My grandmother was an amazing woman. She was a teacher, a wife and a mother. She was active in both her church and the League of Women Voters organization. She and my grandfather very much a part of my childhood. After my Grandpa John died, the family began noticing little changes in my grandmother. She was forgetful. She would go out wearing her clothing backwards. She left a turkey in the trunk of her car one hot summer night, completely forgotten. She could not do simple tasks and would lose her way home while out running errands. She bought a minivan she could not afford nor needed. She was irritable and defensive. Eventually she withdrew, barely speaking. She stopped making an effort to walk, preferring instead to sit in a wheelchair. She couldn’t remember who people were and we did not know if she really understood what was going on around her. My grandmother did not have Alzheimer’s, however. She suffered from vascular dementia, with many of the same symptoms as someone with Alzheimer’s might have. In my desire to learn more about her illness, I did quite a bit of research into dementia, including Alzheimer’s Disease.

My father’s father, Grandpa Willie, did have Alzheimer’s Disease. His was not early onset as Alice’s was in the novel. His came with old age. Being on the West Coast and he on the East, I did not see the impact his illness had on him first hand like I had with my grandmother in California. I heard the stories though. The last time I saw my grandfather in the nursing home, he had no idea who I was.

Earlier this year, my husband’s uncle was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Uncle R is a war veteran, highly intelligent and was successful in his career. It has been difficult for his family, including his wife, children, mother and sister.

Alzheimer’s is hereditary. And that’s a scary thought. As terrible as this may sound, I confess to being more frightened of having that than cancer (although I worry about that too; breast cancer being a real risk factor in my life—both my grandmothers and mother having had it). The idea of losing my mind, piece by piece . . . My memories, including the most basic disappearing. And knowing it is happening. I cannot imagine how frustrating and frightening that would be not only for me but those around me.

Still Alice was not a book I sought out to read before now. It was one sent to me by the publisher for review. Even amidst all the glowing reviews, I hesitated in reading it. I commented on many blogger reviews that I wasn’t ready, that it hit too close to home. When Florinda brought up the idea of a group read-along, I penciled it in deciding I might as well give it a try.

I picked up Still Alice at lunch on Friday and barely spent any time on my computer that night as I jumped right back into reading. I only went to bed at 12:44 a.m. because I could not keep my eyes open any longer. I finished the book Saturday morning. I didn’t rush through the book on purpose with a deadline in mind. I was so involved in Alice’s story, in her family’s story, that I just wanted to keep reading.

In Lisa Genova’s novel, Dr. Alice Howland is a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard University. She has a successful career and is well-respected among her peers. She prides herself on her accomplishments and being the best teacher she can be. She is the mother of three adult children and married to a man she loves very much and who is also successful in his own career.

She loves her children. Her older two are leading successful lives. Alice worries about her youngest though who has chosen a career path that Alice has trouble understanding. She also worries that she and her husband have grown apart. They live under the same roof, but lead very independent lives. She misses their walks to work in the morning, holding hands and stopping at Jerri’s for coffee and tea.

She is extremely busy, always on the go. It is no wonder she occasionally forgets where she puts things and sometimes loses a word. Everyone does that now and then, especially when stressed or overwhelmed. In Alice’s case, there’s also the possibility of menopause setting in. Hadn’t she read that minor memory disruptions and mental confusion could be related to that?

It isn’t until she forgets how to get home one day during a run that she realizes just how serious her problem may be. Not wanting to worry her husband, she sees her doctor and later a neurologist. She never expected the diagnosis she was given: early onset Alzheimer’s Disease.

Lisa Genova’s prose is simple and easy to read even if the story she tells is one filled with sadness and pain. It is not all depressing though. While Alice’s prognosis is poor, her family is just as much a part of this book as Alice, and their lives will go on.

I wasn’t too keen on Alice at first. I immediately identified with her youngest daughter, Lydia. Alice is very opinionated and has difficulty understanding Lydia’s choice not to attend college to pursue an acting career. Alice and Lydia have a strained relationship in the beginning of the book, but as the story progresses, their relationship begins to change. My impressions of Lydia only grow more positive and I came to really care about Alice.

