lgjones 's review for:

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

4.0

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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Flowers for Algernon is an emotionally evocative story told through the progress reports of an intellectually disabled man, Charlie Gordon. After undergoing surgery that greatly enhances his previously low IQ, we are brought with him on a journey which expertly captures not only his desire for acceptance and to be useful to those around him, but the fear, horrors, and insecurities that present themselves in the presence of exceptional intelligence. Despite the book being published over half a century ago, it highlights important messaging on the way society treats those intellectually disabled in comparison to physically observable disabilities. It makes us bear the guilt of the horrid actions and views held by the characters in the story, as even though we may not hold these views ourselves, we feel responsible as members of a society which allowed such actions to be permissible. The only one who our protagonist feels himself connected with is Algernon, a mouse who was subjected to the same surgery. And in this tragic and unfortunate tale Charlie Gordon finds himself within, no human ever provides him with the comfort of connection.

4/5.