Still Alice by Lisa Genova
A few months ago, Jeremy was invited to join a book group.
I'm glad that Jeremy enjoys book group. But it turns out that there's also
something in it for me. That something is a steady infusion of new books. The
book group selects a different book every month. Jeremy reads the book. If it
strikes my fancy, I read it when he's finished.
Still Alice by Lisa
Genova struck my fancy.
It was lying around the apartment. I read the description on
the back cover. I kept asking Jeremy if he was finished yet. I bothered him
about it. As soon as he was done reading that book I grabbed it.
The book is about a woman named Alice who develops early
onset Alzheimer's disease. That's it in a nutshell.
If you've already seen the movie Still Alice, then you might
want to skip this review, scroll to the bottom, and read some of the other book
reviews I've written there. I haven't seen the movie yet, in spite of loving
the book. I've been extremely busy. I'll see it at my first opportunity because
I've heard it's excellent and I love the acting of Julianne Moore.
If you haven't seen the movie or read the book you can
decide to read it or not based on my experience. I meant to write this post
earlier, before the movie came out. Like I said earlier, I've been busy.
Lisa Genova knows her stuff. She's a neuroscientist. But
she's also a gifted writer and a true storyteller. If you're anything like me,
you will not be able to put the book down.
In my case, I found every excuse imaginable to read the
book. On an extremely crowded rush hour subway, I had it suspended above my
head, using the same hand I used to hold the pole to prop the book open. I read
it while eating. I read it at night until I couldn't keep my eyes open. I used
the book as a reward for completing unsavory tasks. All of the time I would
have been on Facebook and Twitter I spent reading the book instead.
As a result of this binge reading behavior I finished the
book about 24 hours after I started it. For me, the hook was that it was the
combination of a great narrative with elements of a thriller, and a relatable
main character that's fictional but so vividly drawn that she seems real.
I loved getting to know Alice. She's a brilliant Harvard
Professor, a wife and mother. I found out what it is like to be smarter than I
am.
I'm a big believer in multiple intelligences. When I say
that Alice is smarter than me, I mean that in an IQ way. Pre-Alzheimer's she's
extremely gifted at learning information quickly, imprinting it and accessing
that information and learning immediately when needed.
Alice isn't smarter than me when it comes to emotional
intelligence, social skills or creativity. She has some qualities that get her
into hot water. It isn't the Alzheimer's. It's Alice. She's a fully formed
character with foibles. If she were a real person and I were her friend, I'd
have some things to say about her interpersonal skills.
I'm IQ smart. The difference between Alice and me is that I
need what I call scaffolding. I have lists. I need more exposures to new
information, in more than one modality. I need prompts to find the information.
I have always been this way. The thing that makes me smarter than I used to be
is anticipating what I need. Once I have these things, I'm golden.
I could tell from reading the book and reading between the
lines of the book that Alice didn't need any of this before the onset of her
disease.
One of the classic themes this story is mining is the idea
of falling from a precipice. In this case, tumbling down from a tall ivory
tower.
Here’s the part that messed with my head. At first I thought
it was just me. I'm empathic, and apparently this feeling extends to people in
books.
Then Jeremy told me that it messed with a lot of people's
heads at book group.
Alice is realistic. She's my age. The forgetting she does at
the beginning of the book is reminiscent of things that have happened to
everyone. Then, slowly, and then more quickly things take a turn.
Because things are subtle at first I became hyper aware of
any forgetfulness, inattention, stupid thoughts, misplaced items and my
lifelong poor sense of direction. Things that usually pass by unnoticed were
front and center for a few days.
This was really uncomfortable.
What saved this book from being just a sad sack and sorry
tale was its complexity. Obviously, what is happening to Alice and a lot of
real people is tragic. I've read articles and memoirs by caregivers in the Alzheimer's
community. But I've never read anything where I got such a clear sense of what
It could be like to have this disease from the inside. The person with the
disease.
Most things get worse. But a few things get better. It
allows you to think about what makes you you.
Intelligence is a lot. For some people it can seem like almost everything. But
memory isn't everything. Being independent isn't everything.
Things happen in this book that are amazingly touching and accommodating.
It stretches the idea of what people can accommodate within themselves. It
stretches the idea of what other people can accommodate.
Even if it's painful, even as it made me feel paranoid for a
few days, even as I was sad for Alice and her family, for me, learning more
about other people and their experience always trumps all of this. There is a
richness and a humanity to this story that keeps me engaged. Greater
understanding of other people always feels worthwhile. The book inspired this understanding
exceptionally well.
The book allowed me to walk in Alice's shoes in a way that
was tactile and emotional. Still Alice made me experience the urgency of what
needs to be done. It raised my personal awareness. That sounds like a cliché
because the word awareness is used in so many contexts. It's not an ice bucket
challenge. It’s a really-engrossing-story challenge. This book may just be the
start of something big. I hope so.
Other posts about books:
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