I could understand Alice’s husband’s initial denial and constant search for solutions that might help his wife. It couldn’t have been easy for him. The woman he loved was disappearing before his eyes. Juggling his career and a spouse who was becoming increasingly dependent would not be easy on anyone. I feel terrible for writing this, but he frustrated me at times with the choices he made, one in particular. Was he wrong? Not necessarily. He did what he thought was best for him in his situation. It is hard to know what we would do in any given circumstance without being in that situation ourselves. Still, his choices bothered me.

Alzheimer’s Disease is degenerative and there is yet no cure. There are drugs that help minimally by delaying the progression of the illness but it is still unknown how to stop it. There is DNA testing available which can detect whether a person is likely to develop Alzheimer’s, however, it is not full proof by any stretch. And then the question becomes whether you’d want to know something like that ahead of time. Lisa Genova broached this subject in the novel as well.

The author also addressed the stigma associated with Alzheimer’s. The fear and assumptions people make upon learning someone has the disease. When Alice’s colleagues learned of her diagnosis, they began to avoid her. Her family often would talk about her while she sat right there in the room instead of addressing her directly. Alice could not help but feel alienated and alone, not to mention helpless.

I felt a full range of emotions while reading this novel: fear, anger, sadness, joy, hope, helplessness, and love. The bonds of the Howland family are tested to the limit. Alice is an amazing and strong woman. I couldn’t help but think of my grandmother, grandfather, and Uncle R. as I read. My heart aches for what they must have gone through—and are going through in the case of my husband’s uncle. I hope that a cure for or at least a way to stop the progression of Alzheimer’s will be found in the near future. ( )

This book takes you step-by-step into the world of an Alzheimer's patient. Because the patient is a well-published academic, we are more inclined to accept her descriptions of the process through which she is moving. The way this process is given to the reader, one can not help but feel despair at the relentlessness of this advancing disease. ( )

Memorable, frightening and compelling - "Still Alice" provides an unforgettable look at Alzheimer's disease through the first-hand account of one woman's struggle. It was hard to pick up - I didn't want to read it - but once I started it, it was impossible to put down. ( )

I wasn't sure if I would like a book with this subject matter in a novel format. However, Lisa Genova wrote a novel that could easily pass for a non-fiction true story. Her expertise in the field of Alzheimers disease is clearly evident and adds so much to the book. Alzheimers is such a terrifying disease because of the loss of your identity. This book is a must read for anyone dealing with this disease. It's extremely sad but how could it be anything else. ( )

This is a scary book, especially as I watch my mom's deteriorating cognitive abilities although she's not near the level of Alice. I found this to be a basically uplifting book in the way that Alice and her family responded to her progressive deterioration. I especially loved the last scene where Alice is working with her daughter the actress.

”As the disease worsens and continues to steal pieces of what she’d always thought of as her self, we see her discover that she is more than what she can remember.” - Lisa Genova on her character, Alice.

Still Alice was one of those book that will forever leave its fingerprint on me. A story about losing one’s memory, it was an unforgettable book about a truly memorable character.

Lisa Genova’s debut book explored what it was like for Alice Howland, a 50-year-old Harvard psychology professor, who was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. The book opened as Alice began experiencing moments of forgetfulness – small slips in her language and sense of orientation – that she marked off as side effects of menopause. After finally seeing her doctor, Alice received the most devastating and surprising diagnosis – one that would change her life forever.

Told exclusively from Alice’s viewpoint, I watched Alice go through all stages of grief about her diagnosis. Then, I read page after page as Alice struggled with her disease. Never before have I been so close to a character who was declining like this. It was heart-breaking but enlightening.

Last spring, my father was diagnosed with mixed dementia – a troublesome combination of vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s. I chose this book because I wanted some insight on how this disease affected the person. We hear so much about the caregivers and families, but what about the person with Alzheimer’s? After reading this book, I have gained a better understanding about the Alzheimer’s patient – who is still a person, a man, my dad.

Even if you’ve been fortunate enough to not have dementia in your personal circle, I still can’t recommend Still Alice enough. Its depiction of the human side of Alzheimer’s was touching and memorable. I laughed with Alice at her blunders, raged when her husband and kids became insensitive, rooted for her while she hung on to her last threads of memory, and cried when she realized that life is not about what you remember but what you loved. That’s a lesson for all of us to remember. ( )

not a subject I was interested in reading about; but it was fascinating and I loved the novel format. ( )

This was a scary book because the character of Alice Howland, PhD. tells her own story of noticing memory problems and realizing that she has Alsheimer's. ( )

One of my book groups chose this for this month's book. When I heard what we would be reading, I wrinkled my nose and sighed. This was a book I intended to give a miss as it just didn't much interest me and had such potential for the treacle that was evident in Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook (a book I loathed). I can't begin to explain how glad I am that I was forced to read this. The group's discussion was more personal than focused on the book but the book is really well done and viscerally effecting.

