Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty, she's a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a renowned expert in linguistics, with a successful husband and three grown children. When she begins to grow forgetful and disoriented, she dismisses it for as long as she can until a tragic diagnosis changes her life - and her relationship with her family and the world around her - for ever.
Unable to care for herself, Alice struggles to find meaning and purpose as her concept of self gradually slips away. But Alice is a remarkable woman, and her family learn more about her and each other in their quest to hold on to the Alice they know. Her memory hanging by a frayed thread, she is living in the moment, living for each day. But she is still Alice.
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Alice sat at her desk in their bedroom distracted by the sounds of John racing through each of the rooms on the first floor. SEPTEMBER 2003
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(@simonschusterUK, 5 August 2010, ebook, 336 pages, bought from @AmazonKindle)
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I loved the movie of Still Alice so thought I knew what to expect from the book. I should have known better. I was sucker-punched to the gut and I've been turned into a sobbing, shaking wreck on the floor. My gran had Alzheimer's disease though she was in her 70's so it wasn't as devastating as Alice's diagnosis but there are parallels to her life. I found so many things about this book heart-breaking especially how quickly Alice deteriorates. I also thought her husband was a bit of an ass. I'm still crying as I write this. This is a beautiful, devastating book.
