Reviews with content warning for Grief - Flowers for Algernon

Flowers for Algernon spoke to me on another level. I even started underlining and annotating this book (this is unusual behavior, I don't usually draw in my books!). It's definitely one of those types of books that you can feel the significance of, or that you could imagine writing a long, complicated essay on at school (which I probably would enjoy.)

I really enjoyed the themes discussed in this book and I found them so incredibly relatable. It is particularly heartbreaking to see how Charlie is being abused and laughed at when he isn't capable of knowing better. I also picked up on some things that made me wonder if Charlie may have been autistic / on the autism spectrum, especially one scene where he remarks how his old teacher used to tie his hands around his chair to stop him fidgeting (I feel like this may have been a stim.) The moment with him attempting to learn how to make the bread rolls at the bakery was probably one of my favourite scenes, as it is one of the most detailed sections where we see how Charlie's brain used to function, and how he could learn but the impatience and lack of encouragement from others made it almost impossible. This scene really presses the need to be patient with people and recognise that all people learn differently. I also enjoyed the scene where Charlie gets drunk at the conference and argues with Nemur. I hate to use a cliche, but this book is very thought-provoking.

I had a couple of issues with the book though. Firstly, I felt like the pace dropped a bit near the middle of the book and my interest definitely started to wane a bit. This book is kind of plotless and winding, with lots of random flashbacks. This isn't necessarily a downside, but I didn't feel like the great quotes scattered throughout were always enough to completely hold my interest and make me feel inclined to pick it up. This is especially true because of my second point: the blurb and synopsis for this book I always see is way to spoiler-y

Algernon doesn't die until the last 30 pages, and we don't even find out about his regression until the second half of the book. When we find out that Algernon has regressed, (from the synopsis) it's kind of obvious that Charlie will as well. This kind of lessened the emotional impact as I always felt like I was waiting to be told the 'plot-twist' of Algernon dying. I also felt that the ending scene may have been a bit brief.

My last complaint is the female representation. I understand that a large part of this novel is around Charlie's intelligence developing at a disproportional rate to his emotional / sexual 'intelligence' (if you will). This leads to Charlie often describing women based on how attractive they are. It makes sense, but it didn't mean I was any less annoyed about it. I also kind of felt bad for Alice in this book, she was kind of treated like shit whilst Charlie was trying to banish the fear instilled in him by his mother, but then she came straight back. It just kind of rubbed me up the wrong way to hear about how attractive every woman he met was. Is it so much to ask to have a decent female character in a classic sci-fi novel?

Little rant over, I want to rate this book 4.5 stars. I enjoyed it immensely and would strongly recommend it, however I don't think it will make it in with my very favourite books.

Content Warnings

mayr3adsab00k's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

eve_leclercracine's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I had never heard of this book before joining “BookTok”. I picked it up because I was promised that I would be devastated and left crying for hours.
Unfortunately, after reading this, I can confirm that this was not the case for me.
Although it was super sad and there were moments when I was left speechless towards people’s puis poor attitudes, I did not shed a single tear.
Whether this says more about my expectations or me as a person has yet to be determined.

Content Warnings

More...