My review of the book Still Alice by Lisa Genova One of the beauties of being a fan of a few amazing actors is that it allows me to explore authors, stories, music, directors and even fashion, that I may not have considered before. That is most definitely the case with me picking up the book Still Alice. I would like to say from the start that I have a tremendous fear of Alzheimers as its a merciless disease that attacks without rhyme or reason. It doesnt care if youre rich or poor, man or woman, educated or not. It could care less your religion or race, whether you are a good or bad person. So had Kristen Stewart not been attached to the movie version of Still Alice I likely would have never picked up this book and what a tremendous loss that would have been for me. The book centers around a 50 year old psychologist (uhhh, too close to home already) who finds herself losing pieces of herself. Small memories of her life, small errors in cognition. She figures that she is simply going through menopause but the symptoms get worse until she is forced to seek help. Her disease progresses to a point where she can no longer recognize the people she loves, the job she worked so hard to obtain or the extraordinary life she had already lived. The book is written expertly from Alices point of view so we feel every lapse of memory, except, we are cursed with the knowledge of what she is missing. Every time she forgets some vital piece of information about her life we feel the pain and anguish of that loss. But this story is not simply about a loss. No, we also get to see a fractured relationship heal and children learn to appreciate the frailty of life. Love truly knows no bounds. I suppose the most difficult part for me was each time she referred to Lydia as the actress or Anna as the mother. When these things happened I felt a sharp pain in my chest imagining what it would be like to not remember one of my amazing children. Lisa Genovas first novel is a brilliant portrayal of life with Alzheimers and the toll it takes on a once strong and vibrant woman, a woman with her life a head of her. I found myself rolling along this journey with Alice and recognizing the need to live life now, in the present, not in the past or what I believe may happen in the future. If you havent read this amazing book yet, please do so. Its a heartbreakingly beautiful tale that will change the way you see the world. amazon/Still-Alice-Lisa-Genova/dp/1439102813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395368590&sr=8-1&keywords=still+alice
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 02:23:55 +0000
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