Flowers for Algernon

I just finished this book this morning, so it is still weighing on my mind. The full effect may not be felt for days, but here is my first attempt at a review.

This book both is and is not what I expected. It is both more and less poignant than I expected. The end was both more and less impactful than I expected.

I guess that comes from having expectations. I'm familiar with the movie, but haven't seen it. I knew the plot. I've not read the book before, so my awareness was from some sort of cultural osmosis, hence my expectations.

First of all, it was published in 1959. It hasn't aged terribly poorly, but there are some kind of uncomfortable moments. It is unusual that a story would win both a Hugo (as a short story) and then a Nebula several years later as a novel. Despite the date of publication, I did find it relevant and insightful to the themes of family expectations and dynamics, adverse childhood events, treatment of the the mentally ill, our thirst for emotional connection, and the competitive and sometimes shallow “rat race” of science, if you'll pardon the pun.

A couple of the expectations I had were that Algernon would play a bigger part and that the downward spiral would be longer and explored more deeply. That was me focusing on the Algernon in the title, and not the flowers, which I find to be an important metaphor for the theme of emotional connection that runs through the book. And I'm not saying the downward spiral was given short shrift. It was done artfully, poignantly, and well. The point of the novel wasn't the experience of the downward spiral as much as it was the impact of the rise and fall and attempts to “go back home” and the perspective from inside and outside of someone with reduced intellect.

I think the book is deserving of its reputation and one I would recommend to anyone.