Still Alice

Lisa Genova’s first novel strikes a chord in over-50s who think they may be ‘losing it’

By line seven, I was hooked: “She’d just read the same sentence three times without comprehending it.” By the end of the first chapter, I was weeping for Alice. Knowing this book was about a woman turning fifty who discovers she has early- onset Alzheimer’s disease. I read on, wondering if this might be about me.

This extraordinary first novel by Lisa Genova is sensitively written from Alice’s own viewpoint of her journey into a scarily unknown world of dementia. A brilliant cognitive psychology professor at Harvard with an equally brilliant husband and three children, it is a story of love and despair, and love all over again, both from Alice’s viewpoint and that of her family.

I couldn’t put it down. I read it from cover to cover in four hours, with three glasses of wine and half a box of tissues. I implore you to read it.

(Tempo Toronto member) OliBeck

A ‘New York Times Bestseller’, published by Simon & Schuster in paperback January 2009. “Heartbreakingly real … So real, in fact, that it kept me from sleeping for several nights. I coudn’t put it down.” Brunonia Barry, author

Menopausal memory, or loss of identity?

How to get from sharp, corporate executive to a blithering idiot

Time was when I had my finger on the pulse, handled the busiest schedule imaginable building a company, and travelled worldwide all the while raising a family, running a home – you know, the regular superwoman, overachieving trap many of us slip into without noticing.

Then one day it hit me. My mind was going.

Perimenopause? Forgetfulness? Chances are it WILL happen to you. It happened to me, and I’m a regular kind of person.

I forgot my own name.

The Scene: high-powered corporate executive meets influential young thing from another company. This company can help us make even more millions.

Young thing: “I don’t think we’ve been introduced.”

Corporate executive (aka Me), with firm handshake: “I’m Tina … “(noticeable pause as I try to remember my last name) “… Ro-” (I know it begins with an R and an O, but pinch me I cannot grasp the last part).

“Ro-, er, Roberts!” (It’s ‘Rogers’).

Young thing: “I’m really looking forward to working with you.”

Me (thinking what do I do now, I’ve told her the wrong name): “You’ll be working with Kimberley. Come, I’ll introduce you to her.”

I wormed my way out of that one. What would you have done?

Update: I’ve improved, a lot. Still room for improvement. My older friends tell me it gets better, later.