Flowers for Algernon

I finish reading this book that was incredibly sad! One of my pet peeves is that I hate reading depressing books but somehow I just can't seem to stop reading. Okay this book is about Charlie, a man who is seeking intelligence beyond his imagination. In my opinion, I thought that he was a really smart person but he didn't even know it. So, anyways, a scientist is performing an experiment to see whether or not a human can gain knowledge that of Albert Einstein or even Stephen Hawking. At first, they experiment on a mouse, Algernon, who becomes extremely smart. He is fast, strong, and is able to find cheese in a very difficult maze in a matter of seconds. Charlie is quick to have this operation performed on him and can't wait until the procedure takes place. So, the doctors prescribe him to write a diary everyday before his surgery and after the surgery and this is how we come to learn more about him. Okay, so I predicated that the surgery will be performed on Charlie successfully and he will become a smart-aleck. My prediction came true!!!! yay. Charlie becomes so smart that he begins to discover theories that were not being thought of. However, with every success a problem is developed. One day, Charlie goes to the doctor for a check up when he learns a shocking truth. Algernon's brain was deteriorating! He was beginning to act very weird and the doctor's scanned an MRI of his brain and found out the cells in his brain were dying very quickly. Worst of all, he was going to die soon! Doctors feared that the same fate would arrive at Charlie's footsteps and they were, in fact correct. Days later, Charlie began to lose his intelligence and quickly recorded his actions in his diary before it was too late. It's as if words were fallen out of his head and he didn't know where he was, who he was, and what was taking place in his life. He had no memory and worst of all, all the theories that he came up were destroyed because he didn't know what they were. All his success went down the drain and he decided to run away to nowhere until his last few days on earth. Can you believe I have been crying since this morning? At the end of the book, he writes that he was glad this surgery was performed on him because he enjoyed living in the shoes of an intelligent person for a few days. It was worth it?!?