Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Flowers for Algernon

love it when media sets up a premise so well you know where it's going but you're still holding on to the hope it won't happen somehow. the last bit clenched my heart and spit it out like a prune. fuckkk
i realize that i got a bit of a different experience with this book because i listened to the audiobook and therefore didn't see charlie's spelling change over time. however i do think that worked in my favor in a way bc i took his thoughts more seriously from the beginning than i think i would have if just reading it and i wasn't frustrated. as someone who grew up praised for my intelligence having an epistolary novel from the perspective of someone whose intelligence and emotions wildly change... hit hard.
skimmed the short story that was the beginning of this. although it's much tighter and gets through a lot i think the full novel deals a lot more with the variety of human connections and how intelligence connects to that. the audiobook narrator did a really good job of making charlie sound different before and after the operation and emphasizing his emotions
with such an elegant name i did not expect so much of this to be about abuse. but god. flashbacks done well
it's always clear how charlie/charles can see the other version of himself. that's neat
god. algernon. the way he's an object of sympathy, a marker of progress, a friend to be saved, a being to be tested, a tragic prophecy
the desperation in the last few chapters when you just see charlie trying to hold on... not quite knowing what happened before

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kylahspages's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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samdalefox's review

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I'm still not sure I have the right words to do Flowers for Algernon justice. I loved this book. I was emotionally and intellectually invested from the start, and absolutely devastated by the end. One of the few books that have made me cry. One of the few books I will definitely re-read. Just Google quotes from the book for a taster.

Themes exploring: disability, mental capacity, discrimination, society's (and self) value of productivity over everything else, IQ, EQ, memory, ethical questions about scientific experimentation, philosophical questions around identity and existence, the human nature of connections to self, others, and animals, the human nature of 'othering' e.g. bullying vs compassion. A key question explored: Is ignorance really bliss? A key takeaway: compassion, love, and connection is more important than pure intellect.

The story is easy to read and superbly written, I didn't want to put it down. You really get a sense of Charly's thoughts and state of mind throughout. The changing grammar, lexicon, complexity of language, connection of ideas, frustration at himself, others, the world, all beautifully reflect his development.

I don't know what else to say. One of my favourite books of all time. I would definitely recommend. If anyone would like to buy me the perfect gift: a first edition copy of Flowers for Algernon please.

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sheentendo's review

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

I bought a copy because Reddit said this is one of the saddest books ever and so I wanted to see why it was hyped so much.

I admire the technical aspect of Charlie's reports. Not a lot mention it in their reviews, but the development of Charlie is done seamlessly. Sometimes I feel like I am reading something too private and feel uncomfortable (but of course snap back to oh this is fiction, silly me.)

It's a heavy and disturbing read so it took me longer than usual to finish. Charlie's POV evoked a lot of emotions and thoughts about the experiment, relationships, and flowers. After finishing the book I'll probably still think about it every now and then.

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rainbow_colored_glasses's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

"It's easy to have friends if you let people laugh at you. I'm going to have a lot of friends where I go."

❇ It's incredible how the writing it's done in a way we can gradually see Charlie changing. That was a fundamental touch following the main plot;
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❇ The audiobook (narrated by Jeff Woodman) was perfect, you could see the difference in the writing and FEEL them through his voice;
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❇ One thing that pushed me back pushed was the ableism in this book; Charlie's own parents were terrible to him. His mother in denial that his son wasn't "normal", his father being neglectful and the doctors themselves were terrible too.;
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❇ In approximately 2/3 of the book it was SO tiring and monotonous that I had to stop but mostly it was really well done, the beginning and the end;
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Basically this books finished me and brought me so much pain just by thinking about it. It felt like something that could really happen. On a less serious note: there's an overdose of white people in it (the kind of think you expect for a book written in 1959).

❇ The parallels Charlie makes between what's happening in his life and his memories of his past, not to mention the dreams and the reality of them. art.;
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❇ It's truly devastating to see he navigate his life with open eyes and realize how people around him who he before hold dearly were actually AWFUL;
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❇ It's unclear but it felt like all the trauma he went through made him forgot most of his childhood and even his parents names and faces. Along with the memories that after the surgery reappear in his head.
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❇ It made me so sad to see Charlie growing and dismissing what before was his goals and becoming someone else entirely-
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❇ Guorino is a freaking scam want money and gave unnecessary trauma from unknowing people
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❇ It felt so realistic (?) the whole ideia of doing-a-surgery-to-be-smart coming from ✨trauma✨
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❇ I have SO MANY problems with his mom, for starters: she shouldn't even have kids, she just started treating her kid *even worse* when she found out she could have other children without mental disorders and before that she was terrible to him, always talking shit about him in the very room he was in and then pretending he wasn't listening and if he were that wouldn't matter too because 'he wouldn't understand anyway'
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❇ his sister's development WAS FANTASTIC but I was a little pissed because we all knew her as terrible for later she actually grow into a proper person?
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❇ His regression was so hard to read, that hurt so much, working at the bakery again and the bullying again, the workers at the bakery being his "friends" again after he became like he was before-

- Quotes:
"Charlie, you amaze me. In some ways you're so advance and yet, when it comes to making a decision you're still a child. I can't decide for you, Charlie. The answer can't be found in books or be solved by bringing it to other people, not unless you want to remain a child all your life. You've got to find the answer inside you, feel the right thing to do. Charlie, you've got to learn to trust yourself."

"There is no question about it now. I'm in love. "

"It's easy to have friends if you let people laugh at you. I'm going to have a lot of friends where I go.
PS: please if you get a chance put some flowers on Algernon's grave in the backyard"

"If you ever reed this Miss Kinnian dont be sorry for me Im glad I got
a second chanse to be smart becaus I lerned a lot of things that I never even
new were in this world and Im grateful that I saw it all for a litte! bit."

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