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luciacay11ahua's review
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Heart shattering and devastating. Finished in one sitting. Never gave it back to my middle school teacher… sorry queen.
It’s one of those books you ponder about when you’re pants down on the toilet or you know when you space out while driving and think of sad things?? Yea you’ll think of this book.
It’s one of those books you ponder about when you’re pants down on the toilet or you know when you space out while driving and think of sad things?? Yea you’ll think of this book.
Content Warnings
Minor: Ableism, Mental illness, and Animal death
hannahwilsch's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
madalina0_0's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Violence and Mental illness
Minor: Physical abuse and Abandonment
nb_leftist's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-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? It's complicated
4.0
Absolutely rife with ableism. The beginning is pretty rough in that regard, and the ending slowly starts to return to it. There is one part which is quite racist towards Asian people as it describes yellowface and such. All of this is pretty much to be expected from a book written in the 50s. Other than that though it does a really good job of portraying a lot of ableism in our society. There are parts that I am surprised were written in the 50s as they could have been written today. Keyes discusses topics of dehumanization of people who are disabled, how Charlie is considered only human when he is "intelligent". It also talks about the uselessness of IQ testing and discusses early arguments about whether it is a valid form of measuring intelligence. It talks about the "de-sexualization" of people with disabilities; how people with disabilities are not allowed to be sexual. I do also think that having read a bunch of Freud right before reading this book allowed me to extract much more of value as it revolves around the practice of psychology and specifically psycho-analysis and freudian stages of psychosexual development. Other types of psycho-therapy and other psychological theories are left out, but once again, it's a book from the 50s, not exactly expecting much else, in other words, it is definitely an interesting exhibition of one of the sides of the debate in psychology during the time of publishing.
I would say that the ending is quite disappointing. Throughout the book Charlie discusses his anger at Professor Nemur refusing to admit his humanity pre-op but when he goes to see his family, both his mother and his sister talk about him as if he wasn't a human and finally he's "here", or that Norma is so happy to "finally have a brother", and his reaction is not anger or sadness but is instead "fulfilled", even though certainly he would have had a different reaction.
I think this made sense, I usually try not to write reviews very quickly after finishing the book as it allows my thoughts to be fresh and not disappear in an ADHD wipe (lmao), so this might not make a ton of organizational sense but it is the order of my thoughts within 5-10 minutes after finishing the book.
I would say that the ending is quite disappointing. Throughout the book Charlie discusses his anger at Professor Nemur refusing to admit his humanity pre-op but when he goes to see his family, both his mother and his sister talk about him as if he wasn't a human and finally he's "here", or that Norma is so happy to "finally have a brother", and his reaction is not anger or sadness but is instead "fulfilled", even though certainly he would have had a different reaction.
I think this made sense, I usually try not to write reviews very quickly after finishing the book as it allows my thoughts to be fresh and not disappear in an ADHD wipe (lmao), so this might not make a ton of organizational sense but it is the order of my thoughts within 5-10 minutes after finishing the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit, Ableism, Child abuse, and Terminal illness
Minor: Racial slurs and Racism
jiachireads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, Bullying, and Ableism
talia03's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, and Child abuse
Minor: Animal death, Dementia, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
alanisb's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Ableism
Moderate: Physical abuse and Emotional abuse
Minor: Alcohol and Sexual content
sboucher's review
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism
Includes outdated terminology that could be offensive to somestrqda's review
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Child abuse
rlgreen91's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-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
4.0
There were a lot of gems about human nature and ability in this book - almost enough to distract me from the sadness pervading it and my question of why a book club would choose to read this during the holidays. But alas, there's no escaping it - this is a sad book. Hopefully, it's something that also makes you think about the nature of human ability and how we treat people based on where they fall in the spectrum of human ability. As much as we may wish some of the depictions are dated artifacts of 1960s New York, the fact is that many of them are still present today, just in a slightly different way.
Overall, this was a good, although not necessarily enjoyable, read. I could have done without the whole Alice/Fay plotline though. 4 stars.
Overall, this was a good, although not necessarily enjoyable, read. I could have done without the whole Alice/Fay plotline though. 4 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Ableism, and Child abuse
Moderate: Dementia
Minor: Homophobia