Alice is a Harvard professor whose specialty is cognitive psychology, specifically in the way that we make langauge. She is well respected in her field and frequently off giving speeches at conferences. Her husband is also a Harvard professor and their children are grown and pursuing their own lives. So when Alice starts to forget small things, she chalks it up to stress, tiredness, or perhaps even menopause, knowing that her symptoms are indeed normal for any of these situations. But when she goes out for a run and gets lost in harvard Square, a place she has been in countless times on countless days, she knows that she should see a doctor, still hoping that she'll be told that everything is normal and knowing that it isn't.

As Alice starts down the path of a probably diagnosis of Early Onset Alzheimer's disease, followed by genetic confirmation, Genova continues to have Alice herself narrate the story so the reader lives the denial, poignancy, and helplessness of the patient rather than the caregiver. And this decision adds to the power of the novel. Alice is a very intelligent woman. She knows exactly what she's losing, and it's more than her memories. It's the sense of herself and those things that make her uniquely Alice. In the early stages of the disease, she tells of her relationship with her grown children, and especially her youngest daughter, the family rebel. There is no suggestion that Alice has been the perfect mother, she details her failings honestly and believably, but it is the imperfect mother that they had whom each of her children wants to hold onto.

This is not a handbook on how to handle a loved one's descent into the fog of Alzheimer's. It is a powerful and heartbreaking look at the breakdown of the person, the family, and the relationships with outsiders that Alzheimer's strips from its victims. Alice's intention to leave this world before she can't answer her touchstone questions, the questions which define her sense of self is shattering, understandable, and begs the question of who a person is if those things that defined them, internally and externally are all gone.

Genova's novel is really exquisitely done. The characters are human, with the failings and frustrations of real people. And Alice is, of course, the central character, showing the reader, through the eyes of the afflicted, the great extent of this horrible disease. Each of the women in my book group who had had a family member affected by this disease, early onset or not was grateful for the insight into the mind of the sufferer, even when that insight was necessarily painful. And all of us admitted to sobbing in the end. This disease ravages so many, those with the diease and those caring for someone with the disease. It truly is a thief and Genova has shone a light on the great need for better understanding, more research, and ultimately a cure. Highly recommended. ( )

Alice Howland is 50 years old, the mother of three grown children and a prominent professor of psychology and linguistics at Harvard, when she finds herself lost and disoriented while out running one day. She's been forgetful lately too, but she's been attributing her mental lapses and other slip-ups to menopause and 'normal' aging; now she wonders if it's something else. After she sees a neurologist, she learns that it is indeed something else; her tests come back indicating a probable diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's, and a genetic screening confirms that she does have the accompanying mutation. Drugs are prescribed that may help slow the progression, but Alzheimer's is incurable and unstoppable, and Alice's life will never be the same. Little by little, and all too soon, she will lose nearly everything that has made her who she is.

Lisa Genova, a neuroscientist by training who originally self-published this novel, has done a remarkable job of truly getting inside the mind and emotions of an Alzheimer's patient. She includes a lot of real information about the disease and its effects in ways that don't distract from the story, and she effectively captures its disruption and alteration of family, career, and daily life, but the fact that it's all told from Alice's perspective makes it unique and unforgettable. The reactions of Alice's family and colleagues to her condition rang true, but Genova makes the reader grasp Alice's own reactions too. The instances where the author 'loops' an episode by repeating its opening paragraphs at the end, and when she frames Alice's behavior with someone else's response to it, do an especially good job of illustrating what's happening and making the reader connect with it.

I had postponed reading STILL ALICE because I was pretty sure it would be a difficult book for me, emotionally - and it was, but not quite in the way I expected it to be. It got under my skin, and it's stayed on my mind. It made me sad, although it didn't make me cry; but more than that, it scared the hell out of me. I was engrossed and moved by Alice's story, and I feel that it gave me a lot of insight into Alzheimer's that I didn't have before - but knowing more has made me more afraid of experiencing this than I was before, too. I'm just five years younger than Alice, and not much younger than my mom was when she began to show her own signs of early-onset Alzheimer's - and I DO NOT WANT THIS to happen to me.

