Lisa Genova's Still Alice tells the story of Harvard psychology professor, Alice Howland's, mental deterioration over a two year period as she struggles with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Whilst Alice's first symptoms involve forgetting words or recipes, as her condition worsens, she often becomes repetitive, forgetful and disorientated, once forgetting the location of the bathroom in her own house. By the end of the novel, she thinks of two of her children as 'the actress' and 'the mother', struggling to recognise them on occasions. Genova skilfully uses Alice's viewpoint through a third person narrative to illustrate the detachment that she feels from society as she gradually loses herself, as well as allowing the reader to fully appreciate her decline - the reader can only see things from Alice's perspective, meaning that fragments of the story are missed out and then brought up later on, allowing the reader to empathise with Alice's own sense of disorientation and frustration.
One of the real strengths of this novel is Genova's ability to capture the manner in which Alice's relationships change with her husband, John, and her three children, Anna, Tom and Lydia. John's struggle to cope with slowly losing his wife means that at first he completely ignores it, and refuses to watch her take her medication. This escalates throughout the book, as he becomes increasingly focused on his career as a biology professor in order to escape the trauma of seeing the woman that he loves slowly become a stranger. However, by doing this, he puts added strain on his relationships with Alice and his children, as he pushes for a career move to New York which would completely rob Alice of her independence and the chance to regularly see her children. Despite the fact that the form of Alzheimer's that Alice has is hereditary, and her eldest child, Anna, is diagnosed as having the gene that will eventually cause her to have Alzheimer's, all three of the children pull together to help their mother remain as independent and happy as possible. Through these differing reactions, Genova explores the breadth of ways in which people can respond to tragic circumstances, building the reader's empathy with the children, and creating a mistrust of John.
The manner in which Genova structures the novel cleverly adds to the reader's appreciation of the rapidity with which Alice's condition progresses, as each chapter shows a new month in Alice's life. Furthermore, there is a growing sense of detachment as the novel progresses, which is first notable when Alice is diagnosed with Alzheimer's - a common reaction when people are giving shocking news. Later on in the novel, stage directions are used at the end of a chapter to illustrate the seeming unreality of Alice's life with Alzheimer's, and her personal detachment from it, as well as her growing detachment from the world around her.
As a neuroscientist, it is unsurprising a Genova is able to empathise so well with the experiences of people suffering with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, yet the incredible manner in which she portrays Alice's changing sense of self is striking, and will stay with me for a long time to come. Although this novel is heartbreaking, it is not overly depressing, as Genova strikes the balance between love and loss beautifully. As Alzheimer's is gaining attention internationally, it is important that more people are educated about what living with Alzheimer's truly means, so that the symptoms can be spotted more quickly and the patients treated with greater respect. Therefore, I would highly recommend this novel to anyone and everyone - early-onset Alzheimer's can begin as early as around 45 years old, and at this age it is often misdiagnosed, leaving the symptoms to worsen before the correct treatment is sought, as was the case with Alice. Although the novel itself is not based on a true story, for thousands of people, Alzheimer's is their reality.
For more information about Alzheimer's Disease: http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?categoryID=200171&documentID=100&gclid=CjwKEAjwq-OsBRDd95aryprR9wQSJACQnU3GDSPxwzgjXK73BsKp4U_J0tGJoIPDBZtGkq5M5BkyDhoCpLXw_wcB
Comments
Post a Comment