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Flowers for Algernon
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
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Publisher's summary
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.
Critic reviews
- Nebula Award, Best Novel, 1966
"A tale that is convincing, suspectful and touching." ( The New York Times)
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When a car accident leaves photographer Burke Crenshaw in need of temporary full-time care, he finds himself back in the one place no forty-year-old chooses to be--his childhood bedroom. There, in the Vermont home where he grew up, Burke begins the long process of recuperation, and watches as his widowed father finds happiness in a new relationship that's a constant reminder of everything Burke wants and lacks. Exploring local history, Burke discovers an intriguing series of letters from a Civil War soldier to his fianc.
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No need to check your scepticism at the door!
- By Orlando on 08-23-13
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Mr. Fox
- A Novel
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Carol Boyd
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Fairy-tale romances end with a wedding and the fairy tales don't get complicated. In this book, celebrated writer Mr. Fox can't stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels, and neither can his wife, Daphne. It's not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold differently....
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A Great Novel, just Poor for Audio
- By James A. Dittes on 08-13-16
By: Helen Oyeyemi
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Breaking the Silence
- By: Diane Chamberlain
- Narrated by: Justine Eyre
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Laura Brandon's promise to her dying father was simple: to visit an elderly woman she'd never heard of before. A woman who remembers nothing-except the distant past. Visiting Sarah Tolley seemed a small enough sacrifice to make. But Laura's promise results in another death: her husband's. And after their five-year-old daughter, Emma, witnesses her father's suicide, Emma refuses to talk about it - to talk at all.Frantic and guilt ridden, Laura contacts the only person who may be able to help.
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can't listen to the narrator
- By Sandy on 01-05-15
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The Lost Weekend
- By: Charles Jackson
- Narrated by: Donald Corren
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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It is 1936, and on the East Side of Manhattan, a would-be writer named Don Birnam decides to have a drink. And then another, and then another, until he's in the midst of what becomes a five-day binge. A classic tale of one man's struggle with alcoholism, this revolutionary novel remains Charles Jackson's best-known book - a daring autobiographical work that paved the way for contemporary addiction literature.
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What a terrific audiobook!
- By Bill on 11-10-14
By: Charles Jackson
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The Boy Who Could See Demons
- A Novel
- By: Carolyn Jess-Cooke
- Narrated by: Bruce Mann, Carolyn Jess-Cooke
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Dr. Anya Molokova, a child psychiatrist, is called in to work at MacNeice House, an adolescent mental health treatment center. There she is told to observe and assess Alex Connolly, a keenly intelligent, sensitive ten-year-old coping with his mother's latest suicide attempt. Alex is in need of serious counseling: He has been harming himself and others, often during blackouts. At the root of his destructive behavior, Alex claims, is his imaginary "friend" Ruen, a cunning demon who urges Alex to bend to his often violent will.
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HOLY COW!!! Give me more, please!!!
- By Mary on 09-15-13
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Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (Unabridged Selections)
- By: Edited by David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Mary-Louise Parker, Cherry Jones
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is a collection of short stories, some classic, others impending, selected and introduced by David Sedaris.
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Great stories but only 5 of 17 are included
- By Terri Kirk on 07-13-12
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A Fraction of the Whole
- By: Steve Toltz
- Narrated by: Colin McPhillamy, Craig Baldwin
- Length: 25 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Stewing in an Australian prison, Jasper Dean reflects on his relationship with his dead father and recounts the many zany adventures they shared together.
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A Funny and Thought-provoking Tale of Human Nature
- By Asha Ember on 01-27-10
By: Steve Toltz
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A Long, Long Sleep
- By: Anna Sheehan
- Narrated by: Angela Dawe
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for 62 years when she is woken by a kiss. Locked away in the chemically induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten subbasement, 16-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now her parents and her first love are long dead, and Rose - hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire - is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat. Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes....
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Sleeping Beauty Sci-Fi Edition
- By Katherine on 05-11-13
By: Anna Sheehan
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Welcome to the Monkey House
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: David Strathairn, Maria Tucci, Bill Irwin, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Welcome to the Monkey House is a collection of Kurt Vonnegut's shorter works. Originally printed in publications as diverse as The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and The Atlantic Monthly, what these superb stories share is Vonnegut's audacious sense of humor and extraordinary range of creative vision.
