'm also not entirely sure how I felt about Charlie's backstory. I guess that's just not something I wanted with this book. It was so personal and heartbreaking. And though I didn't dislike it, I was a bit indifferent toward the existence of the subplot.
One last complaint, and this the only real one. I didn't like how the female characters were written. One was a manic pixie dream girl, plain and simple. The other was a flawed person I could've gotten behind. But the relationship she had with Charlie never made sense to me. It was honestly a tad creepy. And she was too emotionally fragile for me to see her as a positive presence in Charlie's life the way the book wanted me to.
The aspects of the story relating to human nature were done well. Some of them were from the flashbacks of Charlie's family, but a lot of them had to do with how his coworkers and doctors treated him before and after he started getting smart. And some even related to Charlie's own behaviour.
Finally, the ending was good. It wasn't a surprise since the GR synopsis itself gives it away, and the book doesn't make a secret of it either. I liked both what it was and how it was written. So overall, I had a few issues, but I liked the book, and I recommend checking it out.
izzylashley's review against another edition
5.0
I was not expecting how sad this was going to be wtf