When Alice finds herself in the rapidly downward spiral of Alzheimer's Disease she is just fifty years old. A university professor, wife, and mother of three, she still has so much more to do - books to write, places to see, grandchildren to meet. But when she can't remember how to make her famous Christmas pudding, when she gets lost in her own back yard, when she fails to recognise her actress daughter after a superb performance, she comes up with a desperate plan. But can she see it through? Should she see it through? Losing her yesterdays, living for each day, her short-term memory is hanging on by a couple of frayed threads. But she is still Alice.
Still Alice
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"With grace and compassion, Lisa Genova writes about the enormous white emptiness created by Alzheimer's." -- "The Improper Bostonian"
--This text refers to the
Audio CD
edition.
About the Author
Lisa Genova graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University. She is a member of the Dementia Advocacy and Support Network International and DementiaUSA and is an online columnist for the National Alzheimer's Association. She lives with her husband and two children on the Cape. Still Alice is her first novel. She is currently at work on her second that also centers on a neurologist impairment called Left Neglected.
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37 of 38 people found the following review helpful
By Mandy Boat
Format:Paperback
Having read the other 2 reviews on this book I felt compelled to voice my own opinion. I have to disagree with the previous reviewer and say that STILL ALICE really is as good as it sounds. It deals with the topic of Alzheimers and whether you have experienced this first/second hand in your life or not, I find it hard to believe that you won't be moved by this tale.
You follow Alice through her descent into the depth of dementia and see how it affects her life and those closest to her. Without going into too much techinical detail it helps the reader understand the cruelty of this disease. The author could have gone down the schmaltzy overly-emotional route but didn't. The outcome is an incredibly emotional read that you'll find very hard to put down.
I have already recommended this book to many friends and they have all come back raving about it. 5 STARS without a doubt - the best thing I have read this year.
You follow Alice through her descent into the depth of dementia and see how it affects her life and those closest to her. Without going into too much techinical detail it helps the reader understand the cruelty of this disease. The author could have gone down the schmaltzy overly-emotional route but didn't. The outcome is an incredibly emotional read that you'll find very hard to put down.
I have already recommended this book to many friends and they have all come back raving about it. 5 STARS without a doubt - the best thing I have read this year.
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
"She wished she had cancer instead. She'd trade Alzheimer's for cancer in a heartbeat. She felt ashamed for wishing this and it was certainly a pointless bargaining, but she permitted the fantasy anyway. With cancer, she'd have something that she could fight. There was surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. There was the chance that she could win. Her family and the community at Harvard would rally behind her battle and consider it noble. And even if defeated in the end, she'd be able to look them knowingly in the eye and say good-bye before she left.
Alzheimer's disease was an entirely different kind of beast. There were no weapons that could slay it. Taking Aricept and Namenda felt like aiming a couple of leaky squirt guns in to the face of a blazing fire."
And there you have it in a nutshell - our protagonist, Alice Howland, professor of Cognitive Psychology at Harvard, is 50 years old when her world is rocked by the diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's disease. It's a foregone conclusion, there is no hope so what do you do - give up? hide your head in the sand? or play it by ear, knowing that one day your own body won't remember how to swallow or even breathe unassisted?
It would have been all to easy to deliver a mawkish novel dwelling on the heartache caused by dementia or an insensitive one which focuses on the disintegration of the self as the building blocks of one's memory shatter one by one. Perhaps, the author's own experience as a neuroscientist puts her in pole position to relate the story of Alice without indulging in oversentimentality yet whilst retaining a very human touch.
This story is told in the 3rd person yet, uncannily, it feels as if Alice is standing outside herself relating events which happen to her beyond her own control.... Read more ›
Alzheimer's disease was an entirely different kind of beast. There were no weapons that could slay it. Taking Aricept and Namenda felt like aiming a couple of leaky squirt guns in to the face of a blazing fire."
And there you have it in a nutshell - our protagonist, Alice Howland, professor of Cognitive Psychology at Harvard, is 50 years old when her world is rocked by the diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's disease. It's a foregone conclusion, there is no hope so what do you do - give up? hide your head in the sand? or play it by ear, knowing that one day your own body won't remember how to swallow or even breathe unassisted?
It would have been all to easy to deliver a mawkish novel dwelling on the heartache caused by dementia or an insensitive one which focuses on the disintegration of the self as the building blocks of one's memory shatter one by one. Perhaps, the author's own experience as a neuroscientist puts her in pole position to relate the story of Alice without indulging in oversentimentality yet whilst retaining a very human touch.
This story is told in the 3rd person yet, uncannily, it feels as if Alice is standing outside herself relating events which happen to her beyond her own control.... Read more ›
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By Trickle Tree
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
I read this after hearing it discussed on the BBC4's book club. It was such a joy to read, clear, uncluttered prose. I loved the character of Alice, she was very believable and likeable as to were her family and husband.
