I decided to do a nice quick read before the phone book sized novel I am about to invest in and Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes was in the stack.

The plot concept is simple. Charlie Gordon is retarded but has been chosen to be the subject of an experimental operation intended to correct his deficiency. The story then continues on the debatable success of the procedure as Charlie starts to surpass all those around him in intelligence. I have no idea why the book is called Flowers for Algernon or why the mouse was even there.

I will say I like this book because it is in fact a fast read. I think it would have taken more talent than Keyes appeared to have available to convince me to get involved in a longer book. The novel is told in the first person via diary entries by Charlie about his progress. Keyes allows a moderate dual identity device to allow Charlie to tell some of the story in the third person which is clever enough I guess, but very obvious to me as a novelty which sometimes annoys me. I don't actually look for what the author is "doing" while I am reading a book, so it irks me if I notice it at all. For what its worth, I feel like Chuck Palahniuk was probably inspired by this style as it seems to be how most of his novels take shape...albeit way more successfully.

I did very much enjoy the symbolism. I think at the surface this novel appears to be about intelligence or lack thereof, but deeper than that its about growing up. Keyes has created a scenario where a man capable of full self awareness can experience mentally growing from a toddler to a wiser adult and on to a senile elder in a short amount of time forcing a faster appreciation for it. He strongly suggests that the child inside is the foundation and what we learn beyond that is fleeting.
He also gets into the child - parent relationship and the understanding that comes with age that our parents, friends and lovers are just people trying to do their best with their lives regardless of their flaws or mistakes.

I'd probably recommend this book to someone if I felt they could use some perspective on the issues within, but I don't think I would tout it as a must read.

Besides. What was up with the mouse anyways?