http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2009/0... ( )

I loved this book! It completely changed the way I look at the world. The questions it asks are great—is something really a change for the better if it completely changes who you are? Is the definition of one's self in the way one perceives the world? Is all progress good? Truly thought-provoking. Highly recommended. ( )

Barely Sci-Fi. A watered-down 'Flowers for Algernon'. The writing was alright, and there was some interesting characterization, but the reason it got the Nebula and Clarke awards was its trendy political correctness. Rarely do we get such a concise example of award committees walking hand-in-hand with politics.

It feels like Moon stamped on the Sci-Fi elements in order to draw the audience. I hope that isn't true, because that would be a cheap move. This is just modern pop-fiction, an 'emotionally confessional' book with a veneer of 'vaguely near-future'.

Moon took an interesting idea, but completely failed to capitalize on it. Speculative Fiction has always been obsessed with what makes us human, and how much we can change before we become something else entirely. While that is ostensibly the main theme of this book, it goes almost unexplored.

Imagine a book which posited the invention of an immortality serum, but then only showed that people would have more jobs and schooling, instead of exploring the economic and social ramifications of such a remarkable change.

This becomes even more apparent at the climax, which is rushed and inauthentic. The character growth is almost entirely skipped over, and the whole thing takes place over a few short chapters. Compared to the rest of the book, which is an internal, step-by-step presentation of a fairly different mind, and the sudden, convenient, external ending is a poor fit.

The denouement following the climax is particularly tidy, with the emotional progression of the end of an 80's college movie where we learn through super-imposed text that "Barry went on to win the Nobel prize" to the strains of Simple Minds.

The rest of the book was interesting, as it showed the psychological workings of autism. Moon researched this disorder much better than Mark Haddon in his 'Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time'. It also had a part about fencing, except it didn't resemble fencing as much as weird SCA dressup. Not that I have anything against SCA dressup (or do I?).

It's an alright read, goes pretty quick, and it might give you some insight into how brain disorders, but doesn't use this as a way to tie human experiences together; which is really a shame, because a sci-fi book with this topic could have asked some very difficult and profound questions about how the future of technology might change the way we deal with thought, the mind, and the different ways people process information.

Actually, a book did take that theme and tackle those issues, it was called 'Flowers for Algernon' and was written sixty years before Moon's less profound attempt. You'd think we'd have something more to say after sixty years of neurology and psychology, but apparently not.

This book was light and fluffy, especially given its subject matter, and is more likely to make soccer moms feel proud of themselves for reading something so 'different' than actually inspiring anyone to change the way they think about humanity, the mind, or the possibility within us. ( )

Great concept; I was hoping for something more along the lines of Curious Incident by Haddon, but Moon wasn't as convincing or skillful. She also lingered way too long on some points, repeating previous thoughts ad nauseam. Would have been a much better read if it was 1/2 as long! I'm not sure the ending was consistent with the character; in some ways it seems like a reversal of his thinking.

But overall, it was the repetitiveness of several themes that I found most annoying. Ok, ok... I GET IT ALREADY! ( )

I really enjoyed this read about a high functioning man with autism and his experiences with the world. It really changes the perceptions we have about ourselves and about others. We are given the opportunity to experience a world view we believe to be very alien from our own and in so many ways, really isn't all that different. ( )