Still Alice, a New York Times bestseller by Lisa Genova,
Ph.D., is an example of fiction at its finest – a riveting work that educates,
creates empathy, and causes one to think deeply. Alice Rowland is on the cusp
of her fiftieth birthday, a psychology professor at Harvard and mom of three
grown children, when she starts to forget things. She attributes it to impending
menopause, but when she can’t remember how to get home from Harvard Square she
begins to panic. Her doctor puts her through all sorts of tests and that is
when the nightmare truly begins – a diagnosis of Early Alzheimer’s disease.
“She wished she had cancer instead. She’d trade Alzheimer’s
for cancer in a heartbeat. She felt ashamed for wishing this, and it was
certainly a pointless bargaining, but she permitted the fantasy anyway. With
cancer, she’d have something she could fight. There was surgery, radiation, and
chemotherapy. There was the chance that she could win. Her family and the
community at Harvard would rally behind her and consider it noble. And even if
defeated in the end, she’d be able to look them knowingly in the eye and say
good-bye before she left.”
Still Alice is
told from Alice’s perspective, as she begins to lose her faculties, and most
painfully, is aware of the transition, of the letting go. This makes the story
all the more powerful. It explores the changes in relationships with her
husband, her children, and her colleagues at work.
There are some troubling moral issues in this work. Alice
creates a list on her Blackberry of five basic questions that she is supposed
to answer every day. If the day comes that she cannot answer them, her plan is
to take an overdose of sleeping pills. Her oldest daughter Anna is having
difficulty conceiving. After her mother’s diagnosis, she has genetic testing
and discovers that she, too, will most likely develop early Alzheimer’s. She
makes the decision to have embryo’s tested for the gene before IVF implantation
in order to guarantee that her children will not carry the gene.
Overall, however, this is actually a profoundly pro-life
book celebrating the value of a life even when the mind is in decline. Still
Alice, endorsed by the National Alzheimer’s Association, invites you into the
mind of someone suffering from this dreaded disease. Genova, who has a Ph.D. in
neuroscience from Harvard, brings a unique perspective and expertise to this
subject. After reading this book, you will never look at someone with Alzheimer’s
in the same way again.
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