I decided to browse a list of Nebula Award winning books, hoping to mix some stellar reads into my research of fiction. I'd already heard of this one and knew it was about a man who is mentally handicapped and has an operation, making him eventually the most intelligent man ever.
I thought maybe Flowers for Algernon could make a nice gift to those of my friends and family who like to throw around the word "retard". It's not that they're bad people. In fact, they're too good to be passively insulting those who are less fortunate than them. These are people who are reactionary to political correctness; so fragile whenever anyone questions their morality. They are the good people. You can't tell them they're wrong or else they'll respond by being extra wrong.
You know the type. I don't understand why we can't normalize admitting our mistakes and helping each other to make things better.
This may not be the book you want to give as a gift, as if people do read the books they're gifted. It's a "hard read". It sucks you in and makes you feel the dark emotions, achieving what so many authors only dream. As an aspiring writer, I couldn't trust myself to narrate from the perspective of the most intelligent man ever. Daniel Keyes knocked it out of the park.
It's sci fi but there are no robots, gadgets, aliens, or zombies. Rest easy, nerd haters. Even the most insensitive of woke-reactionaries can get into this book. I might dare to say they should get into it.
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