I'll be keeping this book, and recommending it to everyone, whether or not their lives have been touched by Alzheimer's - it's frightening, but it's also enlightening, and it's a tremendously worthwhile read.

READ MORE: http://www.3rsblog.com/2009/10/book-t... ( )

At the age of fifty, Alice Howland is at the pinnacle of her career. She has been a psychology professor, a Ph.D, a noted author, an accomplished researcher and a respected speaker. For the past 25 years, her career in the Harvard community has been a source of pride for her and her family. How ironic then, that this gifted, intelligent woman, whose intellectual capabilities have secured her identity in her professional community, should suddenly find herself unable to remember the simplest details, disoriented in a onetime very familiar location and missing important engagements because she simply forgot. This happens often enough for Alice to seek a medical opinion and, after many tests and examinations, the diagnosis is frightening: early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Genova’s sensitive exploration of this insidious disorder provides the basis for the story Still Alice and details its heartbreaking outcome. We travel with Alice and her family through each phase of the disease, its effect on the brain, and how it changes her life and that of her family. The author holds a degree in neuroscience from Harvard herself and is able to tell the story through Alice’s point of view which provides a fascinating perspective.

As the disease progresses and it becomes apparent that her career is over, Alice’s family undergoes profound changes also. Two of her three children decide to undergo testing to ascertain whether or not they carry the gene that will result in their developing the disease. Alice’s relationship with her third child, daughter Lydia, changes also, but not necessarily in a bad way. A new acceptance seemed to develop between the two that was absent before because Lydia didn’t want to go to college and chose a career in acting instead. Mid-way through the book you have:

“She could see Lydia’s history as well, but somehow this woman sitting across from her wasn’t inextricably connected to her memories of her youngest child. This made her uneasy and painfully aware that she was declining, her past becoming unhinged from her present. And how strange that she had no problem identifying the man next to Anna as Anna’s husband, Charlie, who had entered their lives only a couple of years ago. She pictured her Alzheimer’s as a demon in her head, tearing a reckless and illogical path of destruction, ripping apart the wiring from ‘Lydia now’ to ‘Lydia then,’ leaving all the Charlie connections unscathed.” (Page 200)

I loved the way this family came together after overcoming their initial anxiety. Even her husband John, who grieved for the loss of the woman he knew, finally was able to come to terms with their new life. I’m not sure this is the way every family would be able to handle this and the author concluded the story before Alice became totally incontinent, unable to communicate, completely bedridden or in the last throes of the disease. At the end of the book, she realizes all she’s lost:

“I used to be someone who knew a lot. No one asks for my opinion or advice anymore. I miss that. I used to be curious and independent and confident. I miss being sure of things. There’s no peace in being unsure of everything all the time. I miss doing everything easily. I miss being part of what’s happening. I miss feeling wanted. I miss my life and my family. I loved my life and my family.” (Page 285)

So very sad. Highly recommended. ( )

This is a heartbreaking story of Alice Howland, a 50-year-old Harvard professor and mother of three who is diagnosed with early-onset Altzheimer's disease.

As Alice comes to terms with the diagnosis and the disease progresses, she struggles to maintain her life and her connections to her husband and children. The book is well written and draws you in as Alice slowly loses more and more of herself.

A difficult story to read. The book left me feeling sad, but not sorry I'd read it. ( )

This was really an excellent book. Engaging and very well written, but also very, very sad. The book is very informative and educational, but is all wrapped up in the incredible story of a woman's journey after she is diagnosed with Alzheimers. I felt the character of Alice was so real and I felt deeply for her as her life began to melt away from her. I would recommend this book to anyone, but keep in mind that it does leave you feeling quite emotional and a bit down. It's still worth it. ( )

About a Harvard Professor who has early onset Alzheimer's. A much more enjoyable read than I thought it would be. ( )

excellent info obtained from the once having altzheimers. ( )

A beautiful and sad story of a woman realising something is wrong - she has alzeimers. The day to day changes of how it affected her and her family. Written beautifully. ( )

Wow! What a heartbreaking, truthful, lovely novel. I just could not put it down. I love that she wrote it from the person with Alzheimer's perspective. She chose each of her characters and their personalities so carefully and everyone was able to have a piece of the story all the way to the end. I got so angry and frustrated with John, the husband, and am curious to see how others in our book club felt about him and his role with Alice's disease progression. I was deeply proud of her children and how they stood up for Alice and showed their deep love for their mother. I laughed and cried my way through this story and was sad to see it end. Anyone who has been touched by Alzheimer's needs to read this book! I am eagerly waiting to read Genova's next novel "Left Neglected". ( )

My Thoughts & Review

This is a book club selection for July 2009, so it was interesting to discover what new book we’d be discussing. I knew that Still Alice was regarding a woman who suffered from Alzheimer’s, but not much beyond that.

