Author: Lisa Genova
Narrator: Lisa Genova
Unabridged: 7 hr 46 min
Format: Digital Audiobook
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Published: 01/06/2009
Genre: Fiction - Contemporary Women
An extraordinary debut novel about an accomplished woman who slowly loses her thoughts and memories to a harrowing disease -- only to discover that each day brings a new way of living and loving 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 of early-onset Alzheimer's disease changes her life. As the inevitable descent into dementia strips away her sense of self, fiercely independent Alice struggles to live in the moment. While she once placed her worth and identity in her celebrated and respected academic life, now she must reevaluate her relationship with her husband, a respected scientist; her expectations of her children; and her ideas about herself and her place in the world. At once beautiful and terrifying, Still Alice is a moving and vivid depiction of life with early-onset Alzheimer's disease that is as compelling as A Beautiful Mind and as unforgettable as Ordinary People.
Still Alice sounds like the autobiography of my friend's mother. I couldn't put it down and thought it was terrifying how such a brilliant mind could be devastated by this disease. It's a quick read but left me paranoid about all of the things I forget on a daily basis... for about a week I found myself asking, is this a sign that I have it too? Yikes. I have tremendous sympathy for anyone battling alzheimer's.
I cannot really review the book itself, as I could barely get through the first disk. It sounded as though it would be a good story, and I was looking forward to listening to it. However, the author was also the reader, and her reading was so bad that I simply couldnt stand it. Ms. Genova may be a very good writer, but she does herself no favor by reading her book. Her monotone, expressionless reading ruined the experience for me.
I agree with another reviewer in that listening to this book was so annoying with the author droning on in an expressionless, monotone, soliloquy that I gave up half way through the first CD.