Still Alice by Lisa Genova (Pocket Books, 2009)
This poignant debut novel by a neuroscientist from Harvard features a 50-year-old psychiatry professor who is ensnared in the early-onset of Alzheimer’s Disease. At first she (and her family) dismiss her forgetfulness as stress and over-programming, but as her symptoms flood her life, there is no way anyone can deny her awful spiral into dementia. In the course of the novel, Alice is forced to relinquish a highly esteemed career, her independence and her very sanity so that she comes to feel “bored, ignored and alienated.” While the writing itself is less than extraordinary, the simple and sad story of Alice’s genetic and devastating disease – she is, after all, more than she can remember – is told honestly and with enormous respect for its victims. “I can’t stand the thought of looking at you one day,” Alice says to her beloved husband early on. “This face I love, and not knowing who you are.” (8/10).
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