There were moments when her descriptions of Alice’s continuing awareness of what was happening to her were so evocative that they felt almost too painful to read: I could almost viscerally feel her frustrations and her fear.There were times when I felt angry with John’s apparent detachment, his constant search for alternative diagnoses or treatments and, finally, with a decision he makes when Alice’s hold on reality has deteriorated considerably. Everyone hoped for a miracle cure but, as there wasn’t one, they could only watch as the disease unrelentingly destroyed every aspect of Alice’s life, from her memories, to her ability to do anything for herself. She realistically and evocatively captured the ways in which each member of the family developed different, and changing, coping strategies as they struggled to deal both with new realities, and an uncertain future. I thought that she charted, in a very sensitive and moving way, the gradual disintegration of Alice’s ability to do anything for herself, as well as her continuing demand to be seen for who she had been, not just who she was becoming. The effects on their lives were profound and disturbing for each of them. However, I felt as inexorably drawn into the author’s descriptions of how the diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease affected not only Alice, but also her husband, John, and their three adult children.
When I was faced with reading it for a second time (as a reading group choice) I wondered whether it would have less of an emotional impact. I found this story profoundly sad, disturbing and thought-provoking when I read it soon after it was first published. 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.Īt 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. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease changes her life.Īs the inevitable descent into dementia strips away her sense of self, fiercely independent Alice struggles to live in the moment.
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. 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 lovingĪlice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build.
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