This is a book about 32 year old mentally retarded Charlie Gordon. He has always wanted to be smart. So he is chosen to be the first human to be given a scientific experiment brain surgery to see if they can increase his IQ. The experiment has first been done on a mouse named Algernon with amazing results. So Charlie gets the surgery and his IQ starts to increase rapidly. The whole book is written in the form of Charlie writing in his journal and you can see his progression even through his spelling and how he talks. But as he gets smarter he starts to see that the people he thought were his friends aren't. It is very sad to see him start to realize how people really treated him. And even though he is getting smarter, soon he is smarter than the doctors he is working with, he is still very stunted emotionally. Then Algernon starts to fail, and everyone wonders if the same thing will happen to Charlie.
I really enjoyed this book, even though a lot if it made me very sad. It was written in 1959 so I was surprised that it is still a pretty popular book. There is some talk of sex and mature stuff, because Charlie is coming to learn about that kind of stuff. I would rate it a mild pg-13. It is a pretty easy and fast read and I give it 3.5 rating out of 5.
I read this book many, many years ago. They even made a movie out of it which was pretty good too. I really liked this book, but it is sad. MOM
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