A review by machadamia
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

Flowers for Algernon is a classic that has Charlie, a low IQ man undergoing a procedure to increase his IQ levels. At the start, I was really rooting for Charlie and also found it really sad when we start to find out that

his friends are not really his friends, they were just making fun of him. His childhood was so full of traumatic incidents as his mother had mental illness and didn't know how to deal with having a child with low IQ. I also found that his enthusiasm for becoming smart again so adorable and commendable.

 

Later, when he does eventually become smart, he has to confront a lot of issues

with his sexual desires, human desires and trauma of his past.

I thought this portion was really well done as it goes back and forth between revealing his childhood and telling us his current feelings and progress. I was interested to know more quickly. However, one scene really put me off and had me put down the book for at least a month before I decided to pick it up again and finish it once and for all.

I thought the scene with the pregnant lady in the park was really really odd and didn't understand the point of that scene. I believe he had just left Alice's place and was upset at his inability to become more intimate with her and he meets this lady at the park who basically asks if he wants to have sex before showing him her pregnant belly where he then freaks out. It was so weird and off putting for some reason to me though it did result in the reader finding out about the time when Charlie's mother was pregnant.

I read in an interview that the author was inspired by Aristotle's writing that true tragedy can only be experienced by high born and thus he wanted to see if it was possible for a 'low born' to experience that. Charlie was a low born in many instances - financial, intelligence, etc. And I think that Keyes really did end up with a heart breaking tragedy of a 'low born' as he set out to do. I actually knew about the ending before I found out about it.

Initially, I read that he has to content with his own demise so I thought he would die but then later I found out when I accidentally saw a bit of the last page that he would have regressed which I thought was an even worse outcome for him.

I suppose it was a bittersweet ending however, because

when he was intelligent, he professed many times to prefer the simpler life with friends and people who (he thinks) loves him. I think I would have been hit harder if I had not known the ending beforehand but knowing it still does make me feel really sad when I read it.

Overall, a great classic novel which explores quite a dark side of humanity. Unexpectedly dark for what seemed to be a relatively simple sci-fi plot.