Flowers for Algernon
by Keyes, Daniel
- New
- Paperback
- Condition
- New
- ISBN 10
- 015603008X
- ISBN 13
- 9780156030083
- Seller
-
WESTBANK, British Columbia, Canada
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About This Item
" Oscar-winning film Charly starring Cliff Robertson and Claire Bloom mentally challenged man receives an operation that turns him into a genius and introduces him to heartache. Review: Daniel Keyes wrote little SF but is highly regarded for one classic, Flowers for Algernon. As a 1959 novella, it won a Hugo Award; the 1966 novel-length expansion won a Nebula. The Oscar-winning movie adaptation Charly (1968) also spawned a 1980 Broadway musical. Following his doctor's instructions, engaging simpleton Charlie Gordon tells his own story in semi-literate "progris riports." He dimly wants to better himself, but with an IQ of 68 can't even beat the laboratory mouse Algernon at maze-solving: I dint feel bad because I watched Algernon and I lernd how to finish the amaze even if it takes me along time. I dint know mice were so smart. Algernon is an extra-clever thanks to an experimental brain operation so far tried only on animals. Charlie eagerly volunteers as the first human subject. After frustrating delays and agonies of concentration, the effects begin to show and the reports steadily improve: "Punctuation, is? fun!" But getting smarter brings cruel shocks, as Charlie realizes that his merry "friends" at the bakery where he sweeps the floor have all along been laughing at him, never with him. The IQ rise continues, taking him steadily past the human average to genius level and beyond, until he's as intellectually alone as the old, foolish Charlie ever was--and now painfully aware of it. Then, ominously, the smart mouse Algernon begins to deteriorate. Flowers for Algernon is a timeless tear-jerker with a terrific emotional impact. --David Langford
Synopsis
Flowers for Algernon is a science fiction short story and subsequent novel written by Daniel Keyes. The short story, written in 1958 and first published in the April 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1960. The novel was published in 1966 and was joint winner of that year's Nebula Award for Best Novel. The titular Algernon is a laboratory mouse who has undergone surgery to increase his intelligence by artificial means.
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Details
- Bookseller
- MAD HATTER BOOKSTORE (CA)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 24115
- Title
- Flowers for Algernon
- Author
- Keyes, Daniel
- Book Condition
- New
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 015603008X
- ISBN 13
- 9780156030083
- Publisher
- Harcourt
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 2004
- Size
- 8 vo