Fiori per Algernon

by Daniel Keyes

314 pages

Italian language

Published Jan. 5, 2005 by Nord.

ISBN:: 978-88-429-1381-8
OCLC Number:: 799447753

(187 reviews)

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.

74 editions

Sean Tilley reviewed Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Review of 'Flowers for Algernon' on 'GoodReads'

5 stars

Poignant, sad, and deeply insightful

I had been assigned a watered-down adaptation of this in Junior High, so I went into this with some knowledge of what the general arc would be. What I didn't expect is that I would be reading until the sun came up, bawling my eyes out, absolutely shaken.

From the very first page, I liked Charlie Gordon. He comes across as innocent and sweet, with good intentions and a very one-dimensional frame of reference to the world. There's a few moments where people ask Charlie things that made me chuckle, like his initial confusion at the Rorschach test, but his attitude is strangely endearing.

The prose in this book is phenomenal. The gradual narrative shift from crude writing to eloquent philosophical insight is kind of an amazing writing trick, and the development of Charlie's awareness is hypnotic to watch.

In a way, I was kind of reminded of the story of Faust, where a man tries to use his seemingly unlimited knowledge to get out of an inevitable outcome. I'd argue that Charlie is a far more sympathetic character, but watching his mind develop and deteriorate, along with his strained efforts to work against time, made for one hell of a roller coaster.

Beautiful, beautiful story. I haven't cried like that in a while.

sukhmel reviewed Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Review of 'Flowers for Algernon' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

A short yet very touching story. Not much to expect but there is something about inevitability and doom there that makes me consider how life really works.

vin_aigre reviewed Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

None

4 stars

A small synopsis of the story:

Our protagonist, Charlie, is born with low I.Q. He’s basically a retardate. He undergoes an operation that successfully increased the intelligence of a mouse named Algernon.

The operation turns out a success on the human boy too. Not only did it push Charlie’s unusually low I.Q. up higher, it made him a genius. His intelligence surpassed that of the scientists behind the whole procedure.

Algernon’s state begins to deteriorate. And, eventually, so does Charlie’s.

“How strange it is that people of honest feelings and sensibility, who would not take advantage of a man born without arms or legs or eyes — how such people think nothing of abusing a man with low intelligence.”

When Charlie was a retardate, he was yearning to be smart and have all the knowledge of the world.
When Charlie became intelligent – a genius actually, he started having existential …

“How strange it is that people of honest feelings and sensibility, who would not take advantage of a man born without arms or legs or eyes — how such people think nothing of abusing a man with low intelligence.”

When Charlie was a retardate, he was yearning to be smart and have all the knowledge of the world.
When Charlie became intelligent – a genius actually, he started having existential inquiries, he became cynical and lonely. He yearned for human contact.

Ah, the disquiet of the human nature. Charlie is obviously subject to both ends of the spectrum. We will not experience such polar opposite states in our lives. Albeit they may not be black and white, these states are sufficiently different that conflicts and fluctuations between them is inevitable.

So what does it take to reach a plateau of contentment?

In my opinion, contentment is a tenuous state, so dull that one cannot even bear stabilizing themselves around. Happy fluctuations everybody.

halkeye reviewed Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Review of 'Flowers for Algernon (Bantam Classic)' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I enjoyed the book. It's very short. Less than an hour to read. I was very afraid at the start as there were misspelled words and a lack of punctuation but quickly realized that it was intention (i thought it was bad ocr, even from amazon).

Overall a very powerful book. Very interesting look at intelligence. Echoes a lot of what I have been thinking. I'll admit I teared up at the end.

A+ would recommend.

rahulgopinath reviewed Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Review of 'Flowers for Algernon (Bantam Classic)' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I liked the book, while I expected it to be a bit of a downer, it did not affect me as much as it did.

okenwillow reviewed Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Review of 'Flowers for Algernon (Bantam Classic)' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Si dans votre entourage vous avez des personnes qui n’ont un mauvais a priori sur le SF, offrez-leur ce livre, cela leur montrera l’étendue des thèmes d’une genre aussi vaste que profond. Avec ce roman on touche au sublime. Une histoire poignante, celle d’un jeune homme attardé mental, qui souhaite plus que tout devenir intelligent. Une fois son rêve réalisé, il prend conscience du monde qui l’entoure, des individus, et aussi de lui-même en tant qu’être humain, avec son passé, et ses souvenirs jusque là refoulés. Si son intelligence intellectuelle devient supérieure à la moyenne et lui donne une capacité d’apprentissage phénoménale, s[b:on intelligence|1185416|La Voie et sa vertu = Tao-tê-king (Points Sagesses ; 16 ISSN 0339-4239)|Laozi|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181735892s/1185416.jpg|100074] émotionnelle reste inchangée, et le nouveau Charlie se débat entre ses deux personnalités. Il se rend compte que l’ancien Charlie n’était pas considéré comme un humain à part entière mais comme un sous-homme dépourvu de sentiment.

Le récit, construit sous la forme d’un journal, décrit l’évolution puis la terrible régression de Charlie. Ses premiers compte-rendus reflètent sa personnalité enfantine et naïve, bourré de fautes d’orthographe et de syntaxe. Le texte devient de plus en plus clair et cohérent au fur et à mesure que les effets de l’expérience s’intensifient. Sa régression n’en est que plus pénible et douloureuse, on assiste à la déchéance intellectuelle d’un homme qui fut un attardé puis un génie, un homme amoureux, et avide de connaissances.

L’histoire nous démontre que l’intelligence “intellectuelle” n’est pas ce qui nous définit, que l’émotionnelle et l’humain sont des facteurs essentiels à la construction d’un individu, et que l’intelligence ne fait pas tout, loin de là. Difficile à lire sur la fin, car particulièrement fort et bouleversant, alors pour peu que vous souffriez comme moi d’empathie, sortez les mouchoirs.

Et merci à Valériane pour cette découverte.