Book Review: 'Flowers for Algernon' by Daniel Keyes - How far does intellect take you? How far do you want to go?

Cover of 'Flowers for Algernon' by Daniel Keyes

Wow. I’m lost for words. Sheer torture. My only afterthought, how do you even write something this good? This is, without a doubt, the best piece of literature I’ve read, and I don’t even know how to rate it. 

This isn’t just a book. It’s a diary. The diary of a six-year-old until he turns seventy, or back to six, depending on your perspective. Charlie Gordon is a man born with an unusually low intelligence. This is the story of how he becomes a genius. But it wouldn’t be interesting if it were that simple, would it? With increasing intelligence, he starts understanding history, science, philosophy, and the world itself. But more than that, he begins to grasp emotions, behavior, and the non-physical pain of existence.

It’s one thing to slowly grow into wisdom. But how does one endure the sudden weight of realization? How do you handle the pain of an entire lifetime shoved into your mind at once? To finally understand what friendship is, only to realize you’ve never truly had one? To know what family means, but see that you never really had that either? Is intelligence the only real currency of humanity? If you’re born "dumb," do you not deserve friends, family, dignity? Do you even exist outside your body? Were all the smiles and kindness just masked pity?

Charlie’s journey is like a man reaching for the sky, and just as he finds a way to fly, his wings fail him. He doesn’t just fall; he dives into an eternal descent. And in that fall, he comes face-to-face with himself, realizing how small he is, how insignificant everything is before the vast universe. It is a moment of absolute clarity, like Arjun before Krsna, standing at the edge of the greatest battle of his life.

For the duration of this book, you are Charlie. You feel his innocence, his helplessness, his ego, his brilliance, his grandeur, and finally, his pain. The pain of becoming a wise fool, of knowing everything and yet nothing, of understanding yet being lost. The madness of falling.

I cannot recommend this book enough. It won’t necessarily change your life, but it will make you pause, make you think, about normalcy, friendship, perseverance, and the true meaning of humanity. Stop pulling a Charlie Gordon and get to reading it ASAP.

Note: That final line? It will break you.