Flowers for Algernon

I loved this book. It has become one of my favorite books i've ever read. The subject matter the book deals with lies close to my heart. As someone who was born with a craniofacial abnormality I've faced pressure over the years to get an operation to "fix" me. When i was younger I was excited about the idea of being like everyone else. I thought if i had the surgeries i could do what everyone else did and I'd have more friends because i'd be "just like them".

Years after Deciding not to do the surgery i still have people walk up to me asking me when i'll have the surgery to fix my face. Of course every time i tell them " i dont want the surgery", they look back at me not understanding why I wouldnt want it.

This is why I relate so closely to Charlie, the main character within the book Flowers for Algernon. He wanted to be like everyone else and thought it'd solve his problems if he had the surgery. This was not so. People actually liked him better BEFORE the surgery.

Oddly enough the ending of the book paralells what i've seen in people who've had the surgery i've declined to have. At first the results of the surgery look great, but then something goes awry and the patient has to go back for another surgery...then...another...and another....and another. It takes up the person's life and the end result is that the person STILL doesnt look "normal". All in the name of being like other's in society.

I love this book and I highly reccomend it. :)

I'm going to finish this today. I got three quarters of the way through it before I absolutely had to go to bed, and when I got to bed, every time I thought about what had just happened to Charlie and Algernon, I burst into tears.