«Why am I always looking at life through a window?»

Flowers for Algernon, the easiest five stars I have ever given to a book

«I don’t know what’s worse: to know what you are and be happy, or to become what you’ve always wanted to be, and feel alone» 

What does qualify as a good life? And who gets to decide that a life is a good life? It has been a while since a book has had me really go into all the layers of what being a human means.

What is a good life? Who decides? What does it mean being normal - like everyone else? 

This book was recommended to me last year, when I went looking for an ugly cry book. I was in one of those moods, where I just needed the release of a good cry. Flowers for Algernon was mentioned so many times that I ended up going out and getting a copy of it - but I actually did not read it then, I found another book (The Sword for Kaigen) that was what I needed at the time.

So Algernon waited paitenly in my shelves until now. One of the best things of having unread books in your shelves is the fact that you never know what is hiding there, it might be a meh kind of book, it might be a book you fall in love with, a book that blows your mind - or a combination of all of the above.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is that kind of book. A book that will linger with me for the longest of times, a book that I am still thinking about, pondering on the topics and what it means to be human. What. A. Book. 

There is not much more I can say about it. I find myself struggling putting into words exactly how much this book impacted me. A book that caught me by surprise and had me feeling so much through out this…this incredible journey Charlie goes on, in hopes of becoming one of us. The rest. The normal people. It is filled with hope, sadness, empathy, perseverance, humanity and most important of all: a bitter truth. It made me laugh, cry, get upset on Charlies behalf, be more openminded and so so much more. There are so many questions lingering in its aftermath. How does the world look at you? How do you look at it and yourself? 

I did not know much about it before hand - and I am happy I did not. Sometimes walking blind into a book is the best decision you can make, and with Flowers for Algernon, I highly recommend it. For those wondering, did it work? Did it make me ugly cry? Well, both yes and no. I managed to keep myself together until the very last page - then I broke down. This little book is so raw and open, that I would’ve been made out of stone if it did not impact me in the way it did. 

This is probably the shortest review to date, but all I can say is:

Read it. Please.

Synopsis:

Born with an unusually low IQ and always wanted to be just like everyone else, Charlie has finally been granted his deepest wish - to be chosen as a subject for an experimental surgery, that researchers hope will increase his intelligence. A procedure that has been successfully done on a lab mouse named Algernon. 

The following weeks, Charlies starts seeing the effects of the surgery as he gradually is becoming more and more intelligent. But with this newfound intelligence comes many more challenges and questions that Charlie - and the world around him, were not prepared for. For what happens when you suddenly are the exact opposite of what everyone around you was used to, and will this scientific breakthrough last? 

 

Until next time,
happy reading! ✨