Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Alzheimer’s and Cancer frighten me. Heck I am sure they frighten many people. Unfortunately, I have too much personal
experience with both of these diseases.
Still Alice is about a fifty year old cognitive psychology
professor at Harvard University. She is
an expert in her field and is often called upon to present on her area of
expertise. At one such presentation she
finds that she cannot recall a word and momentarily loses her train of
thought. Right after this episode she
goes for a run, one that she has down countless times. She follows the same route that she has run
countless times. She stops at the same
place that she usually does but when she decides to head for home she realizes
she does not know where she is. She makes
an appointment with her physician who delivers the worst possible news. Alzheimer’s! What irony, a woman who has
studied the functions of the brain is now facing a disease she knows all too
well. From there the author writes about how Alice copes with this
diagnosis. In addition, she writes about
how Alice’s children and husband deal with the diagnosis.
Alice has a plan for how she will deal with this overwhelming
change to her life. The question is can
she carry out her plan? What is
extremely interesting about this book is how the family members handle the
change in their mother/wife. It is
almost harder on the family members than the actual person because it is the
family members that are forced to watch someone who was once so vibrant and
sharp change into someone they do not recognize. It's a great read.
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