Taru Luojola reviewed Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
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4 stars
Autistin elämää on olla samaan aikaan tyhmä-Charlie ja nero-Charlie.
314 pages
Italian language
Published Jan. 5, 2005 by Nord.
Algernon è un topo, ma non è un topo qualunque. Con un'audace operazione, uno scienziato ha triplicato il suo IQ, rendendolo forse più intelligente di alcuni esseri umani. Di certo più di Charlie Gordon che, fino all'età di trentadue anni, ha vissuto nella dolorosa consapevolezza di non essere molto... sveglio. Ma cosa succede quando quella stessa operazione viene effettuata su Charlie? Il diario di un uomo che "voleva soltanto essere come gli altri", un romanzo definito dal New York Times "magistrale e profondamente toccante..." e vincitore del Premio Nebula 1966.
Autistin elämää on olla samaan aikaan tyhmä-Charlie ja nero-Charlie.
The journal entries, which evolve in linguistic style with Charlie's capabilities, make it an Epistolary novel, but the rapid growth and change puts it more into the Bildungsroman, category. In some ways it resembles a rags-to-riches-to-rags format, echoes of the story of Faust and the concept of forbidden knowledge, and hints of the inescapable destiny which remind me of Arthurian Romance.
The way Charlie's relationships with his co-workers at the bakery, staff and students at the university and Alice change as he changes is important, and they too are changed - though in lesser amounts - as the sun is pulled less towards the earth than the earth to the sun.
Throughout there remains a central decent core to Charlie, with his aspiration to know and his wish to be good, which is very endearing and identifiable.
Few books have had such an impact on me like this one. It was an incredible, touching story. It was also a roller coaster of emotions - not only for Charlie (the main protagonist), but for the reader alike. While the ending was predictable, it was still heart-wrenching.
The joy of seeing Charlie get smarter every day was contrasted with seeing him get dumber everyday at the end. It is very well written, and I was captured from the get go.
Charly pasa de estar desconectado por falta de inteligencia, a estarlo por su abundancia.
En ese punto el cuento es increíble: la inteligencia no está relacionada con la capacidad de conectar con otros, como no lo está la estatura o el color de pelo. Y sin embargo, termina teniendo efectos en la conexión que los otros nos permiten establecer.
Los mismos que querían a Charly cerca para reirse de él, piden que lo despidan cuando él se vuelve más inteligente que ellos, porque le temen.
Me gusta también que el cuento no juzga, lo que pasa es así porque el mundo es así, no se trata de hablar de gente mala y gente buena, sino solo de como es la gente en general.
Leímos el cuento "Flores para Algernon" en la edición número 54 de nuestro Club de #LecturaMastodontica
mastodon.la/@SeverianX/107832471368012135
This is my second time to read this since I was probably 14 or 15 when I found it on my mom's bookshelf.
Of course a lot of parallels with addiction stood out to me now. Drugs usually blunt emotional development to some extent, and there is a lot of emotional development to be done when first in recovery. That's quite like Charlie's emotional development lagging far behind his sudden increase in intelligence.
I also noticed the theme of the past always creeping back into your current reality and causing issues.
P.S. I didn't think I would cry, but I forgot the punch that the ending brings to your gut.
This was part of my middle school curriculum. I initially read it in seventh grade and a few times later in my early teens. This is one of the few books that I have a full memory of. It haunted me. It still does. Is it better to have something and lose it or never have it at all?
Myślałam, że to będzie bardzo w klimacie science fiction, a to piękna powieść o człowieku, o tym, co znaczy być człowiekiem, o przekraczaniu granic, o niepełnosprawności i o szacunku dla drugiego człowieka. Bardzo ją polecam.
This was a great book! It is clear why it won so many awards. You know the conclusion almost immediately, but the tale is gripping and interesting enough for you to see how it gets there. Flowers for Algernon is about love, loss, and most importantly self-discovery. My only complaint is that the book is a bit slow to start with all the bad grammar but that comes with the territory. All in all recommended.
This was a difficult read, with bullying, child abuse and the general attitude to learning difficulties at the time. But I think it was well done, and when I didn't like smart Charlie I felt like it was purposeful.
Goodness gracious. So many themes are touched on in this book, and I think I'll be haunted for some time to come by the ideas raised.
I'm a sucker for both an epistolary-style novel (which this classifies as, given the diary format) and the bildungsroman genre which I can also see reflected in the type of story it is, albeit not perfectly—so if either of those butter your biscuits well dangit bring out the tea cause these biscuits are ready to be eaten, buttered and all!!
Recommended read for many reasons, and not only because it's hard to let go of once started.
Definitely among my favorite reads.
4.5 stars, really. For some reason, I lump this book with "Catcher in the Rye" and "A Confederacy of Dunces," I think something with a fish out of water story in mid-century New York. With this comparison, Flowers for Algernon greatly benefits. I enjoyed it the whole time. I liked the cyclical nature of the story. It was bittersweet, edging on the sweet.
L'ho divorato.
Stupendo.
Still getting very emotional reading this book. What a good story.