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taleofabibliophile's review against another edition
2.75
Graphic: Medical content, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Dementia, Medical trauma, and Mental illness
Moderate: Abandonment, Pregnancy, Violence, Sexual content, and Blood
Minor: Excrement and Suicidal thoughts
lizdon's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Medical content, Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Excrement, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Vomit
pandemonicbaby's review
- 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
3.5
First of all, I do really like the concept. The story is intriguing: what if an intelectually disabled person had their intelligence enhanced by science? How would they turn out? How would the change their behaviour? Their interaction with the world around them? And most importantly, what would they find out about themselves in the process?
There are many questions this book brings about. I do think it did its job in answering them. It shows us the changes in the life of Charlie, after he goes through a scientific procedure to artifically augmentate his intellect, and how he reacted to them as he started to notice things that he hadn't before. My favourite part of the book is exactly that: the fact that - even though it was published in 1959 - it focuses on Charlie's trauma and him realizing the mistreatment that he used to suffer from people whom he thought were his friends; actions that, before the procedure, he didn't notice were ill-intentioned. It was a really innovative book that brought to light the struggles of the disabled community, - especially the *intelectually* disabled community - that often go overlooked. I feel like this could've been touched upon even more, but considering the time period, it was still enormously groundbreaking.
Anyhow, as Charlie notices during the development of the story, many people who seem to be good, intelligent and sophisticated do not hesitate in making fun of or using a disabled man for their own personal satisfactions. This is very important as it shows how anyone can contribute to ableism, even if they consider themselves to be a person of high moral standards.
However. I do feel that the writing itself lacked a bit of nuance - sometimes, it relied to much in tell, not show instead of the opposite. Some passages were very good at showing what Charlie was going through without outright saying it, but some lacked on that department and seemed to repeat an idea over and over, throwing it at the reader's face so that they'd get it.
Some of the conflict also seemed to be solved very quickly when it seemed like it would need a longer time to be processed, but even though it was rushed it didn't present itself as much of a detriment to the overall enjoyment of the book.
My biggest issue with the book, however, is that many times it seems obviously written by a man (you know what I mean), and sometimes the author seemed to write some things just to make the main character seem "cooler" as his intelligence progressed which kind of broke the immersion a bit. This as in, sometimes it seemed like Charlie was written to be an ideal "Cool Smart Guy" that didn't really fit the overall character.
It really makes you think that the best we can do, as humans, is cherish the love that we have while we still have it.
TL;DR: Although for me, personally, it could've been executed better, the concept of the story itself *is* intriguing and I believe this was a step forward regarding the understanding of disability and ableism by the general population.
Graphic: Bullying, Ableism, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Dementia, Excrement, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Incest, Stalking, Blood, Medical trauma, and Medical content
mayr3adsab00k's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Child abuse, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Grief, Mental illness, and Alcohol
Moderate: Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Violence
Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Dementia, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Cultural appropriation