** spoiler alert ** There is so much to digest with this book. I started out not liking it...not sure why, whether it was because it was a book not necessarily of my choosing but the book club's (which I chose to participate in!) or because it was written by a Ph.D. and sometimes reads like it. (I felt similarly with Marisa de los Santos, PH.D's works)
Although the slow warmup, Lisa Genova draws the reader in to Alice's world. Alice is a Harvard professor, lauded in her field of psychology, and realizes, at ...moreThere is so much to digest with this book. I started out not liking it...not sure why, whether it was because it was a book not necessarily of my choosing but the book club's (which I chose to participate in!) or because it was written by a Ph.D. and sometimes reads like it. (I felt similarly with Marisa de los Santos, PH.D's works)
Although the slow warmup, Lisa Genova draws the reader in to Alice's world. Alice is a Harvard professor, lauded in her field of psychology, and realizes, at 50 years old, that she's forgetting things that she shouldn't. She forgets how to get home from her regular run, and forgets about going to the airport for a conference she was looking forward to. Alice is diagnosed with Early-Onset Alzheimers early in the book.
I found it amazing that Alice was invited to speak at the Dementia Care Conference, as an expert. That was probably my favorite part of the book, and I cried reading her words. I found it inspiring that she spearheaded a support group for patients of EOAD, not just the caregivers. I loved when Alice was considering her love of her daughter, Lydia: "But will I always love her? Does my love for her reside in my heart or in my head?"...The mother in her believed that the love she had for her daughter was safe from the mayhem in her mind, because it lived in her heart.
Alice's husband, John, was faced with the decision to go on sabbatical like he and Alice had previously discussed, or to take a new, highly-desired position away in New York City. I found this hard that John would want to take Alice away from the home she's always known, when change would confuse her further. At the same time, I understand John's admission that why should he take a sabbatical to stay home and watch Alice waste away, forgetting how to work the microwave, or even who he, her husband, is.
~SPOILER~
The Author, in her Postscript, described that she very cautiously brought up Alice's consideration of suicide as an answer. I think she wanted to bring this up since, from her conversation at the end of the book, 100% of the EOAD patients she met with (those under sixty-five) had considered it, but treaded lightly since it's such a controversial topic.
However, I feel that the day in June 2005 when Alice read her "Butterfly" file which details what to do when she can't answer the basic questions she should know, and when Alice kept forgetting about what to do when she's made it upstairs, I would assume John, or one of her children, would have come across that file, being up on the computer screen. I know that every individual would act differently, but upon seeing the file, wouldn't John at least consider helping her through with her plan she made when she was thinking clearly? Especially since he was having such a hard time seeing Alice decline? I think this was a time Genova shied away from controversy. Not that she could include everything a family faced with this disease would go through, but I feel that was a logical thing John would discover.
Although the slow warmup, Lisa Genova draws the reader in to Alice's world. Alice is a Harvard professor, lauded in her field of psychology, and realizes, at ...moreThere is so much to digest with this book. I started out not liking it...not sure why, whether it was because it was a book not necessarily of my choosing but the book club's (which I chose to participate in!) or because it was written by a Ph.D. and sometimes reads like it. (I felt similarly with Marisa de los Santos, PH.D's works)
Although the slow warmup, Lisa Genova draws the reader in to Alice's world. Alice is a Harvard professor, lauded in her field of psychology, and realizes, at 50 years old, that she's forgetting things that she shouldn't. She forgets how to get home from her regular run, and forgets about going to the airport for a conference she was looking forward to. Alice is diagnosed with Early-Onset Alzheimers early in the book.
I found it amazing that Alice was invited to speak at the Dementia Care Conference, as an expert. That was probably my favorite part of the book, and I cried reading her words. I found it inspiring that she spearheaded a support group for patients of EOAD, not just the caregivers. I loved when Alice was considering her love of her daughter, Lydia: "But will I always love her? Does my love for her reside in my heart or in my head?"...The mother in her believed that the love she had for her daughter was safe from the mayhem in her mind, because it lived in her heart.
Alice's husband, John, was faced with the decision to go on sabbatical like he and Alice had previously discussed, or to take a new, highly-desired position away in New York City. I found this hard that John would want to take Alice away from the home she's always known, when change would confuse her further. At the same time, I understand John's admission that why should he take a sabbatical to stay home and watch Alice waste away, forgetting how to work the microwave, or even who he, her husband, is.
~SPOILER~
The Author, in her Postscript, described that she very cautiously brought up Alice's consideration of suicide as an answer. I think she wanted to bring this up since, from her conversation at the end of the book, 100% of the EOAD patients she met with (those under sixty-five) had considered it, but treaded lightly since it's such a controversial topic.
However, I feel that the day in June 2005 when Alice read her "Butterfly" file which details what to do when she can't answer the basic questions she should know, and when Alice kept forgetting about what to do when she's made it upstairs, I would assume John, or one of her children, would have come across that file, being up on the computer screen. I know that every individual would act differently, but upon seeing the file, wouldn't John at least consider helping her through with her plan she made when she was thinking clearly? Especially since he was having such a hard time seeing Alice decline? I think this was a time Genova shied away from controversy. Not that she could include everything a family faced with this disease would go through, but I feel that was a logical thing John would discover.
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