Just now I finished reading Still Alice by Lisa Genova and it's freaking me out. I feel like I have Alzheimer's myself, like I'm losing my memory, like I've spent the afternoon drowning in a thick soup.
The book is fantastic. A page turner. You know what's going to happen to this woman, this Alice, a Harvard professor, a top of the line brainiac, who gets early onset Alzheimer's. You know it's not going to end well. You know you're gonna sucked into the miasma that becomes her life. You know that, but you have to find out what happens anyway so you skip heavy-hearted through the pages, hoping for a miracle you know darned well isn't going to happen.
I don't have Alzheimer's. Gawd, I don't think so. But my memory is nothing like it used to be and it wasn't great to begin with. Dave is constantly saying, "Don't you remember? I told you such-and-such yesterday," but I have no idea what he's talking about. Reading Genova's book exacerbated my own faulty memory problems and their surrounding anxiety. Having just finished the final page, I could swear I am still climbing to the top of a deep, dark, slippery well.
It sounds frightening...I am so afraid of losing my mind and subsequently myself.
ReplyDeleteI know, me too Delores. All the women in my family wind up with dementia and I know that's a whole different kettle of fish than Alzheimer's but it still freaks me out.
DeleteSounds interesting in a freaky sort of way. I haven't heard of the book, thanks for reviewing it.
ReplyDeleteIt IS interesting, Clarissa. Absorbing, more like it. One of the best books I've read lately.
DeleteI read this book a couple of weeks ago and so I know what you are talking about. There is another book she wrote called Left Neglected. That one will really get to you as well.
ReplyDeleteGonna have to get it, KD. Thanks for the heads-up!
DeleteScary stuff. Brain damage is a possible symptom of MS and the one that scares me the most. The rest are inconveniences. (and sometimes bloody inconvenient). I joke that losing memory means I can reread books, but that scares me too. I am balanced on the edge of a very scary pit, so I have some understanding of how you felt after reading this book. It is one I would love to read as well.
ReplyDeleteAwww....I just want to hug you, EC. oxox
DeleteI'm fascinated but slightly reluctant to read it, in view of the fact that my brother has recently been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimers - sometimes ignorance IS bliss. :-/
ReplyDeleteYour poor brother. And poor you. I dunno, Sue, you might want to read it. It might help. What it does is offer insight from the viewpoint of the person with Alzheimer's and a plea to let them live in the moment - every moment they have left. They might not remember it, but they can enjoy it as it happens.
DeleteLinda from Leftbrainwrite sent this book to me a year or so ago and I agree it is an excellent book. I have also recently read her Left Neglected and found it good as well. Alzheimer's was described to me by a friend, whose mother had it, as "dying by inches." I couldn't agree more.
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