Today I'm delighted to post another review by my young co-reviewer Heena Pala, aged 13.
Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
Reviewed by Heena Pala
Flowers for Algernon is a science fiction book narrated
as a diary by Charlie Gordon. Charlie has a low IQ. He finds himself involved
in an experiment; this involves undergoing an operation along with a lab mouse,
Algernon. As part of assessments, Charlie and Algernon have to compete in races
and mazes. Charlie gets frustrated with Algernon for always beating him, but
soon becomes his friend. The operation is to increase his intelligence.
Charlie works in a plastic box factory. There, his
colleagues are nasty to him and take advantage of his misunderstanding of the
world around him. The operation works a success, but as Charlie’s intelligence
increases, he begins to spot a difference in the way people behave around him.
Overall, I enjoyed Flowers for Algernon. One thing that
the author could have improved on is the ending. It ended on a cliff-hanger and
was also a little too slow-moving for me. I think that the author has achieved
his goal of opening the reader’s eyes about how we take our everyday abilities
for granted.
RATING: 7/10
AGE RANGE: 10+
PUBLISHER: Gollancz
FIRST PUBLISHED: July 1968
LATEST EDITION: Sept 2011
RRP: £8.99
Thank you, Heena, for another very helpful review. 'Flowers for Algernon' sounds fascinating and I'm lookng forward to reading it myself very soon.
Happy reading
Ros
