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Flowers for Algernon

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Flowers for Algernon

Written by: Daniel Keyes
Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
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Charlie Gordon knows that he isn't very bright. At 32, he mops floors in a bakery and earns just enough to get by. Three evenings a week, he studies at a center for mentally challenged adults. But all of this is about to change for Charlie. As part of a daring experiment, doctors are going to perform surgery on Charlie's brain. They hope the operation and special medication will increase his intelligence, just as it has for the laboratory mouse, Algernon. Meanwhile, each day Charlie keeps a diary of what is happening to him. This is his poignant record of the startling changes in his mind and his life.

Flowers for Algernon was first published as a short story, but soon received wide acclaim as it appeared in anthologies, as a television special, and as an award-winning motion picture, Charly. In its final, expanded form, this haunting story won the Nebula Award for the Best Novel of the Year. Through Jeff Woodman's narration, it now becomes an unforgettable audio experience.

©1966 Daniel Keyes (P)1998 Recorded Books, LLC Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction Heartfelt Classics
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What the critics say

  • Nebula Award, Best Novel, 1966

"A tale that is convincing, suspectful and touching." ( The New York Times)
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this book makes you feel thing, good things, bad things, sad things, happy things

So good

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I was inspired to pick up the book after seeing Pantheon. This is a really solid audiobook version of it. The reader speaks clearly, has a good range of distinct voices for all the main characters and is good at conveying the emotions of the characters. The book itself is a very neat scifi story about a mentally challenged guy named Charlie being given an operation to turn him into a genius. You get to see the changes in his speaking patterns and behaviours in real time, as well as getting to explore repressed and forgotten memories from how he was treated in the past by his friends and family.

A good adaptation of an interesting scifi book

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I really enjoyed this book. Such a creative idea. The narrator did an amazing job reading the different phases of Charlie Gordon and the various characters. Well done!

The story reminded me a little of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Amazing Book and Narration

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What kept me listening was the narrator’s amazing performance, engaging and full of emotion. I read the short story initally and rated it a 5/5 and decided to listen to the audible version of the novel. However, I preferred the short story for the quick and impactful plot development and felt like the novel was a more diluted version that did not necessarily add much to what the short story offered.

Excellent narration

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10/10 made me cry loved following with the development of the main character.

Fifteen word minimum

The writing

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