Book Review #555 - Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At 

fifty years old, she’s a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard 

and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful 

husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly

disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life--and 

her relationship with her family and the world--forever.

At once beautiful and terrifying, Still Alice is a moving and vivid 

depiction of life with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease that is as 

compelling as A Beautiful Mind and as unforgettable as Judith 

Guest's Ordinary People.

My Rating: 3.5/5

I received this book for review from **

I found this book a lot more interesting than I thought I would. Contemporary novels about serious issues are not usually my type of book but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. 

Alzheimer's disease was an illness that I had limited knowledge about prior to reading this book. I wouldn't say I am an expert on it now or anything but I am definitely better informed than I was before. 

What surprised me the most though was how quick the disease took hold and how quickly she went downhill. The way that Alzheimer's just completely took over her life was frightening. 

Because this book is told from Alice's point of view, we (the reader) are given front row seats to the deterioration of the unforgiving disease. 

On top of Alice dealing with her shocking diagnosis and learning how to live with it she also had to deal with the family reactions of her career orientated husband and her youngest daughter. 

The husband irritated me from the very start. He wasn't supportive at all and was selfish the entire time. He would liked to have just pretended that everything was fine as long as it didn't effect his life. 

Lydia, Alice's youngest daughter was the most intriguing character for mine. She wanted a life different from the one her parents had expected of her and wasn't scared of failure. 

I am now looking forward to seeing the movie adaptation.