Flowers For Algernon
Nebula Award, 1967
‘A masterpiece of poignant brilliance . . . heartbreaking’ Guardian
Charlie Gordon, a floor sweeper born with an unusually low IQ, has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that doctors hope will increase his intelligence – a procedure that has been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon. All Charlie wants is to be smart and have friends, but the treatement turns him into a genius.
Then Algernon begins to fade. What will become of Charlie?
Charlie Gordon, a floor sweeper born with an unusually low IQ, has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that doctors hope will increase his intelligence – a procedure that has been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon. All Charlie wants is to be smart and have friends, but the treatement turns him into a genius.
Then Algernon begins to fade. What will become of Charlie?
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Reviews
A masterpiece of poignant brilliance . . . heartbreaking, and utterly, completely brilliant
Strikingly original
A timeless tearjerker
Excellent . . . extremely moving
A tale that is convincing, suspectful and touching
This is one of the greats: a story and a central character that have stayed with me for thirty years, from the first moment I picked it up
A narrative tour de force, very moving, beautiful and remorseless in its simple logic
Unflinchingly honest . . . it will make you reflect on your own life . . . and completely and utterly break your heart