Review: Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she’s a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life – and her relationship with her family and the world – forever.

I have been wanting to read this book and luckily it was our book club choice for this month. Wow! This was such a heartbreaking, truthful, and lovely novel. I could NOT put it down. It was gripping from page one all the way to the end. I loved that the author wrote this story from the perspective of Alice, the person with Alzheimer’s and not from the caregivers or families perspective. The author chose each of her characters and personalities so carefully and everyone was able to have a piece in the story all the way to the end. Throughout the story, I got so frustrated and angry with the husband, John. I am sure this will bring up great discussion in our book club about his role in caring for Alice during her disease progression. I was deeply proud of Alice’s children in how they stood by and stood up for Alice and showed their deep love for her. I laughed and cried through this story and was sad to see it end. Anyone who has been touched by Alzheimer’s needs to read this book! I am eagerly waiting for Genova’s next novel “Left Neglected” to hit bookstores! I gave this 5 out of 5 stars!