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Classic Vonnegut
- By Michael Carrato on 08-17-06
By: Kurt Vonnegut
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Perchance to Dream
- Selected Stories
- By: Charles Beaumont
- Narrated by: J. Paul Boehmer, Gabrielle de Cuir, Harlan Ellison, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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The profoundly original and wildly entertaining short stories of a legendary Twilight Zone writer. It is only natural that Charles Beaumont would make a name for himself crafting scripts for The Twilight Zone - for his was an imagination so limitless it must have emerged from some other dimension. Perchance to Dream contains a selection of Beaumont's finest stories, including five that he later adapted for Twilight Zone episodes.
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Contents
- By Ralph Freaster on 06-22-16
By: Charles Beaumont
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As Kinnall Darival writes "I" in his journal, he knows this pronoun is forbidden by his people of Manneran because it is too personal. But through the use of a powerful, mind-altering drug, he has learned to understand what people are really feeling and to speak for himself. Now he is compelled to share his message of liberation, regardless of the risk. This science fiction classic is a cult favorite from a Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author.
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Diary of a would be Messiah !
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To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Riverworld Saga, Book 1
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For explorer Richard Francis Burton, Alice Liddell Hargreaves - the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland - and the rest of humanity, death is nothing like they expected. Instead of heaven, hell, or even the black void of nothingness, all of the 36 billion people who ever lived on Earth are simultaneously resurrected on a world that has been transformed into a giant river valley.
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Great concept, dated writing.
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What listeners say about Flowers for Algernon
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Tim
- 05-30-14
Walk with a Swagger
It made me sad as I kept reading "Flowers for Algernon." I'm roughly the same age as Charlie and also was born with a disability. I could had had been mentally retarded, but by mother nature, my disability is different than his. I really don't think when Daniel Keyes was writing this book, he was going for the science fiction genre, but more how society treat people differently base on their mental status.
As Charlie gets smarter and smarter, he is treated differently and his attitude becomes more pompous as he learns more and more. He is no longer the happy go lucky guy that used to mopped floors in the bakery. As the experiment becomes more successful, he starts losing himself.
I can relate to Charlie. Although I am not a genius and I was raise in a loving family, the flashbacks of Charlie's parents is so real to me. For example, when his mother seeks for a cure to his mental retardation, I also had a similar instant in my life. For me, I had every treatment that my grandma could think of to make me try to walk or use my hands. None of the treatments worked and my family was forward thinkers at the time and gave me every resource to succeed.
If there was a magic cure to relieved me from my Cerebral Palsy and be like Charlie and be normal, I wonder how would my friends and family treat me. More importantly would I be walking with the norm, or would I be walking with a swagger and start to distance myself from people that I use to know?
This is an extremely powerful book. There is so much to the story other than the lab rat and the science experiment with the mentally retarded. A book like this is very rare these days.
"Flowers for Algernon" was published in 1959 and I have yet to read anything else that touch me.
Pure excellence. .
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- FanB14
- 03-22-13
Phenomenal Classic
Beautifully written classic tale of Charlie Gordon, a man with mental retardation who undergoes an experimental surgical procedure to cure his “condition.” Charlie is mentally and physically abused by his mother and teased for the entirety of his 32 years. He enters into therapy, and an accelerated learning program, attending classes and racing mazes with the first subject, Algernon the mouse. Keeping a diary, Charlie tracks his current progress and remembers the painful details of his previous memories with new clarity.
The story questions the attitudes and sickening treatment of people with special needs and the isolation felt from being on the outside looking in. I’m reminded of George Bernard Shaw’s, “Pygmalion.” Eliza Doolittle, like Charlie, becomes a subject in a test to prove those believed inferior can transform to the norms of society. The question ignored is when emotional immaturity doesn’t catch up quickly enough with newfound intelligence and the pitfalls therein. The human being is ignored for the advancement of science. Charlie also struggles to find meaning and purpose. All of these themes are explored in depth by Keyes and the narrator is phenomenal; moving back and forth with spot on cadence and dialect, perfectly emoting the evolution and regression of Charlie.
Outstanding novel.
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224 people found this helpful
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- Abdur Abdul-Malik
- 03-09-12
Don't Even Debate It, Just Click "Add to Cart"
Any additional comments?
