I bought a copy of this novel at an airport bookstore with low expectations, just looking for something to pass a few hours when yet another flight got delayed. I got drawn into it quickly, and about 100 pages in, finally aboard a plane, found myself sobbing, which kind of freaked out the guy sitting next to me. It was very moving and well written. The book’s official website is here. Here’s a short synopsis it provides:
Still Alice is a compelling debut novel about a 50-year-old woman’s sudden descent into early onset Alzheimer’s disease, written by first-time author Lisa Genova, who holds a Ph. D in neuroscience from Harvard University.
Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children and a house on the Cape, is a celebrated Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices a forgetfulness creeping into her life. As confusion starts to cloud her thinking and her memory begins to fail her, she receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Fiercely independent, Alice struggles to maintain her lifestyle and live in the moment, even as her sense of self is being stripped away. In turns heartbreaking, inspiring and terrifying, Still Alice captures in remarkable detail what’s it’s like to literally lose your mind…
–Ann Bartow
