Product Description

Charlie Gordon, IQ 68, is a floor sweeper, and the gentle butt of everyone's jokes, until an experiment in the enhancement of human intelligence turns him into a genius. But then Algernon, the mouse whose triumphal experimental tranformation preceded his, fades and dies, and Charlie has to face the possibility that his salvation was only temporary.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3558 in Books
• Published on: 2000-01-13
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Daniel Keyes wrote little SF but is highly regarded for one classic, Flowers for Algernon. As a 1959 novella it won a Hugo award; the 1966 novel-length expansion won a Nebula. The Oscar-winning movie adaptation Charly (1968) also spawned a 1980 Broadway musical.

Following his doctor's instructions, engaging simpleton Charlie Gordon tells his own story in a semi-literate "progris riports". He dimly wants to better himself but with an IQ of 68 can't even beat the laboratory mouse Algernon at maze-solving:

I dint feel bad because I watched Algernon and I lernd how to finish the amaze even if it takes me along time.
I dint know mice were so smart.

Algernon is extra-clever thanks to an experimental brain operation so far tried only on animals. Charlie eagerly volunteers as the first human subject. After frustrating delays and agonies of concentration, the effects begin to show and the reports steadily improve: "Punctuation, is fun!" But getting smarter brings cruel shocks, as Charlie realises that his merry "friends" at the bakery where he sweeps the floor have all along been laughing at him, never with him. The IQ rise continues, taking him steadily past the human average to genius level and beyond, until he's as intellectually alone as the old, foolish Charlie ever was--and now painfully aware of it. Then, ominously, the smart mouse Algernon begins to deteriorate ...

A timeless tear-jerker with a terrific emotional impact, Flowers for Algernon is the 25th choice in the millennium SF Masterworks series. --David Langford

Synopsis
Charlie Gordon, IQ 68, is a floor sweeper, and the gentle butt of everyone's jokes, until an experiment in the enhancement of human intelligence turns him into a genius. But then Algernon, the mouse whose triumphal experimental tranformation preceded his, fades and dies, and Charlie has to face the possibility that his salvation was only temporary.

About the Author
SALES POINTS * #25 in the Millennium SF Masterworks series, a library of the finest science fiction ever written * Winner of the HUGO and NEBULA awards. * 'A narrative tour de force, very moving, beautiful and remorseless in its simple logic' Science Fiction: 100 Best Novels * Basis for the Oscar winning film Charly

Customer Reviews

A Forgotten Masterpiece
Flowers for Algernon is a largely forgotten masterpiece - despite being the inspiration for an oscar winning movie (Charly, 1968) and the 1992 hit The Lawnmower Man. I was forced to read this in school - as can be imagined, the fact that the learning was compulsory stripped any of the joy out of it. However, years later I bought myself a copy and read it again - and was blown away by the quality of the story-telling, and the emotional resonance of the character.

The premise is fairly simple - Charlie Gordon is a young man with a retarded intellect. He is selected for some revolutionary surgery that is aimed at greatly increasing his intellectual capacity. The experiment had been tried previously on a small white mouse (the eponymous Algernon), and had been nothing but a success. Spurred on by this and by the thought of gaining academic accolades, the team perform the experiment on Charlie.

Those who have recently read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time will be familiar with the theme - Charlie gains a staggering analytical intellect, but his emotional development is still retarded leaving him unable to relate to people on an empathic level. The main bulk of the book is about Charlie coming to terms with his past, his present, and his uncertain future. Unable to understand the emotional motivations behind the people he knew, he finds himself becoming self-centred, arrogant and dismissive of those around him.

His emotional development can never catch up with his intellectual development - the tension between the two drives the most memorable scenes throughout... whenever he is being a 'dirty' boy, his subconscious invents the image of Young Charlie watching him.

As Charlie's intelligence grows, so does his understanding of the research behind his surgery, and he starts to delve more deeply into what was actually done to him. In doing so, he discovers a taster of what his eventual fate is likely to be.

A secondary theme of the book, a complement to the emotional/intellectual disparity, lies in the underlying message that intelligence does not guarantee happiness - in fact, the greater Charlie's intelligence grows, the more distanced he becomes from the people he once thought of as friends. His increasing self-awareness leads him to understand that his friends were always very cruel to him, and that he was always the butt of their jokes.

Before his surgery, he believes that intelligence will make his friends like him more - that he will be able to join in with the discussions they have regarding the issues of the day. What actually happens is that his friends become distrustful of him, and resent his increased capacity for knowledge. They can no longer feel superior by virtue of his presence.

I wholeheartedly recommend the book to anyone who enjoyed The Curious Incident... in fact, I would go as far as to see that the Curious Incident is just Flowers for Algernon without the character development, the plot-arc and the emotional resonance. This is 'The Curious Incident' done first, and done better.

a classic - and original
Read this, and you will recognise half a dozen hollywood films were based on this book ((but strangely never used the title name)) - which says something about the excellence of the essential story within.

Its GOOD, readable, not overlong, and oddly draws you in. Not many books actually make you feel for the character like this does. It uniquely causes you to reflect on your own intellect & perception.

A work of genius
A deeply affecting and beautiful book. An exploration of IQ and its relation to being a whole person.
Charlie is retarded, but something in him wants to improve. He becomes a human guinea pig in ground-breaking surgery and as a result his IQ starts increasing. This was the case with lab mouse Algernon too, but the mouse starts to show problems, and Charlie is soon having problems coping with his genius ...
This book has so many interesting things to say about the human condition, emotional intelligence and its relation to IQ. It also tackles the purposes of scientific research in that you need failure so the next guy knows which direction not to go in. I was amazed that it was published in 1966, it feels so contemporary.
You can't help but be totally involved with Charlie, and one of his ultimate realisations - to quote Saint Augustine, It is 'better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all'.