Some books have serious reputations to live up to, and Flowers for Algernon is one of them. I've spent years hearing about how much it makes people cry, so I went in warily.
This book is incredible. I'm so glad it lived up to the hype! It was a heartrending read that had me feverish with a desperate kind of hope as I sped through each progress report. That's right: progress report?
Flowers for Algernon follows Charlie, a mentally disabled young man who undergoes an operation to increase his intelligence, and the book is formatted as a series of progress reports written by our champion as he undergoes his extraordinary journey. It was an interesting novel structure that had me hooked from the start.
What follows is a journey of the reader's heart: full, bursting, sick, broken, hopeful. Make sure your cardiovascular system is up to scratch before you read this book!
I don't want to give too much away because this book should be enjoyed without any spoilers, so prepare yourself for the ultimate experience of the human condition in less than 250 pages.
This book is a perfect read for the following questions:
What gives a human worth?
What does it take to be seen?
Which state of Charlie's mind is preferable, and why?
Ask after our copy the next time you're in the studio... and maybe cancel all your plans so that you can inhale this book in one sitting.
See ya!
Ana (The Grove Librarian)