A little to depressing and through provoking for my liking, but a good book

Ein Buch darüber, dass so zeitlos ist wie seine Fragen, die es aufwirft: Was macht einen Menschen aus, wie findet man seinen Platz und was ist wirklich wichtig? Berührend geschrieben und beschäftigt nachhaltig.

It speaks for itself that Mr. Keyes ‘Flowers for Algernon’ is as popular and relevant today as it was in 1966, the year it was published as a novel. The story can be, and usually is described as a science fiction novel however through its stark character development and themes of self discovery it certainly crosses over into contemporary, realistic fiction always at its core the question that inspired it to be written ‘Can one increase human intelligence?’ The book tells the story of Charlie Gordon, a 32-year-old man who suffers from phenylketonuria (a disease that can lead to intellectual disability and seizures) and has an IQ of 68 in comparison to a healthy human having on of 85-115). He works at a bakery in which his uncle had secured him a workplace to save him from being sent to a state institution after his parents didn’t want him at home anymore. Charlie, wanting to improve himself and satisfy the people around him enrolls in reading and writing lessons at the ‘Beekman College Center for Retarded Adults’. Here the charming and pretty Alice Kinnian teaches him. Charlie is reasonably happy, believing firmly that he will be smarter. Charlie is overjoyed when two researchers request a human test subject on whom to test a new surgical procedure intended to improve intelligence, which they have already successfully performed on a mouse named Algernon. Charlie with the support and by the recommendation of Alice joins the project and he reaches an over average IQ of 185. What ensues is a heart wrenching story of a man slowly becoming aware of the world around him and noticing its unfairness and lack of compassion while he tries to run from his past as well as come to terms with it for the first time in his life. It is a coming of age story, the conscious awakening of a person, similarly to novels about teenagers experiencing their first love and loss and loosing their rose tinted glasses. Not that Charlie was less of a person before, yet he re-grows in a form, he experiences his teenage years and such associated experiences for the first time and this while more aware of the world around him and with more knowledge that all of his peers. It is a tragic story with thick threads of amusing and beautiful scenes. Scenes so full of love and the desire to live and these truly carry the book. This doesn’t mean the book isn’t serious or challenging in parts. The story explores how important intelligence really is compared to human traits such as empathy, goodwill and the human pursuit of happiness. The reader understands the unkindness that Charlie was shown before the experiment, unkindness that he comprehended as friendship not mockery because he wasn’t aware that anything other than tolerance and acceptance existed. Even those who abused him physically and verbally he wanted to please and to see how a person has to come to terms with how little support her truly ever received is harrowing. The book discusses how high the price for science sometimes is and raises questions. Is it worth it to have one person and in extension their loved ones suffer for research? Even if this person can be the key to helping millions? Who decided this and how? When is a person truly a person and not just a shell? Surely just hints of a personality are enough? This whole process of awakening, sexually, mentally, physically and emotionally is brilliantly cataloged in Keyes writing. The book is formatted in journal entries written by Charlie and originally requested by the team performing the experiment. His progress can be seen in how his language improves, structurally and grammatically. There are entire entries devoted to him exploring punctuation, having just discovered its use. The more intelligent he gets the more complex and scientific his work becomes, the longer the entries and the more the questions the ethics of what was performed on him and how he ahs been treated since. The novel is timeless, its setting and characters could exist today or in the future. Charlie’s relationships with everything in what used to be a smaller, happier world are challenged as he adjusts that no one can follow him because now he is intellectually superior. But is this superiority the only one that matters? The book was originally a short story. The author, Daniel Keyes was inspired to write the story while studying medicine. Numerous events sent the ball rolling, including a student in a special needs English class who asked him if he could move up a class if he worked hard and became smarter. Another student lost it all after moving down again, and had to be taught from scratch. He re-wrote it as a novel in the early 60s having trouble finding a publisher because no one wanted a heart-wrenching conclusion. The book is a masterpiece, brimming with concepts and themes that everyone should think about. It is the type of book that is taught and discussed in book clubs and will for a long time to come.