Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

 Flowers for Algernon

by Daniel Keyes

I guess I was supposed to have read Flowers for Algernon in school, but I don't remember it at all.

The form of the writing in this book is great, from Charlie Gordon's initial entries that reflected his bad spelling, grammar, and misuse or no use of punctuation, through his life as a genius after the operation and the way his writing reflected all of that, and back to the beginning as his mind deteriorated. I enjoyed the thoughtfulness of that form usage, which allows the reader to be in Charlie's same frame of mind.

What a sad story!

Another thing I liked about the form was that Charlie's mother, who was so awful to him as a child, suffered from mental deterioration as she became an old woman, a mirror of what was going to happen to Charlie. The motif of windows, looking at oneself through them and looking at others through them, was powerful. We often feel like we are on the outside looking in at others and at ourselves, separated but aware of that separation. Sometimes we can go through the windows and connect, but sometimes we can not. Sometimes we are shut out.

I was moved at the end when the men at the bakery who had been mean to Charlie and got him fired from his job out of jealousy and fear became actual friends to him when he returned after his mental collapse. They stood up for him and looked out for him. A small moment of compassion from the male element in the book.

Flowers for Algernon gets 4.5 stars from me. It was moving with great characters, an interesting form, and excellent metaphors for the human condition. Highly recommend!