As I read this novel, I learned that is written from Alice’s perspective. Although there have been several books written about Alzheimer’s by the caregivers and families of those who have suffered from this mind-destroying disease, I can’t recall ever hearing about a book written from the viewpoint of the patient. In this novel, Alice has early on-set Alzheimer’s which is a rapid and progressive disease that ravages her mind. The reader gets to meet Alice when she is just beginning to suffer from the symptoms, therefore we can understand her personality before she fell ill.

The book then takes you along the road with Alice describing how this malady destroys her memories and ability to function naturally. For example, at one point in the progression of her disease, she needs to go to the restroom. However, she forgets that is the reason that she went in the house to do. When she gets lost in the house and can’t remember which door is the one to the downstairs bathroom, her husband comes in and discovers that she has wet herself. She crumbles and cries. It was heartbreaking.

Another tender moment is when Alice’s family gives her their birthday gifts. They had filmed interviews with her kids & her husband telling stories of their past with Alice so that she may watch them and be reminded of her past, who she is, and her life. For a while the DVD’s help, but her disease takes hold so fast that soon they do not help her.

Another memorable part of the book is when Alice delivers a very moving speech to a large group of doctors, researchers, and interest groups on Alzheimer’s. Being a professor, she had given speeches on the human mind before, but never one like this expose of her personal psyche.

For me, the saddest part of the novel was when she became a grandmother for the first time and didn’t quite know who everybody in the room was. Despite feeling welcomed and loved, she didn’t understand that the mother of the babies was, in fact, her daughter.

So… did I like Still Alice? Yes, and no. The beginning of the book didn’t grab a hold of me straight away. It took me considerable time to really connect with Alice and come to understand her. After I read well into the middle of the book, I found a much faster pace of reading and desire to read-on about how far along the disease had progressed within Alice. The last few chapters of the book, by far, were the best part of the novel for me.

And… would I recommend this book? I would give it a positive recommendation in the event that I knew that there was interest about the actual disease, itself. For example, for somebody who has this illness in their family, this would be a good book to share with them. Otherwise, I would not recommend this book based on my opinion of the subject matter. And, it’s hard to describe exactly why. Let me try.

In other books which shared stories of tragedy, I’ve walked away from them just blown away about what I’ve read. Take for example, The Glass Castle or Angela’s Ashes… each had a tremendously sad story. But, their endings left me holding hope. This book, however, ends on a sad note in which the reader knows what Alice’s outcome is going to be. Further, the reader understands that there is no known cure for this heartbreaking diagnosis. There is no potential for a good ending with this book.

But… I did learn quite a bit from reading this novel and I believe that it brought me a greater understanding of just how Alzheimer’s and dementia affect the mind. My grandmother suffered greatly from dementia in her later years. It was difficult to hear her discuss the men who were living up in the attic or the swarms of the little bugs that were supposedly all over her house. Far greater a sorrow for us all is when nobody could manage to continue to take care of her and we had to put her in an assisted living, care facility. I remember her decline and how her long term memory was so crystal clear whereas her short term memories were completely erased at times. It was hard witnessing the decline and, after reading Still Alice, I can only imagine how much harder it was for her than it was for us.

The Rating

There is a wealth of benefits of reading a book that provides such considerable enlightenment on this topic, and for those benefits it was worth the read. Despite my rather average opinion of this book, this was a New York Times Bestseller and has received glowing reviews. It, perhaps, just wasn’t the right topic and right timing for me. ( )

Dr. Alice Howland is not quite fifty when she becomes exceedingly forgetful. During a speech, she gropes for words, while jogging the same route taken for years, she cannot find her way home. Seeking medical assistance, she learns the terrible news that her life will forever be changed as a result of early onset Alzheimers.

This is a heartbreakingly story of Alice and her family. This moving book is refreshingly told from the perspective of the person suffering from the disease. While often we learn of support groups and read stories of family members or care takers, this book is different in that we walk with the patient as she becomes enmeshed in the rapidly progressing disease and increasingly frightened and out of touch.

