Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes // Book Review – Simone and Her Books
I’m kind of in that rare place where most of my bookish friends have read a book like this when they were in high school, but not me. I blame this one English teacher who focused more on plays than prose, which caused me to miss out on fundamental reads like this incredible sci-fi story of a man who undergoes a medical procedure to increase his intelligence level.
Written in the epistolary style, the story follows Charlie, a man who has lived his life with intelligence disability. Because of it, he’s been abused and taken advantage of by the people he calls friends and family. But he’s always had the secret dream of being smarter than he is, so he signs up to be the guinea pig in an experimental procedure that will increase his intelligence level.
From the moment you start reading this book, you knew it’s going to be different. The writing is grammatically incorrect. Words are spelled phonetically than correctly. It’s simple language, but it gives you a sense of where Charlie begins his journey. And as he undergoes the procedure, things start to change literally on the page. His writing improves, his vocabulary, he starts to notice more of the things around him, and even writes much lengthier and articulate journal entries.
I loved this creative way to convey how Charlie’s level of intelligence increases. And even as you see his spelling and language skills improve, you also see how he’s been treated by the people around him. That’s when your hearts starts to break for him. And sadly, it only breaks more even after that.
This is definitely one of those stories that will stick with me for a very long time. Seeing what happens with Charlie and how he grows, learns, and realizes the reality of his world makes you think of the disappointments and half-truths of your own life. Charlie is like us in many ways, one who is ignorant to the world around us until we see the truth and reality of it all. And how sometimes that truth is the bitterest pill to ever swallow.
I was devastated after reading this book, crying into the pages hoping that things would change, but maybe it’s better this way. I don’t know. Is it better to know about your potential and then forget or to not know at all?