The story and narration were superb and the plot was engrossing. After listening to about 60+ nonfiction books I have started to dip my toes into fiction--particularly science fiction. I remember listening to a classmate give a review of this book in a high school English class and decided to use one of the 'ol two credits on this one. Smart decision. Even though I knew the ending before I hit the play button, the journey--as any good book reveals--is more important that mere facts.
The ending will hit you.
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Overall
- Anonymous User
- 07-28-11
Great Writing and Incredibly Good Narration
Although written in 1966 based upon a short story published in 1959, nothing about this book is dated, hackneyed or trite. In fact, little would need to be changed for it to pass as a recently published novel set in the 1960s. The current Wikipedia entry for this book notes three main themes: treatment of the mentally disabled, the conflict between intellect and emotion or happiness, and how events in the past can influence a person later in life. Keyes does effectively develve into each of these issues, particuarly the last. However, for me, the deeper issue is Keyes' subtle, unstated questions about the value of all life, particularly the lives of those with little awarness of their own worth. In addition, Jeff Woodman's narration was superlative. His voice, inflection, cadence, etc. gave life and meaning to Charlie's character in a way that complemented and added to Keyes' writing. I listen to audiodbooks about 20 hours each week, and few books have affected me like this one in months. Give it a try.
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- Glorianne
- 01-21-12
You won't forget this story.
I saw the play of this story years ago but could not remember the plot so I decided to listen to the book. I will never think about intelligence and society's perceptions the same way again. Perhaps because the novel is a much more in-depth exploration of Charly's psyche, the book stuck with me in a way the play did not. In the beginning the stuttering prose is frustrating, but it is such a necessary component of the novel and the gradual transformation to the point where Charly is speaking over your head sneaks up on you. Charly's reactions to the world change as his understanding of the world changes, and the reader can't help but reflect on the themes on a personal level.
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- Brett
- 08-04-14
Didn't Remember THAT in High School...
This is a clever book in so many ways and it attempts to confront so many social and philosophical questions - questions all the way up to the meaning of life.
I read this story in high school and remember it being pretty good, so I decided to read it again. What I found was a much different book. Now I know why there were rumors about it being provocative. I must have read the cleaned up version, with none of the main character's sexual hang-ups. This book is tragic, sad, and thought provoking. I recommend it for a book club.
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40 people found this helpful
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- Dave Nelson
- 03-25-13
An amazing experience
I have heard about this book many times but have never read it or watched one of the movies or TV shows based on it, but I decided it was about time that I did. Written originally as a short story in 1958 and later in 1966 as a novel it is an amazing tale of a mentally challenged man who science turns into a genius with an incalculably high IQ even though he still has the emotions of a child.
As narrator Jeff Woodman brings this story to life, he does an incredible job presenting Charlie through his many changes and growth along with the people around him that I regularly forgot that only one actor was conveying the story. Not many narrators have done that for me and this performance is the best I have heard in an audio book so far.
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- Darryl
- 10-16-12
beautiful and heartbreaking
this is deservedly a classic. there is much to think about regarding intelligence and enhancement. if you value what makes you an individual this novel will grip you and haunt you. one of my all time favorites.
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- Jim "The Impatient"
- 06-29-15
We All Must Feel Superior
This book is an one of a kind, on a subject that few have written in story format. Keyes is an excellent writer who makes you feel for his main character, Charley. You follow Charley from retardation to genius back to retardation. You get a first hand look in how the retarded are treated in society. As he moves up in intelligence, we see that even in the academic world there are many who strive to hide their weaknesses. How uncomfortable people get with people who are smarter then they are. Striving to not look dumb is a goal for most of us. Some do harm to those of less intelligence in order to make themselves feel smarter. It happens at all levels.
This is listed under Science Fiction, but it should be under American Classic. I believe it is required reading at some schools, as it should be.
The narrator is great
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- Kryton2725
- 10-26-11
GET READY TO CRY!
It won't seem like it a first.. but if you're not distracted.... and you let yourself feel the story... you will be moved... so much so... I dare say... that everything you ever thought about those less fortunate than you are... will slowly melt away...This is a beautiful... sad... story.. worth every spare minute of your time... I don't want to ruin it for you... but... you need to know... that it will enrich your soul... and... it will break your heart...
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