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salem0 's review for:
Flowers for Algernon
by Daniel Keyes
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There’s something to be said about how the people in this book, and many of those who read this book, treat Charlie’s neurodivergency as some kind of tragedy. The way many of them fear him both before and after he becomes ‘smart’ is so telling (that scene where the mother says he’ll be better off dead… a lot of people still think that way about disabled folks). I've yet to come across another book that captures so well the ableism that NDs face - from peers, 'friends', parents, and even doctors - treating them as lesser for not being able to 'know' better. The difference between Charlie's greater emotional intelligence and capacity for kindness/understanding before he undergoes treatment, vs his greater intellectual intelligence afterwards which lacks substantially in emotional intelligence, really highlights the different ways one can be intelligent. Plus, the fact that the people in his life still shun him after he gets 'smart' really highlights how randomly people decide what type of intelligence is deemed acceptable in a certain time or place. The way we measure IQ and EQ still is based on a rigid set of ideas as to what qualities qualify as either of them - it really brings to attention the arbitrary markers we attribute as being 'smart', as well as the way we look at people who generally 'underperform' in the eyes of society, whether in education, work, social status etc.
There’s also something to be said about this representation being dated, incorporating a few stereotypes of the neurotypical’s view of the disabled with Charlie being this near-totally innocent guy before he becomes intellectually smart, plus him being seemingly uninterested in women till after he gets treated (and don’t get me started on the misogyny in those interactions, and how it's used as part of Charlie’s newfound 'self-actualization'), as though neurodivergent people are all inherently incapable of sexual attraction. It was a combination of these which made it difficult for me to give a higher rating, as many people often do (based on what I've seen from many reviewers, I encourage you to consider the concept that "Book that makes you sad for a mistreated minority" does not equal "great book").
By the end, Charlie loses his previously gained intellectual intelligence, but still leaves his impact on the world that he longs for during much of the book - he knows he's achieved something in the form of his research report, and that he's found some closure from the trauma of his upbringing. I think it was partly that sense of shame that Charlie felt at having to return to his neurodivergent habits that drove him out of town. The myriad ways in which this book details our conceptions of what intelligence is, and the way it so acutely captures the ableism that people face on a social and societal level, is ultimately what makes this such a thought-provoking book, despite its dated portrayals.
And, as I like to add at the end of a review, here's one of the quotes that convinced me to try this book out:
There’s also something to be said about this representation being dated, incorporating a few stereotypes of the neurotypical’s view of the disabled with Charlie being this near-totally innocent guy before he becomes intellectually smart, plus him being seemingly uninterested in women till after he gets treated (and don’t get me started on the misogyny in those interactions, and how it's used as part of Charlie’s newfound 'self-actualization'), as though neurodivergent people are all inherently incapable of sexual attraction. It was a combination of these which made it difficult for me to give a higher rating, as many people often do (based on what I've seen from many reviewers, I encourage you to consider the concept that "Book that makes you sad for a mistreated minority" does not equal "great book").
By the end, Charlie loses his previously gained intellectual intelligence, but still leaves his impact on the world that he longs for during much of the book - he knows he's achieved something in the form of his research report, and that he's found some closure from the trauma of his upbringing. I think it was partly that sense of shame that Charlie felt at having to return to his neurodivergent habits that drove him out of town. The myriad ways in which this book details our conceptions of what intelligence is, and the way it so acutely captures the ableism that people face on a social and societal level, is ultimately what makes this such a thought-provoking book, despite its dated portrayals.
And, as I like to add at the end of a review, here's one of the quotes that convinced me to try this book out:
I am afraid. Not of life, or death, or nothingness, but of wasting it as if I had never been.