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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
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
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Not bad, just felt like every aspect of it could have been done better in some way
"It's lonely at the top" seems like a trite cliche, but this book pretty much proves it.
Charlie, a retarded adult, becomes an experimental subject in an intelligence-augmenting experiment and records his ever-changing impressions of the world in diary format. With promising initial results seen in Algernon, a lab mouse, the doctors go ahead with using Charlie as a human subject. At his least intelligent, Charlie trusts everyone around him to the point where he believes people are his friends even when they are laughing at him. When he realizes what is really going on, he becomes very alienated and becomes even more so when his intelligence exceeds all the doctors and university professors who hate being contradicted.
Charlie imagines his old, retarded self as a separate person watching him from doorways and mirrors, waiting for his chance to return to his body.
Around the time I was reading this, I read a cracked.com article about people's suspicion of others that points out the average person in NOT out to get you, but most people think so anyway. It made me realize that maybe trusting people a little more than you think you ought to is really a way to enrich your own life... Sure, something bad might happen in the future, but constant vigilance wears you down.
Charlie, a retarded adult, becomes an experimental subject in an intelligence-augmenting experiment and records his ever-changing impressions of the world in diary format. With promising initial results seen in Algernon, a lab mouse, the doctors go ahead with using Charlie as a human subject. At his least intelligent, Charlie trusts everyone around him to the point where he believes people are his friends even when they are laughing at him. When he realizes what is really going on, he becomes very alienated and becomes even more so when his intelligence exceeds all the doctors and university professors who hate being contradicted.
Charlie imagines his old, retarded self as a separate person watching him from doorways and mirrors, waiting for his chance to return to his body.
Around the time I was reading this, I read a cracked.com article about people's suspicion of others that points out the average person in NOT out to get you, but most people think so anyway. It made me realize that maybe trusting people a little more than you think you ought to is really a way to enrich your own life... Sure, something bad might happen in the future, but constant vigilance wears you down.
Read [b:Flowers for Algernon|18373|Flowers for Algernon|Daniel Keyes|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166910991s/18373.jpg|3337594] in high school and found it really devastating. It's one of those books that make you hate yourself for being "normal" and shows how awful people can be. I'm making my kid read it because it's good and one of those life experiences that hopefully will make him more aware of...stuff.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Experience: Served as lighting and sound designer on a college production of Flowers for Algernon.
This is a wonderfully written play, which captures a huge gamut of emotions and deeply important questions. A really excellent script to work with. Productions with a talented actor playing Charlie (which we were lucky enough to have) are likely to succeed even with a less-experienced ensemble.
A note to fellow designers: this script can seem like a screenplay at times. If you follow the script, there are sometimes set changes while the lights are up, which can be quite challenging. Our production resorted to frequent blackouts, which was very ineffective and distracting. This play is either best performed with a minimalist set, or else in a theatre with a large crew of stage hands and substantial motorized rigging.
This is a wonderfully written play, which captures a huge gamut of emotions and deeply important questions. A really excellent script to work with. Productions with a talented actor playing Charlie (which we were lucky enough to have) are likely to succeed even with a less-experienced ensemble.
A note to fellow designers: this script can seem like a screenplay at times. If you follow the script, there are sometimes set changes while the lights are up, which can be quite challenging. Our production resorted to frequent blackouts, which was very ineffective and distracting. This play is either best performed with a minimalist set, or else in a theatre with a large crew of stage hands and substantial motorized rigging.
challenging
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Eh