Listen free for 30 days

Preview
  • Flowers for Algernon

  • Written by: Daniel Keyes
  • Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
  • Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (296 ratings)

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Flowers for Algernon

Written by: Daniel Keyes
Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $32.41

Buy Now for $32.41

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

Charlie Gordon knows that he isn't very bright. At 32, he mops floors in a bakery and earns just enough to get by. Three evenings a week, he studies at a center for mentally challenged adults. But all of this is about to change for Charlie. As part of a daring experiment, doctors are going to perform surgery on Charlie's brain. They hope the operation and special medication will increase his intelligence, just as it has for the laboratory mouse, Algernon. Meanwhile, each day Charlie keeps a diary of what is happening to him. This is his poignant record of the startling changes in his mind and his life.

Flowers for Algernon was first published as a short story, but soon received wide acclaim as it appeared in anthologies, as a television special, and as an award-winning motion picture, Charly. In its final, expanded form, this haunting story won the Nebula Award for the Best Novel of the Year. Through Jeff Woodman's narration, it now becomes an unforgettable audio experience.

©1966 Daniel Keyes (P)1998 Recorded Books, LLC
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What the critics say

  • Nebula Award, Best Novel, 1966

"A tale that is convincing, suspectful and touching." ( The New York Times)

What listeners say about Flowers for Algernon

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    229
  • 4 Stars
    48
  • 3 Stars
    13
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    210
  • 4 Stars
    39
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    198
  • 4 Stars
    44
  • 3 Stars
    13
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A good adaptation of an interesting scifi book

I was inspired to pick up the book after seeing Pantheon. This is a really solid audiobook version of it. The reader speaks clearly, has a good range of distinct voices for all the main characters and is good at conveying the emotions of the characters. The book itself is a very neat scifi story about a mentally challenged guy named Charlie being given an operation to turn him into a genius. You get to see the changes in his speaking patterns and behaviours in real time, as well as getting to explore repressed and forgotten memories from how he was treated in the past by his friends and family.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

So good

this book makes you feel thing, good things, bad things, sad things, happy things

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it

It was an excellent book. Made me think. I really enjoyed reading it. Highly recommend it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Flawed but very much worth reading

I take issue with the framing of every scientist as out of touch with feelings and emotions : this is a tired trope, I find. Same for the whole of humanity: hardly one to redeem the species from this picture of self -centered evil monsters. It took away from my enjoyment of it.
Still, it's a great story and it's quite well-written. Beside some obvious misunderstanding of the biology of the brain, it's a beautiful exploration of the concept of intelligence, high and low, and its interaction with sociology.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Excellent narration

What kept me listening was the narrator’s amazing performance, engaging and full of emotion. I read the short story initally and rated it a 5/5 and decided to listen to the audible version of the novel. However, I preferred the short story for the quick and impactful plot development and felt like the novel was a more diluted version that did not necessarily add much to what the short story offered.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The writing

10/10 made me cry loved following with the development of the main character.

Fifteen word minimum

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Incredible

This book was incredible. The concept is very interesting, and watching the main character grow filled me with joy. What helps the book is that the author is knowledgable in this field, having a degree in psychology, and that the narrator effectively brings the characters to life, and pronounces his words at a level reflective of the intelligence of the main character at the time.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone even slightly interested in the concept.

#Audible1

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great perspective!

loved the entire story, especially with it being told from Charlie's perspective. Enjoyed the performance as well.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Really enjoyable book

I watched the movie Charlie many years ago and it is a good movie but this book is much better because it gives more details about the story. Charlie narrating the story from his perspective is the best idea for the book it helps you see the whole story from his perspective, Truly enjoyable the end however was abrupt and let wanting to hear more about it something that was hard to achieve because he is narrating it. Highly recommended

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

amazing story

heart felt and genuine, the character growth and fall brings you right along with it, just a good story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful