Flower's For Algernon

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For the better half of this year, I've been stuck on the gargantuan project of finishing the Stormlight Archives, going aat it with the renewed energy of a desperate fighter, I've swallowed and enjoyed almost 5,000 pages worth of Stormlight induced fantasy awesomeness.

I just finished the novella Dawnchant and what remains is the last book available out before I could be part of others on the wait-list for his next story.

Coincidentally, the one who mentioned and sent this story to me is the same person who introduced me to the Stormlight Archives, my namesake, one of my best friends and my personal grumpy gnome 😂
We were talking about books amongst other things we talk about when we aren't at each other's throats, then she mentioned this tale as one of the most emotional stories she had ever read.

At first I put it off because the name sounded like one of those Romeo and Juliet type of books and lord knows that this year isn't my best for snobby tearful romance.
Regardless like I said, after Dawnchant, I decided to give it a glance. Needless to say that the glance turned to a scan, the scan began a read and the read took me on a full on journey.


Flower's For Algernon


Charlie Gordon has always been short of many things, words and intelligence the most, but what he has is courage and determination.
This 37 year old lad with an IQ of 67 is on a mission to be smart, and he has been willingly drafted for a surgery that could make his dream of intelligence be a reality.
Although, after he gets smart, he is quick to catch on that losing ignorance gains him a whole bigger level of anger and pain.


This novel is one that should be preserved in the history books.
A thirty two page story of a 37 year old man that would probably teach a lifetime worth of lessons.
I don't even know how to start this review to be honest, just know that the story is wonderful and the author, Daniel Keyes, is a legend.

I guess when I'm without a clue of how to start, it's best to follow a template...


What I Loved


Everything.

That would have been the end but I doubt I've reached minimum word count so I'll ramble a bit😂

- Embodying The Character

This is something that I believed made the book so heart wrenching to read.
The embodiment of the character in the lines!!

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We're introduced to Charlie, a 37 year old willingly applied lab rat who's trying to be smart.
The wrong spelling, lack of punctuation, eye turning yet perfectly read able speech made the "low brain IQ" even more believable.

It's something that not everyone considers, and it's not something all author's can do.
Allowing your character to overflow from the pages, forcing the reader to be able to understand his struggles and acknowledge his effort.


When he became smart...
We see the distinct change in how he talks and his writing.
In fact, not only us the readers, but the characters around him, and indeed it became uncomfortable.

Charlie didn't mind at first though, he was smart, he was happy.
The intellectual prowess brought to his attention numerous things he hadn't considered before, one especially being love...

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The realization of just how far his intelligence had grown and was growing brought on new emotions and spurred new instances...

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This makes us wonder just how much is intelligence really worth, is it worth the loneliness, worth the lack of love?


I could go on and on about the novel but with so few pages I can't afford to spoil anymore.
I really recommend you all to read it, this is a book you can finish under thirty minutes but ponder on for the rest of the day/week.
The ending is even more tragic but I won't speak more, I'll leave that for you book loving folks who are dying of thirst for the knowledge Charlie acquired...

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Header image was created using Canva, other images are screenshots from my e-library.
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13 comments
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I never read the story, but there was a movie based on this. Heartbreaking, tragic. I'll have to get the story... from you review it certainly seems worth the read.

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It was when making the review that I saw there was a movie.

The story is truly tragic...

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So this is kind of Sci-Fi fantasy? I love your tastes in books honestly

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Meeeh

I really didn't know what genre to put it in😭😭😂😂😂

It is SciFi, plus it is fantasy...

Put it's a lot more actually 😂😂😂

When making the poster, the words just wasn't coming to me😂😂😂

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About "embodying the character", it reminds me of a story titled The Girl With The Louding Voice. It reminded me of how the girl was an illiterate and the author wrote exactly how she thought.

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Ohhhh

That's just it...

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Oouuuhh, I didn't know you had great taste in books. Thought you were all about anime's. Lol. This seems very interesting and I'll definitely check it out.

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Just imagine...

Nothing dem never tell me😭😂

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OMG I DO LOVE THIS BOOK! I mean, It's super hard to find someone who has read it, I don't understand how it can be, if it's so incredible.

This novel is one that should be preserved in the history books

I totally agree, reading it has been quite a journey even though at first the spelling bothered me a lot, but to understand the progress and at the end to understand the decadence, is super intense. It's one of those books that really make you feel sad.

I was delighted to come across your review, I love this book.

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You're right. Not many authors can do that. Why will you be writing about an illiterate, in the illiterate's pov and then they're speaking proper English? It's only one book I've read that did this.

Is it weird that I'm interested in this book because you said it has a tragic end?😂

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You weh love tragic endings😂😂😂

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I'm curious about the premise of this book. Thank you so much for recommending it. I will look for it so I can read it. Cheers!✨

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