Taru Luojola reviewed Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Niitä parempia klassikoita
4 stars
Autistin elämää on olla samaan aikaan tyhmä-Charlie ja nero-Charlie.
Paperback, 314 pages
Italian language
Published Jan. 5, 2005 by Nord.
4 stars
(5 reviews)
Algernon è un topo, ma non un topo qualunque. Con un'audace operazione, uno scienziato ha triplicato il suo QI, rendendolo forse più intelligente di alcuni esseri umani. Di certo più di Charlie Gordon, che, fino all'età di trentadue anni, ha vissuto nella dolorosa consapevolezza di non essere molto... sveglio. Ma cosa succederà quando la stessa operazione verrà effettuata su Charlie? Quale sorte accomunerà la sua esistenza a quella del fedele amico Algernon? "Fiori per Algernon" è ormai considerato uno dei grandi romanzi del XX secolo, un capolavoro della narrativa di anticipazione: il diario di un uomo che «voleva soltanto essere come gli altri», un romanzo definito dal "New York Times" «magistrale e profondamente toccante», un'opera che ha ispirato film, serie televisive, musical, che ha vinto il Premio Hugo e il Premio Nebula e ha venduto oltre cinque milioni di copie nel mondo.
Sean Tilley reviewed Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Review of 'Flowers for Algernon' on 'GoodReads'
5 stars
Poignant, sad, and deeply insightful
I had been assigned a watered-down adaptation of this in Junior High, so I went into this with some knowledge of what the general arc would be. What I didn't expect is that I would be reading until the sun came up, bawling my eyes out, absolutely shaken.
From the very first page, I liked Charlie Gordon. He comes across as innocent and sweet, with good intentions and a very one-dimensional frame of reference to the world. There's a few moments where people ask Charlie things that made me chuckle, like his initial confusion at the Rorschach test, but his attitude is strangely endearing.
The prose in this book is phenomenal. The gradual narrative shift from crude writing to eloquent philosophical insight is kind of an amazing writing trick, and the development of Charlie's awareness is hypnotic to watch.
In a way, I was kind …
Poignant, sad, and deeply insightful
I had been assigned a watered-down adaptation of this in Junior High, so I went into this with some knowledge of what the general arc would be. What I didn't expect is that I would be reading until the sun came up, bawling my eyes out, absolutely shaken.
From the very first page, I liked Charlie Gordon. He comes across as innocent and sweet, with good intentions and a very one-dimensional frame of reference to the world. There's a few moments where people ask Charlie things that made me chuckle, like his initial confusion at the Rorschach test, but his attitude is strangely endearing.
The prose in this book is phenomenal. The gradual narrative shift from crude writing to eloquent philosophical insight is kind of an amazing writing trick, and the development of Charlie's awareness is hypnotic to watch.
In a way, I was kind of reminded of the story of Faust, where a man tries to use his seemingly unlimited knowledge to get out of an inevitable outcome. I'd argue that Charlie is a far more sympathetic character, but watching his mind develop and deteriorate, along with his strained efforts to work against time, made for one hell of a roller coaster.
Beautiful, beautiful story. I haven't cried like that in a while.
Subjects
- Fantascienza