송민경

I just finished the book, and I’m not sure what to say... There’s always this feeling that you get after finishing a novel with a sad ending but you know that the book cannot be complete with an ending of a different kind. I think I’ve been expecting this result of Charlie experiencing a rapid decline in intelligence all along, but to confirm it with my own eyes is a whole different thing. This is a book that makes the readers think a lot, especially about the way we treat the mentally challenged. Also, I got to question myself if I were entitled to condemn Charlie’s mother for behaving in such a cruel way to her own son, when I have never gone through her experience or something similar at all. It got me to imagine what it would be like and how I would react if I have a retardate child of my own in the future. It was difficult for me to read through to the end, especially when I was approaching it, for I knew how all of it would be like in the end and I felt kind of sorry for Charlie. When he realizes that he is regressing and when he cannot understand the things that he himself had written or read only a few weeks before, I felt such an anguish for him. If I had been him, I would have experienced anger for not being the kind of intelligent man, a genius that even university professors cannot follow, anymore. This book no doubt is a good read but still it’s true that it makes you feel kind of down. If you want to give deep thoughts about the unfairness of the way retarded people are being treated in society, I highly recommend you read the book. But if you are looking for a simple story you can enjoy yourself reading, you may as well look for another one.