Discussion of Flowers for Algernon
- mauriziopietrantuono
- Posts: 6
- Joined: 31 May 2016, 03:00
- Bookshelf Size: 0
Re: Discussion of Flowers for Algernon
- mariahcpeck
- Posts: 7
- Joined: 16 Jul 2018, 06:55
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 12
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-mariahcpeck.html
- Latest Review: Superhighway by Alex Fayman
As someone who works very closely with individuals with autism, I felt pulled toward the narratives that seemed to speak the words with which my clients may someday identify. The reader gains an entire appreciation of the way the narrator reveals himself to be fully human both before and after the changes he undergoes. The reader can recognize that all individuals experiencing similar disadvantages are still harshly judged in society. This book is an excellent example of the way empathy can be considered an acquired human skill through reading fiction.
- ems2
- Posts: 55
- Joined: 08 Aug 2018, 12:08
- Currently Reading: Political Dirty Trick
- Bookshelf Size: 69
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-ems2.html
- Latest Review: The Lost Identity Casualties by Kim Ekemar
- Reading Device: B00KC6I06S
and my mother minds are divesting themselves of memory and meaning. I think it must be horrendous to know when you start to not remember, and you are losing more and more every day.
I do think you are right that it depicts everyman only in a much shorter span of time.
-
- Posts: 276
- Joined: 23 Jan 2018, 20:43
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 14
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-delly-01.html
- Latest Review: Sigfried’s Smelly Socks! by Len Foley
It was exceptionally well-written, conveying Charlie's simple or complex thoughts in typographical errors and growing/waning vocabulary. That's what affected me, I think. The reader registered the increase/decrease of his IQ before he even did at times, and it made that sense of loneliness tangible. And I think that was the theme of the book: fitting in and failing to fit in with society's expectations. Society reveres the idea of being special, but the moment you are... you're different; and society doesn't like different. Not really. It's lonely trying to be different or fit in with society. It's easier to forget and be forgotten, and just as tragic. Even more so when you empathise with someone else for experiencing that same alienation you are. Like Charlie did with Algernon. Like we did with Charlie.
- NetMassimo
- Previous Member of the Month
- Posts: 6726
- Joined: 24 Jul 2019, 06:37
- Currently Reading: The Night Land
- Bookshelf Size: 435
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-netmassimo.html
- Latest Review: The Ripsons by Joe Morrow
- 2024 Reading Goal: 60
- 2024 Goal Completion: 48%
Massimo
- stormydesert
- Posts: 7
- Joined: 09 May 2020, 23:59
- Currently Reading: Don Quioxte
- Bookshelf Size: 31
I like the technique the author uses of showing Charlie's development in his own words (and in his own spellings of his own words). It's a clever way to accomplish the narration and at the same time show what's happening to the narrator. I have a hard time imagining the technique being transferred to film... a movie would have to show the changes in the character in some other way.
I did not like the thematic message, which seemed to be that scientific progress is great and all, but that ignorance is bliss. The book shows that Charlie was happier before the experiment, when, for example, he didn't know people were making fun of him and thought they were his friends. It seems we are meant to conclude that knowledge, particularly self-knowledge, has a price... and the price is too high. That's not a message I'm very pleased about.
- Medini
- Posts: 4
- Joined: 13 Apr 2021, 12:11
- Currently Reading: The House in the Cerulean Sea
- Bookshelf Size: 12
- Abdulwahab Maryam
- Posts: 88
- Joined: 23 Jun 2022, 06:50
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 15
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-abdulwahab-maryam.html
- Latest Review: The Inner CEO by Jeremy Blain