Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

9 reviews

lizdon's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Excrement, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Vomit

m4rtt4's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

incredibly thought-provoking AND heart-breaking; I wish the mouse had been in a bigger role but overall very interesting and an important read.

Spoiler

it was scary how he became possessive and aggressive and expressed his male sexuality and masculinity through those means after "gaining intelligence"

, really makes you think what should even be called intelligence and how easily we exclude emotions and kindness from it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, and Child abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Medical content, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

madread8's review

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic friendship and Mental illness

katzilla99's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Ableism, Toxic relationship, and Bullying

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Sexual content and Suicidal thoughts

ky001113's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Abandonment, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual content, Alcohol, Cursing, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, and Dementia

Minor: Animal death, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Animal cruelty, and Confinement

purplehulk713's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-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

3.75

So clever and tender, both in format and in content and so heartbreaking. It was not satisfying for me at the end, but that was probably Daniel Keyes's intention. However, the relevant themes of disability, family issues, physical intimacy, and research ethics made Flowers for Algernon so tantalizing. Perhaps the most poignant scene for me was Charlie's reunion with his sister: he is finally able to understand

Spoiler

what happened in their family, even if he might not remember later.

Be aware, this is a book that will force you to recognize your own implicit biases, but I urge you to read it all the more for that very reason. To me, Fay was the most interesting character, as

Spoiler

she was the only person who saw Charlie as a person after his operation and regarded him with care and respect likewise.

But how much do we treat people like things in our society? As if they aren't worth enough that they can simply be discarded? Algernon deserves the most magnificent garden of flowers, blooming every year with the most glorious blossoms. But for now,

Spoiler

will you lay some flowers on his grave?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Child abuse, Dementia, Alcohol, Excrement, and Sexual content

Minor: Incest and Suicidal thoughts

alice_clay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Physical abuse and Toxic friendship

Minor: Sexual content and Suicidal thoughts

draconia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Dementia, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

leona's review

emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

Flowers for Algernon spoke to me on another level. I even started underlining and annotating this book (this is unusual behavior, I don't usually draw in my books!). It's definitely one of those types of books that you can feel the significance of, or that you could imagine writing a long, complicated essay on at school (which I probably would enjoy.) 

I really enjoyed the themes discussed in this book and I found them so incredibly relatable. It is particularly heartbreaking to see how Charlie is being abused and laughed at when he isn't capable of knowing better. I also picked up on some things that made me wonder if Charlie may have been autistic / on the autism spectrum, especially one scene where he remarks how his old teacher used to tie his hands around his chair to stop him fidgeting (I feel like this may have been a stim.) The moment with him attempting to learn how to make the bread rolls at the bakery was probably one of my favourite scenes, as it is one of the most detailed sections where we see how Charlie's brain used to function, and how he could learn but the impatience and lack of encouragement from others made it almost impossible. This scene really presses the need to be patient with people and recognise that all people learn differently. I also enjoyed the scene where Charlie gets drunk at the conference and argues with Nemur. I hate to use a cliche, but this book is very thought-provoking. 

I had a couple of issues with the book though. Firstly, I felt like the pace dropped a bit near the middle of the book and my interest definitely started to wane a bit. This book is kind of plotless and winding, with lots of random flashbacks. This isn't necessarily a downside, but I didn't feel like the great quotes scattered throughout were always enough to completely hold my interest and make me feel inclined to pick it up. This is especially true because of my second point: the blurb and synopsis for this book I always see is way to spoiler-y

Spoiler

Algernon doesn't die until the last 30 pages, and we don't even find out about his regression until the second half of the book. When we find out that Algernon has regressed, (from the synopsis) it's kind of obvious that Charlie will as well. This kind of lessened the emotional impact as I always felt like I was waiting to be told the 'plot-twist' of Algernon dying. I also felt that the ending scene may have been a bit brief.

 

My last complaint is the female representation. I understand that a large part of this novel is around Charlie's intelligence developing at a disproportional rate to his emotional / sexual 'intelligence' (if you will). This leads to Charlie often describing women based on how attractive they are. It makes sense, but it didn't mean I was any less annoyed about it. I also kind of felt bad for Alice in this book, she was kind of treated like shit whilst Charlie was trying to banish the fear instilled in him by his mother, but then she came straight back. It just kind of rubbed me up the wrong way to hear about how attractive every woman he met was. Is it so much to ask to have a decent female character in a classic sci-fi novel?

Little rant over, I want to rate this book 4.5 stars. I enjoyed it immensely and would strongly recommend it, however I don't think it will make it in with my very favourite books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Sexual content, and Child abuse

Minor: Death, Dementia, Grief, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Stalking