Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Flowers for Algernon

We gathered at Becky's house to drink discuss a classic book written in the 60's by Daniel Keyes.  It's classified as sci-fi, but really it is so much more than that.  The novel brings up so many deep discussion points about intelligence, relationships, and self-understanding.

Before sitting around (on her new couch) to talk about the book, we enjoyed a "Food and Wine" dinner of Kale Salad and Lemon Shrimp Spaghetti.  Those recipes came from the latest edition of the magazine.  It's about time she did something useful with that subscription.

Points of Discussion:

  • We wondered how the concepts in the book would have appeared to an audience in the 60's verses  today.  As Erin said "They weren't printing organs back then."  We imagined it would have seemed even more science fiction-y to them.
  • We talked about how Charlie's mom needed him to be a certain way in order to be okay with herself and thought about ways we might do that with our kids in a less dramatic fashion.
  • We looked at things from Charlie's sister's perspective, and Elspeth shared some of her own experience growing up with a sibling who has Cerebral Palsy.
  • Charlie's perceptions and quality of life changed with his level of intelligence.  Was his intelligence a blessing, a curse, or both?
  • It was a mixed reaction from our group regarding whether the ending was deeply sad or not.
  • The relationships between Charlie and two women were discussed briefly as we explored how those relationships revealed the emotional immaturity that accompanied his genius.
Fun Facts (Where do I begin??):
Nancy showed up with a new hairstyle that kinda reminded us of someone…

Expect to see Greta giving TED talks any day now, actually we might all be giving TED talks (now that Emily knows what they are), or if that doesn't work out…modeling.  I think what I'm trying to say here is, we're all smart and beautiful.
We want to watch the movie based on this book now, especially since Nancy told us about the hunk that plays Charlie…Cliff Robertson!  Hubba hubba!  And he even won an Oscar for the role.
Greta is now an official salesperson for the "Maisie Dobbs Jewelry" line, and she would never, ever hold a gun to my head.
If she did, I would spank her.



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