Still Alice

Still Alice by Lisa Genova is a very intriguing and compelling book that follows a very successful Harvard Professor and her family through her battle with early on-set Alzheimer’s disease. Though difficult at times to read due to the heartache, Alice and her family feel this book opens our eyes and broadens our understanding of a disease that impacts millions of Americans.

According to the National Institute of Aging, “Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and eventually even the ability to carry out the simplest tasks.” Alice, a confident, well-respected, and successful Harvard professor begins to worry when she notices some changes in her ability to remember and give lectures. She realizes it must be related to her health, but she does not understand the potential severity of her problem. One day while taking a jog she gets disoriented and lost--only a few blocks from her house on a path she had ran hundreds maybe thousands of times before. She realizes at this time that she must seek medical advice soon!

Alice had overcome many difficulties in her life including growing up with an alcoholic father, the early unexpected deaths of her sister and mother, and the exhausting task of raising a young family while keeping up with her professional career. Yet Alice has never faced a challenge quite like this as she begins to lose the ability to do some of the simplest tasks in life. Through denial, fear, anger, and acceptance we read how one family learns to cope and handle this dreaded disease. Still Alice will make you laugh and make you cry as you follow Alice’s progression through this debilitating disease.

From my understanding, this book is unique to other novels about Alzheimer’s disease, because it follows the victim first hand—this is her story. This is extremely difficult to do because of the inability of Alzheimer’s patients to express what they feel and think about as their disease progresses. Despite this fact, I believe the author does a great job portraying the thoughts and feelings of one inflicted with this merciless disease. Reading Still Alice will bring compassion to your heart and understanding to your mind. This book was a great change of pace for me and I would recommend it to any and all, but especially to those who know someone or have known someone with Alzheimer’s disease.

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