Highly recommended. ( )

The unassuming cover of Still Alice, a debut novel by Lisa Genova hides a powerful story.
Alice Howland, wife, mother and university professor is 50. She teaches psychology at Harvard University where she is well-respected, she has done well in her career and she has kept fit and active through running. Life is good.

When Alice starts having problems with her memory she at first dismisses it, thinking it may be due to menopause. But one day she has a terrifying episode where during a run she gets lost in her own neighbourhood and realises there's more to it than menopause.
Several medical tests later, Alice is told she has early onset Alzheimer's Disease and her life takes a very different turn. The novel takes us through Alice's journey, from Alice's point of view, through the denial and bargaining that followed diagnosis, telling her husband and children, telling her colleagues, trying to find others in a similar position, the plans she makes and we see the unravelling of her mind.

This book grabbed me from the first paragraph (below) and I read it in just 3 sittings.
"Even then, more than a year later, there were neurons in her head, not far from her ears, that were being strangled to death, too quietly for her to hear them. Some would argue that things were going so insidiously wrong that the neurons themselves initiated events that would lead to their own destruction. Whether it was molecular murder or cellular suicide, they were unable to warn her of what was happening before they died."

Lisa Genova has a Ph.D in neuroscience from Harvard so she knows what she's writing about. At the back of the novel, as well as book club discussion questions, there is an interview with the author. Genova's grandmother had Alzheimer's and the results of the disease were plain to see on the outside but the scientist in her wondered what it must be like from the sufferer's point of view. She interviewed people involved with the various Alzheimer's support groups and associations in the US, caregivers and sufferers and this is reflected in this sensitive, touching and engrossing novel. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by me in Readers in the Mist blog : http://readersinthemist.blogspot.com/... ( )

Very powerful, moving book about a lady with early onset Alzheimer's disease. ( )

It was interesting and enlightening to experience in a first-hand way the ways our minds can fail us and deceive us. I found it kind of silly that the main character had to be a HARVARD psch prof and her husband had to be a HARVARD biology prof and all of their offspring were lawyers or doctors and they had a huge summer home. I guess the point was that anyone can fall prey to Alzheimer's, but still, it seemed a bit over the top and made it hard to connect with the characters. ( )

I read this novel over the past two days. One week ago, a friend of mine passed away from this disease. Thankfully, she had a well-lived, fruitful life. As one of her caregivers, to the end, my perspective on the book is is very personal. Both "images" are fresh in my mind. That is, real life and the novel. The story was written well (covered many important aspects of the disease from the patient's perspective, ect.), and is a "good read"(as stories flow well and hold your interest, ect.), however, it lacks the intensity that a real life-sentence brings-from the perspective of the patient and the caregiver. Some authors have the ability to make you feel the darkness and intensity of a situation or event. Others, just cover the story well. Which, in this case, is what the author did. I gave her four stars because of her ability as a writer, and for writing about a disease that we have pretended, for so long, is not there. Not just alzheimer's, but old-age itself. It is about time our culture faced this inevitable fact and dealt with it realistically and humanely. Like everything else these days, it is time for "it" to come out of the closet, to be embraced by society. Only then, will we truly effect change, and provide the quality of life our dear elders deserve. ( )

I know very little about Alzheimer's disease, and found this book to be informative in a novel setting, as well as heartbreaking to follow Alice's spiral into a state where she has no memories of herself or those around her. I was surprised to find out that the disease advances as quickly as it it does. I would receommend this book without reservation. ( )

I'm not sure that this is a great book, but it's a great story. What I mean is that the basic story line and the concept behind it is excellent. I was thoroughly engaged by the plot in a macabre fascination, not dissimilar to the way one might stare at a major motor vehicle accident. "That could be me", will be what lots of people my age or older will think. The fear of developing Alzheimer's disease must be on many people's minds as they approach their dotage. There's not many worse ways to die. In a way this book almost romanticizes the disease, by choosing a very unusual variant and protagonist who has a life which is so dependent on brain function. ..but that's why it's such a good read, isn't it?
It's not a great book in the sense that Lisa Genova doesn't really take us into the depth of the characters and the subtleties of their interactions. Where she excels is in her exploration of the depth of the disease process, the pathology, the diagnosis, and the "treatment". ( )