• Flowers for Algernon

  • By: Daniel Keyes
  • Narrated by: Adam Sims
  • Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (513 ratings)

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Flowers for Algernon  By  cover art

Flowers for Algernon

By: Daniel Keyes
Narrated by: Adam Sims
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Publisher's summary

Charlie Gordon, a floor sweeper born with an unusually low IQ, has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that doctors hope will increase his intelligence - a procedure that has been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon.

All Charlie wants is to be smart and have friends, but the treatment turns him into a genius.

Then Algernon begins to fade.

What will become of Charlie?

Read by Adam Sims.

©1966 Daniel Keyes (P)2017 Orion Publishing Group

Critic reviews

"A masterpiece of poignant brilliance...heartbreaking." ( The Guardian)

What listeners say about Flowers for Algernon

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makes you wonder about mankind

very interesting point of view. heartbreaking and not so science fiction any more. read it!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Extraordinary. Beautiful and sad.

A unique book. Fascinating, but with a very sad ending. The narration was occasionally difficult.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Circle of life

While Flowers for Algernon is a great book, it feels like an extended version of Bulgakov's Heart of a Dog, which was written in 1925.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great story

While I find the story fantastic, I find myself disagreeing with most other reviewers - I found the narration flat. For parts of the book it would make sense, but during tense or emotional scenes I found the performance disappointing. Overall I still recommend the book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Heartbreaking is the right word

Couldn’t stop listening, I was holding my breath and kept hoping… Charlie was a very well rounded character, even if some portrayals of female characters were lacking in my opinion. I didn’t get mad about it. Worth a listen definitely!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The most dynamic character ever.

It's hard not to love this book. I felt a lot of empathy for Charlie, and even though Charlie's became a true dick, I really liked him. I the ending was not as satisfying as I had hoped, but it's a really minor inconvenience.

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Really good

Not like any other book I've read. I really enjoyed it and couldn't wait to get back to it.

Different, a great story well written and well narrated.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful but dark

I had heard of the title of this book a lot
but never thought of trying it until yesterday.

The story was so compelling that I finished the whole thing in a day.
It makes you think a lot about how far science should go in altering the way things are.
And the character felt so real, which somtimes made it difficult to listen to not so very pleasant things happening inside his head.

I liked the book but for some very dark, painful moments throughout, especially towards its end.
I found myself skipping these parts.
But I guess these were necessary to do justice to what it would really feel like to be in the protagonist's shoes.


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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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Charlie

I really enjoyed this book. Completely different from what I usually read. Was good .

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Heart breaking

This book broke me especially towards the end when we know what will happen to Charlie inevitably.
A muat read book!

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