From Goodreads: "Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she's a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life - and her relationship with her family and world - forever."
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Genres: Realistic Fiction, Contemporary, Psychology
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
I had a great aunt who suffered from Alzheimer's. She taught Social Studies in school. I remember because when I was little, she used to make me watch state of the nation addresses on TV with her. I didn't know much about the disease then, let alone that it was an actual disease. I chalked up her descent into dementia to the aging process. Frighteningly progressive for her age, but natural. I picked up Still Alice because of the questions that after all these years, I didn't think to ask - What is Alzheimer's Disease? What causes it? Am I at risk? Told in Alice's point of view, it presents a clear, unforgiving account of what having Alzheimer’s disease is like. Imagine getting lost in your own home, losing your grasp of language, and forgetting everything you have known and learned. It's an insightful, heartbreaking narrative that depicts a three-dimensionality that may be lacking from similar-themed stories but written from the caregiver's perspective. Gripping though as it is, I find Lisa Genova's writing style clinical that my mind wandered a bit during the jargon-heavy moments. Of course, I'm not discounting the fact that the dialogue could already be at its simplest and there's just no way to effectively explain in layman's terms without sacrificing the accuracy of the subject matter. I get that. Far be it from me to fuss but I could have been a lot happier with a little dumbing down. Sorry, really smart people!
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