Still Alice
Books | Fiction / General
4.5
(2.0K)
Lisa Genova
A moving story of a woman with early onset Alzheimer's disease, now a major Academy Award-winning film starring Julianne Moore and Kristen Stewart. Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty, she's a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a renowned expert in linguistics, with a successful husband and three grown children. When she begins to grow forgetful and disoriented, she dismisses it for as long as she can until a tragic diagnosis changes her life - and her relationship with her family and the world around her - for ever. Unable to care for herself, Alice struggles to find meaning and purpose as her concept of self gradually slips away. But Alice is a remarkable woman, and her family learn more about her and each other in their quest to hold on to the Alice they know. Her memory hanging by a frayed thread, she is living in the moment, living for each day. But she is still Alice. 'Remarkable … illuminating … highly relevant today' Daily Mail 'The most accurate account of what it feels like to be inside the mind of an Alzheimer's patient I've ever read. Beautifully written and very illuminating' Rosie Boycot 'Utterly brilliant' Chrissy Iley
AD
More Details:
Author
Lisa Genova
Pages
336
Publisher
Simon and Schuster
Published Date
2010-08-05
ISBN
1849833710 9781849833714
Ratings
Google: 4
Community ReviewsSee all
"It’s eye-opening, defeats the standards, raw, and incredibly beautiful but sad. It’s unique in its perspective which brings insight and more authenticity + feeling to what Alive endures. I see myself thinking about it in the future because it’s one of those books that stay with you. Finished in less than 48 hours. I definitely recommend this book!"
"So engrossing yet so sad! I couldn’t put it down!!"
D K
Deborah Kokomoor
""Still Alice" is a look into the mind of a mother, wife, and PHD holder rapidly deteriorating from alzheimers. It does a great job of demonstrating the disease, and forces the reader to piece together information forgotten by the unreliable narration of Alice. It's a good read for those interested in medical fiction."
"Beautifully written"
A J
Andrea Jaffray
"Love Lisa Geneva’s books. Im intrigued by the mind. So anything relating to mental problems is fascinating "
L
Louise
"Fascinating look into Alzheimer's Disease from a personal, humanizing, and empathetic standpoint."
R T
Rebekah Travis
"This book had special meaning to me as a daughter of a mother with Alzheimer's. My mother passed away a couple years ago, and I could see her in Alice. It was heart-stopping, frightening, depressing; yet I admired the things Alice did to try to stave off the inevitable. The memory exercises, the running, etc.<br/><br/>When it came to the last 70 or so pages of the book, I could only read it a few pages at a time - I had to take time to digest and mull over what I had just read because it was all so near and familiar to me that it was too much to read straight through to the end. It was like watching a train accident.<br/><br/>But, I couldn't stop either- I had to see what part of Alice's faculties suffered next. I wanted to see if there were any insights I might've missed in dealing with my own mother, or any insensitivities that I need to atone for. I wanted to know if the Alzheimer's patient knows if they have Alzheimer's and if they still know themselves as the disease progresses. I delighted to see the clouds lift for just a moment when Alice picked up her book at the end and realized who that man sitting across from her really was.<br/><br/>My mom's cloud would lift too, from time to time...but I also knew the reality of her forgetting me as soon as I exited the room.<br/><br/>As Alice said in the book, this is a non-negotiable disease. You can't offer to trade your memory of the US presidents for that of your children's names. So sad.<br/><br/>There's so much more I could say but I don't want to ruin the book for anyone who might read it.<br/><br/>Get this book - you will never look at an Alzheimer's sufferer with anything less than compassion again.(less)""