The way it is written you are seeing and feeling the progress of the disease along with Alice and experience her confusion.
I would advise anyone to read this book.
The way it is written you are seeing and feeling the progress of the disease along with Alice and experience her confusion.
I would advise anyone to read this book.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Mr D Gray
Format:Paperback
Ever since my wife was diagnosed with Alzheimers I have wondered what goes on in her mind and this book is the nearest I have fount to get anywhere nearer answering that question. It aroused very powerful emotions and I am so glad I read this sensitively written novel
50 of 57 people found the following review helpful
By Rosaleen
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I heard a review of "Still Alice" on the BBC and was excited at the prospect of what I expected to be an accurate and sympathetic account of early onset Alzheimer's Disease (AD). I practice as a clinical diagnostic Neuropsychologist in a service that sees a substantial number of people with early onset AD and a large number of people who are worried in case they may have early onset AD. I hoped this book would be of use for the public I see as well as for my colleagues and students.
Unfortunately, I feel let down.
My principal concern with "Still Alice" is that the process of clinical diagnosis is distorted in the book and the presentation may lead to needless distress and worry in people who think they may be showing signs of early AD. Practice may differ from the UK as compared to the USA and in New England - but certainly nobody in the UK would be given a diagnosis of AD on the basis of a single weak memory test score. They would never be classified as impaired if the test score was "at the 60th percentile" (irrespective of other cognitive test achievements). A score at the 60th percentile means that out of every hundred people tested, the individual will be getting a better score than fifty-nine. This is a score in the average range.
Even a memory score that was at the 10th percentile, in the context of other tests above the 90th, would not warrant a diagnosis of AD - unless they also showed other unambiguous cognitive symptoms and signs. AD would certainly never be diagnosed on the basis of unverified self report plus a single poor score. Drug treatment would not be initiated - even in a Professor! This is because the types of memory lapse that are described in the book are not invariably symptoms of AD.... Read more ›
Unfortunately, I feel let down.
My principal concern with "Still Alice" is that the process of clinical diagnosis is distorted in the book and the presentation may lead to needless distress and worry in people who think they may be showing signs of early AD. Practice may differ from the UK as compared to the USA and in New England - but certainly nobody in the UK would be given a diagnosis of AD on the basis of a single weak memory test score. They would never be classified as impaired if the test score was "at the 60th percentile" (irrespective of other cognitive test achievements). A score at the 60th percentile means that out of every hundred people tested, the individual will be getting a better score than fifty-nine. This is a score in the average range.
Even a memory score that was at the 10th percentile, in the context of other tests above the 90th, would not warrant a diagnosis of AD - unless they also showed other unambiguous cognitive symptoms and signs. AD would certainly never be diagnosed on the basis of unverified self report plus a single poor score. Drug treatment would not be initiated - even in a Professor! This is because the types of memory lapse that are described in the book are not invariably symptoms of AD.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic
Well written. Well described. It made me look at the desease from another angle...that of the sufferer. My dad died of it but I never looked at it from his point of view.
Published 1 day ago by Jennifer L Laycock
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great story and an emotive read
''Still Alice'' addresses the topic of an intellectual woman who sadly gets EAD, Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease, whilst I don't suffer from this disease - thankfully, I do suffer... Read more
Published 2 days ago by Mrs T
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, does not live up to the hype
This book would make an interesting (if not rather basic) case study on early onset AD. It does not, however, make a good read. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Mrs G
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic!
A real insight into what goes on in the mind of someone with early onset Alzheimers. Mind you after reading it any memory lapse that you may experience can lead you to think that... Read more
Published 11 days ago by Nanette Cowieson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Couldn't put it down
A very moving novel. Well written with believable characters. This heartbreaking story draws you closer to Alice and her struggles with the loss of memory. Read more
Published 12 days ago by Christine Hodges
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent portrayal
I'm watching my husband get sicker and sicker with this disease. The most frightening part is that we have absolutely no support from anywhere. Read more
Published 17 days ago by radiojock
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eye opening
What a brilliant book. I am lucky enough not to know anyone with Alzheimer's but this book gave me a greater insight into this most horrible disease. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Helen McTeague
5.0 out of 5 stars
Looking at Altzheimers from the other side
Having a relative with demetia, I was encouraged to read this and it gave me a better understanding of what my relative is going through. Read more
Published 1 month ago by ecookie
3.0 out of 5 stars
Still Alice
First half of book depressing & slow, picked up a bit as Alice builds up a very different life for herself & has to adjust to being treated differently by her family &... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Sandles
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very moving
My father has alzheimers as did his parents before him and I read this with hesitation but reassured by reviewers who had personal experience of it but wished they had read it... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mrs. T. J. Roe
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