Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Fond Memories


While I was killing time in the book store Saturday night, waiting to meet up with my friend for Frost/Nixon, I came across Still Alice.

The author, Lisa Genova, has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard. She's also an online columnist for the National Alzheimer's Association.

But this isn't a text book.

Genova has written a compelling narrative about a 50 year-old woman's descent into early-onset Alzheimer's Disease.

That the novel's protagonist is also a Harvard professor, makes the story especially engaging.

It's a serious topic, but the novel isn't depressing.

Genova manages to do for Alzheimer's what Mark Haddon's Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time did for autism. It sheds important and compassionate light on this unpredictable and frightening disease. You'll learn a lot, while being transported along one family's journey.

The novel is gripping. I started giving myself memory tests about page three.

Even if you've never spent any time around anyone suffering from some form of dementia, the novel is a good primer for the inevitability.

Alzheimer's Disease is a fatal disease, with no known cure. It's a disease where the mind dies, leaving a shell of a body.

As many as 5 million Americans are suffering from the disease. 10 million care for someone with the disease. And every 71 seconds, someone develops Alzheimer's.

Read this book. It might just make you an advocate.

1 comment:

wendywalnut said...

c's dad has it, it's so sad. though he doesn't seem to know what is going on. he's handling it with aplomb, i'd say. his response to anyone worrying? two thumbs up and a "don't worry, be happy!".