This novel is truly an amazing work of fiction. Although fiction, the subject matter within this novel is real and effects many people.
Still Alice is about a Cognitive Psychology professor at Harvard who has a focused study in Linguistics. Linguistics is the study of language; the structure of language, how our brains perceive language, the application of language. Alice Howland teaches at Harvard as well as does her own research where she gets to travel and give speeches all over the world.
One day Alice starts to realize she is forgetting simple things that she should not be forgetting. This goes on for about a month or so until she finds herself lost in the Harvard Square, just blocks from her home. She puts off these symptoms as being part of menopause, having just turned 50 it is a likely cause. After visiting with her Doctor and a neurologist, Alice is diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease (EOAD). The novel then follows Alice through the next two years of her life including all of the ups and downs of EOAD.
With her husband, John, they have three children all in their twenties. The oldest, Anna, who is a practicing lawyer, is married and trying to get pregnant with husband, Charlie. The middle child, Tom, is studying to be a surgeon. And the youngest, Lydia, while intelligent like her siblings and parents has moved to LA to become an actress.
With the help of doctors and her family Alice is able to continue to live a relatively normal life. Changes begin to happen when her condition worsens and she is unable to remember things she feels she should remember. Her to-do lists become more detailed and she relies on her Blackberry for nearly everything. You also get a sense of how her memory is deteriorating by the "Butterfly" questions.
What month is it?
Where do you live?
Where is your office?
When is Anna's birthday?
How many children do you have?
At first Alice answers these questions fully. She gives full dates and addresses. She slowly starts just giving the month and city location. Eventually she starts recalling the wrong details.
The characters in this book all had to adjust to Alice's condition and had to learn how to be there for her, without making her feel even worse for having the disease. The character that seemed to have to hardest time adjusting was John. he doesn't get as much stage time as you would expect him to get. There are points where he is down right rude but also makes valid points. What he doesn't seem to realize is that, whether he wants it to or not, his life has changed and he needs to make the proper adjustments.
Having my Bachelors degree in psychology I had an interest in this novel from the moment I read what it was about. I feel like having my degree in psychology I was able to understand some of the terminology better than I would had this been a book about her son, Tom, and his becoming a surgeon. Though I can't speak for someone who is not familiar with the psychological jargon, I feel like when the jargon was used it was done in a way that made it understandable and not at all confusing. Having taken a cognition course, a memory course, and an applied learning theory course in college I am very familiar with the types of tests that Alice has to go through when she is seeing her Neurologist. In fact, I have taken some of those tests and had to write lab reviews over them for class as well.
The fact that Lisa Genova has her Ph.D. in neuroscience makes this book that much more remarkable. It gives the book, and Genova, more credibility with the truth of what is happening within the story. Yes, it is a work of fiction, but other than the trial drug that Alice is taking everything is based off of true details, symptoms, and medications that someone with EOAD might encounter. Even the fictional drug was based off a real life trial drug that was in the works.
Genova's writing style is truly phenomenal. This novel is written in third person,with the exception of some of Alice's thoughts, but reads as if it were first person. As Alice's memory declines the writing shows how it is declining. For example, in the beginning of the novel she knows everyone's name and the face the name belongs to, by the end of the novel Genova starts writing sentences with "said the actress" or "asked the mother" instead of using specific names. This gives you insight as to how Alice is interpreting information without having the novel be completely in first person. Genova also does a remarkable job showing the repetitiveness that Alice tends to go through by writing the same paragraph only a few pages later. An example of this would be when Alice is up at three A.M. looking for something, she starts off wondering about why she can't sleep then ultimately gets out of bed to search her home. John finds her and gets her back in bed only to have the cycle repeat itself.
I also enjoyed the "journal" style writing. Instead of having chapters the book is sectioned into months. Since the novel is in third person these aren't personal journal entries, but rather an account of what has been happening throughout each month.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It is informative and gives you insight into how a person with EOAD is feeling and what they and their families are going though. This novel doesn't glorify the disease but it also doesn't diminish the fact that there is a person attached to that disease. It helps make you aware of you're own thoughts and actions.
I gave this a 5/5 stars on Goodreads.
Thanks for reading.
-G
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