Flowers for Algernon
Author: Daniel Keyes
Genre: Science Fiction
Year: 1961
Rating: 10 of 10
One of the best and most heartbreaking books I’ve read in a long time. The story of a man who is mentally handicapped and goes through an experimental surgery to make him smart. It works and he becomes a genius, but only temporarily. Just long enough to give him a taste of what he has been missing, realize that people always laugh at his expense, fall in love, and generally be a respected human being. But he finds his genius more isolating then when he was dim, both ends of the spectrum being ostracizing and causing him to think differently than others. This book started as a short story, which won a Hugo award, and then was expanded into a novel, which won a Nebula – well deserving of both. It was also adapted into film in 1968 and is worth seeing and almost as touching as the book, the film version is called Charly. There have been many other radio and film adaptations, but I am unfamiliar with these. I don’t want to reveal too much of the story but I will say that the last fifty pages had me crying.
Purchase: Buy!