Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

158 reviews

narbine's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, and Forced institutionalization

tilde_c_s's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Dementia, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content

aureum's review against another edition

3.5

I love so much about this book but i hate that its written by a man. The weird sex aspects of a man who

is still internally harboring the "personality" of a child/teen

is gross. The way women are portrayed as stepping stones for a man to "discover himself" and then they are expected to continue their npc lives with no greater goals than help him. Reading this made me miss the highschool edited version that focused on the heart of what it means to be disabled in society.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Sexual assault

waqupi's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Child abuse

magimiel's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Dementia, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content and Pregnancy

noura's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, and Child abuse

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Dementia

aj9moon's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, and Mental illness

smolswol's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Medical trauma, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Animal death

theangrystackrat's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The story of a mentally disabled young man and his journey after an experiment allows him to gain super intelligence. This was a heartbreaking look at how society treats people who are different, and about how we must accept that who we are is shaped by what we are. When we take that away we become different people. We cannot be cured of ourselves. There is a lot to unpack in this story told in "case reports" - It ran a whole emotional gamut. The stages of Charlie's transformation echoes that of life and that no matter how much we rail against it, time will always win. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

olivesinthegarden's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I want to start off by saying that this book is incredibly emotional and explores deep ideas about identity, purpose, and the intricacies of our own existence. I really enjoyed how thought provoking and sad it was. Overall, a great and moving story.

That being said, there are some bones I have to pick with it. I feel there are a lot of sexist elements in the book, likely due to the time it was written, and let me tell you it hasn’t aged well. The women in this story are either love interests or malicious figures, and the scientists in this book are all men.

Fay’s character makes me angry. She’s heavily infantilized; she’s supposed to be in her mid thirties, but is referred to as a “girl” and behaves very immaturely. She’s a manic pixie dream girl who is mainly there for sexual gratification.

Rose (Charlie’s mother) is the stereotypical hysterical woman who is also evil and has emotionally beaten her husband into submission, leaving him to cave to her malicious will despite being such a great guy and having the best intentions.

I also want to mention that scene where Charlie was super offended when Fay asked if he was gay - just a touch of homophobia in there too. I could get into more, but I’ll just emphasize that I think this book has some out-dated views, especially of women.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Ableism and Sexism

Minor: Animal death and Suicidal thoughts