"Alice watched and listened to the relentless, breaking waves pounding the shore. If it weren't for the colossal seawall constructed at the edges of the properties of the million-dollar homes along Shore Road, the ocean would have taken each house in, devouring them all without sympathy or apology. She imagined her Alzheimer's like this ocean at Lighthouse Beach---unstoppable, ferocious, destructive. Only there were no seawalls in her brain to protect her memories and thoughts from the onslaught."
-from the novel
Still Alice was a compelling story about a 50-year-old Harvard psychology professor who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. After Alice Howland experiences unusual forgetfulness and disorientation, she seeks a medical evaluation and the results are devastating. She dreads sharing the diagnosis with her husband, children and the administration at Harvard. She has grave concerns about who she will be when her memory is gone---will she be "still Alice"? Will her life be of any value?
The novel begins with September, 2003 and takes the reader through 2 years, month by month. Alice has made a plan that involves answering 5 simple (?) questions which she forces herself to answer each month. At first the answers are easy but each month they become more difficult.
It seemed to me the novel was well-researched, exposing causes of Alzheimers, drugs used to treat it and clinical trials being introduced. The book must have been well-written since I finished it in about 3 days---truly a page-turner, even though I could see the disease progressing and it made me sad for Alice. The story seemed very real since I remembered my mother-in-law first showing signs of memory loss by repeating herself and asking the same question again and again. In fact, it was so realistic that I worry whenever I forget important things I will be self-diagnosing. So it was both enlightening and frightening! Still Alice gets a 5 rating from me. One of these days I hope to see the film adaptation.
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