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web_h3ad's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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
depressedlaughter's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
ffordian's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
daja57's review against another edition
4.0
Scifi, but the best sort of Scifi, the sort of Scifi that involves the tweaking of a single parameter which changes the world, like Day of the Triffids and other books by the great John Wyndham.
It is set in the USA, in the early 1960s. Charlie Gordon is a 'retard'. He narrowly escapes being sent to an asylum for retards, getting a job sweeping up in a bakery through the kindness of the bakery owner. The other workers laugh at him and tease him and he is happy, thinking they are his friends.
Following the successful trial of a new neurosurgery technique on Algernon, a mouse who is better at navigating mazes than dumb Charlie, the surgeons operate on Charlie. Bit by bit, at first slowly but soon by leaps and bounds, Charlie's intelligence improves. The misspellings and poor punctuation disappear from his self-penned progress reports. He starts reading, and learning languages. He starts going to lectures at the university where he has had his surgery.
But it comes at a price. He realises that his 'friends' were patronising him, teasing him, humiliating him. Now, however, they aren't friends anymore because now that he is so much cleverer than them, they feel inadequate. As he grows clever and cleverer he starts to alienate the people who are working with him at the university too. He's much brighter than they are!
But he has problems with sex. He has emotional hang-ups from his childhood, when he was a retard, and when his mum was fearful that he would hurt his little sister.
And then (exactly half way through the book) Algernon shows signs that his mental improvement may be only temporary.
It's a great read. There are explicit references to Adam and Eve in it. About one third of the way through the nook, one of the bakery workers is decorating a wedding cake and tells Charlie: "It was evil when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge. It was evil when they saw they was naked, and learned about lust and shame. And they was driven out of Paradise and the gates was closed to them. If not for that none of us would have to grow old and be sick and die." (p83) which references the forbidden knowledge theme and the sex theme and foreshadows the closing of the book all in four sentences. Much later, Charlie picks up Paradise Lost: "I could only remember it was about Adam and Eve and the tree of Knowledge, but now I couldn't make sense of it." (p 222)
Less explicitly, the book echoes Frankenstein by Mary Shelley in its tale of a creature created and then rejected by its creator, a creature who is spurned by others and is lonely.
It is set in the USA, in the early 1960s. Charlie Gordon is a 'retard'. He narrowly escapes being sent to an asylum for retards, getting a job sweeping up in a bakery through the kindness of the bakery owner. The other workers laugh at him and tease him and he is happy, thinking they are his friends.
Following the successful trial of a new neurosurgery technique on Algernon, a mouse who is better at navigating mazes than dumb Charlie, the surgeons operate on Charlie. Bit by bit, at first slowly but soon by leaps and bounds, Charlie's intelligence improves. The misspellings and poor punctuation disappear from his self-penned progress reports. He starts reading, and learning languages. He starts going to lectures at the university where he has had his surgery.
But it comes at a price. He realises that his 'friends' were patronising him, teasing him, humiliating him. Now, however, they aren't friends anymore because now that he is so much cleverer than them, they feel inadequate. As he grows clever and cleverer he starts to alienate the people who are working with him at the university too. He's much brighter than they are!
But he has problems with sex. He has emotional hang-ups from his childhood, when he was a retard, and when his mum was fearful that he would hurt his little sister.
And then (exactly half way through the book) Algernon shows signs that his mental improvement may be only temporary.
It's a great read. There are explicit references to Adam and Eve in it. About one third of the way through the nook, one of the bakery workers is decorating a wedding cake and tells Charlie: "It was evil when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge. It was evil when they saw they was naked, and learned about lust and shame. And they was driven out of Paradise and the gates was closed to them. If not for that none of us would have to grow old and be sick and die." (p83) which references the forbidden knowledge theme and the sex theme and foreshadows the closing of the book all in four sentences. Much later, Charlie picks up Paradise Lost: "I could only remember it was about Adam and Eve and the tree of Knowledge, but now I couldn't make sense of it." (p 222)
Less explicitly, the book echoes Frankenstein by Mary Shelley in its tale of a creature created and then rejected by its creator, a creature who is spurned by others and is lonely.
saracha22's review against another edition
3.5
An important message. People with mental disabilities are full people deserving of love and respect. It felt too narrow in its scope within that message and a bit long winded for my taste. The progress reports and spelling changes added to the atmosphere in a different and interesting way, it really suited the story. Come away feeling meh about it.
ehsan1358's review against another edition
3.0
Superficial. Stereotype. Scientifically insignificant.
casakar's review against another edition
2.0
Is the relationship between intelligence and unhappiness directly proportional?
Is ignorance bliss? Or is it worth it to have known everything, and then had it taken from you and all you’re left with is fragments?
Is ignorance bliss? Or is it worth it to have known everything, and then had it taken from you and all you’re left with is fragments?
quixem's review against another edition
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
4.5
pugreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-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
5.0