Review: Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Still Alice
by Lisa Genova
An expert in linguistics at Harvard University, Alice Howland has achieved much and looks forward to continuing to push her field forward. But when her memory begins to fail and she finds herself experiencing brief spells of disorientation, Alice is willing to do anything to get her life back on track. When her illness is finally diagnosed, it’s devastating: early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. With no cure and treatments that can only delay, not stop, her deterioration, Alice is forced to suffer the disintegration of her memories. Meanwhile, each member of her family reacts in a different way, and the loss of those relationships pains Alice even as she is unable to recognize her children and her husband.
When I was in junior high, my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Being a callous young person, I never really tried to see the disease from her perspective, and at times I even resented having to spend time with a woman who had no idea who I was anyway. It’s something I always regretted, years later, and I wished that I had made more of an effort to understand her. Still Alice acts as a gateway into the mind of a woman with Alzheimer’s, and one of the book’s strengths is how clearly it illustrates the effects of the disease. On “good” days, Alice can interact with her family and friends nearly as well as she did before. But the disease is always present. First reading medical journals becomes too taxing, than novels, and eventually movies become too difficult for Alice to follow. It’s quite heartbreaking, and difficult to read. As the chapters progress, Alice’s advanced vocabulary and attention to detail devolve as she is no longer able to place events in context.
Equally sad is the breakdown in her relationships. As her independence is stripped away, Alice begins to realize that something is broken in her marriage. Something is missing from her relationship with her husband. Before, she was so busy that she didn’t notice, and now that she just wants to spend time with him, he’s the one who always has somewhere to be and no time to just relax at her side. This fosters such an intense solitude and loneliness that even Alice’s disorientation can’t displace. On the one hand, I felt such an intense guilt as I read these pages because I remembered pushing my grandmother away in a similar fashion. On the other hand, my grandfather was devoted to her and spent most of his time caring for her with love and compassion, so I know she never felt this same sorrow as Alice, and that is a comfort.
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW:
Early in the disease, Alice takes care to provide herself with a “way out”, leaving detailed instructions for her future self to follow when too much of her memory is gone. This preparation for suicide seems cold-hearted, but it’s also hard to deny her that death with dignity that she craves. Ultimately, Alice is unable to fulfill the tasks laid out in the suicide instructions, but in the epilogue she is shown as not unhappy. Perhaps her healthy self would have hated the foggy, blurry life epilogue Alice lives, but she is at peace and content with her days as she finds them. It’s a hopeful note to tend on.
That hope doesn’t erase the fact that Alzheimer’s is an awful, tragic disease. But Still Alice helps articulate the suffering of those with the disease and will help readers emphasize with those who are afflicted with it.
5 out of 5 stars
To read more about Still Alice, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: Ballad of a Shinigami Vol. 1 by Asuka Izumi
2013: Discussion Question: World Book Night 2013
2012: Fashionista Piranha on hiatus until May 24th...
2011: The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger
2010: Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori #1) by Lian Hearn
2009: The Book of the Night Women by Marlon James
by Lisa Genova
An expert in linguistics at Harvard University, Alice Howland has achieved much and looks forward to continuing to push her field forward. But when her memory begins to fail and she finds herself experiencing brief spells of disorientation, Alice is willing to do anything to get her life back on track. When her illness is finally diagnosed, it’s devastating: early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. With no cure and treatments that can only delay, not stop, her deterioration, Alice is forced to suffer the disintegration of her memories. Meanwhile, each member of her family reacts in a different way, and the loss of those relationships pains Alice even as she is unable to recognize her children and her husband.
When I was in junior high, my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Being a callous young person, I never really tried to see the disease from her perspective, and at times I even resented having to spend time with a woman who had no idea who I was anyway. It’s something I always regretted, years later, and I wished that I had made more of an effort to understand her. Still Alice acts as a gateway into the mind of a woman with Alzheimer’s, and one of the book’s strengths is how clearly it illustrates the effects of the disease. On “good” days, Alice can interact with her family and friends nearly as well as she did before. But the disease is always present. First reading medical journals becomes too taxing, than novels, and eventually movies become too difficult for Alice to follow. It’s quite heartbreaking, and difficult to read. As the chapters progress, Alice’s advanced vocabulary and attention to detail devolve as she is no longer able to place events in context.
Equally sad is the breakdown in her relationships. As her independence is stripped away, Alice begins to realize that something is broken in her marriage. Something is missing from her relationship with her husband. Before, she was so busy that she didn’t notice, and now that she just wants to spend time with him, he’s the one who always has somewhere to be and no time to just relax at her side. This fosters such an intense solitude and loneliness that even Alice’s disorientation can’t displace. On the one hand, I felt such an intense guilt as I read these pages because I remembered pushing my grandmother away in a similar fashion. On the other hand, my grandfather was devoted to her and spent most of his time caring for her with love and compassion, so I know she never felt this same sorrow as Alice, and that is a comfort.
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW:
Early in the disease, Alice takes care to provide herself with a “way out”, leaving detailed instructions for her future self to follow when too much of her memory is gone. This preparation for suicide seems cold-hearted, but it’s also hard to deny her that death with dignity that she craves. Ultimately, Alice is unable to fulfill the tasks laid out in the suicide instructions, but in the epilogue she is shown as not unhappy. Perhaps her healthy self would have hated the foggy, blurry life epilogue Alice lives, but she is at peace and content with her days as she finds them. It’s a hopeful note to tend on.
That hope doesn’t erase the fact that Alzheimer’s is an awful, tragic disease. But Still Alice helps articulate the suffering of those with the disease and will help readers emphasize with those who are afflicted with it.
5 out of 5 stars
To read more about Still Alice, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: Ballad of a Shinigami Vol. 1 by Asuka Izumi
2013: Discussion Question: World Book Night 2013
2012: Fashionista Piranha on hiatus until May 24th...
2011: The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger
2010: Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori #1) by Lian Hearn
2009: The Book of the Night Women by Marlon James