The Book Corner: The Shadow Of Alzheimer's ("Still Alice" by Lisa Genova)

 There haven't been many major works of art with Alzheimer's disease as their subject, but the relatively few there have been have pretty consistently been memorable. I'm thinking primarily of the excellent Canadian film "Away From Her" from a few years ago. But the novel "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova sets a new standard. An incredibly powerful story, it takes an instensely personal look at the disease that could not have been possible in a movie, and forces the reader to ask some very tough questions.

Alice Howland is a Harvard Professor who is very well respected by her students and fellow professors, a brilliant author of numerous papers (and, together with her husband, a book) and a family of mostly loving children (with the exception of a distant relationship with daughter Lydia who hasn't followed mom's plan for her life and has not gone to college). And only being fifty years old, she ought to have a good many more years of the good life to live and enjoy yet. But one day, after being troubled by increasing periods of forgetfulness, she goes to her doctor and is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Her life, the lives of her family, and those of everyone else around her are going to change in ways she can't yet imagine.

Although this book is indeed a work of fiction, Genova has clearly done her homework and consulted with scores of doctors specializing in Alzheimer's, and studied numerous case histories (all this just for starters). When the story becomes almost too strong an emotional experience to keep reading, you can't just brush it off as being "only a novel". It's much too uncomfortably real. And what gives it the greatest impact is the fact that the vast majority of it is from Alice's own perspective. We share her own perceptions of the world and then feel them change as her mind deteriorates... it's as close as you could possibly get to experiencing the effects of Alzheimer's disease without having it. That might sound like too much to take... and I can't really disagree, it is like that at times... but if we really want to be able to help our loved ones and others with Alzheimer's, what could be a better start than to understand what they're going through as much as possible?

The title is a reference to the fact that in spite of the changes taking place within her mind, Alice Howland with Alzheimer's is still Alice... she is not her disease. That's something that some members of her family have no problem understanding, and it is touching to see family members who have had strained relationships with Alice for a long time become caring, supportive and willing to tackle and task to help her. But you also see other members of the family taking the rather more self-centered approach of "This is making things so difficult for me!" and not just getting annoyed at Alice, but making decisions for her without even taking her wishes into account because "She can't even understand what she wants anyway!" That IS something that does happen in this situation, but you don't see much of it in fiction on the subject. But that's just one more aspect of what makes "Still Alice" such an amazing story... it ignores the usual conventions of most fiction in order to bring us a story that's as close to real life as is possible to get while still being a novel about fictional people.

Alice's determination to live as much of a productive life as she possibly can for as long as she possibly can pulled me in during the first pages of the book and wouldn't let me go until the last page. It's a little difficult to express how a story can stir up such powerful emotions of joy, sadness, love and much more without ever being sentimental, but that's exactly what this novel does. And as a result, nothing seems forced or phony and every emotion is felt all the more intensely. In particular, the question of whether a person's life still has meaning and a purpose after their mind no longer allows them to recognize the people they love or even who they themselves are has an impact like you could not believe. And yet... would you believe that "Still Alice" is not really a depressing book? I'm not saying there isn't sadness in it, but depressing is still not the right word. You'll know what I mean after you finish the very last page.

"Still Alice" is, in my opinion (for however precious little that may be worth), a strong contender for a top ten list of the best novels of this new century's first decade. It makes you feel, it makes you think, it makes you wonder. It ask questions about what you would do in Alice's place but refuses to provide you with any easy answers. It's also an absolutely astonishing first novel (Genova's second is due in 2011). Whether you have any interest in the novel's subject or not, I would still urge anyone to read it as soon as possible. I can absolutely guarantee that it will have an impact on you like few books ever had, and give you a new understanding of what fiction can do.