Karen had talked up this book to me, and I'd been hearing of it occasionally over the years, and it was available through Audible, so I said "hell" and took it up.
Karen, as you may or may not know, really likes depressing books. That isn't to say that all of the books she likes are depressing, or that depressingness is prerequisite to her liking them; it's just something to remember. And remember it I did as I read "Flowers For Algernon," the tale of a mentally handicapped lad named Charlie who is chosen to be the subject of a series of intelligence-enhancing experiments.
The novel is presented as his diary, and the narrative conceit is that as his intelligence changes, so does his writing style. This was, I would say, by far the most interesting aspect of the book from a creative standpoint. Thematically, the book was, I am given to understand, revolutionary in the way it looked at the lives of people with handicaps, its investigation of prejudice and maltreatment. It was most uncomfortable at times, but it said things that needed and deserved to be said, and for that it is to be highly commended.
These things being said for it, I will say that while I found it thought-provoking, I am really happier to have read it than I was to read it, if that makes sense. I think primarily that I just found that the book said more than it did, that I rarely viewed characters or dialog as more than vehicles. Didn't love it.
Jeff Woodman is fine, nothing special, but he was passable.
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