Book: Still Alice: A Novel by Lisa Genova

Publishing Info: Published by iUniverse, Inc; 292 Pages in Paperback

Still Alice is about Alice Howland, a professor at Harvard.  While out on a run, she gets lost and realizes she can’t remember how to get home, even though it’s the same route she’s been running for years.  After a few medical tests and visits to a couple doctors, she is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s.

What happens next is her slow and inevitable loss of memory and all connections to reality.  We learn about Alzheimer’s and experience it through Alice’s eyes.

This is such an amazing book.  It’s rare that I even get misty-eyed when I read a book, much less cry by the end of it.  But knowing what Alice had forgotten and how shut out she felt was so heartbreaking.  It read very much like it was written by the relative of someone with Alzheimer’s disease.

I loved how the book was written: Alice’s story was told very simply and beautifully.  I have no connections to Alzheimer’s disease at all, but it still hit home.  It could happen to anyone, and I really felt that throughout the book.

It’s so well-done, and it’s not something that I’ll forget anytime soon.  The praise on the back cover were dead-on.  I think this is a must-read.  It gets a 5 out of 5.