Poignant and heartbreaking, the novel Still Alice is a difficult book to read due to its sensitive subject matter. The novel is told in the third person point of view of Alice Howland, a fifty-year-old cognitive psychology professor at Harvard who finds out that she has early onset Alzheimer’s Disease.
Throughout the novel, Alice progresses through different stages of the illness. At the beginning of the novel, Alice is happily married to her husband, John, a biologist, and has three fully grown children, Lydia, Tom and Anna. At first, Alice has some absent-minded moments, like forgetting where she put an item, but nothing serious. As these incidents become more frequent, she consults a neurologist and is ultimately diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s Disease.
The author of the novel, Lisa Genova, who self-published the book before it was picked up by Pocket Books, holds a doctorate in neuroscience and served as an online columnist for the National Alzheimer’s Association. Her knowledge on the subject shows in Still Alice.
The novel portrays Alice’s struggle to get through daily life with her disease. She makes up daily questions to answer so she does not forget certain aspects of her life, and puts the answers into a folder on her computer in case she cannot remember. Alice is faced with the daunting task of not only telling her children about the disease, but also explaining that it can be passed down through genetic linkage, potentially affecting their lives first-hand as well. She struggles to tell her fellow colleagues at Harvard, trying to continue to teach but not being able to retain the subject matter that she is supposed to be discussing. Soon, the family dynamics change, and Alice’s children and husband must accept that they are slowly losing the Alice they once knew.
The author manipulates the reader at the beginning, quite effectively, into thinking Alice will be able to overcome her illness. Alice makes up a system that appears to work and she is determined to continue teaching. But as the novel progresses, Alice’s thoughts and perceptions get more muddled leaving the reader with a narrator unable to control her thoughts and memories. By allowing the reader to glimpse into Alice’s mind, the author unsettles the reader. Alice’s descriptions of her frustration and emotions are intense. Here she reflects on her disease:
“She wished she had cancer instead. She’d trade Alzheimer’s for cancer in a heartbeat. She felt ashamed for wishing this, and it was certainly a pointless bargaining, but she permitted the fantasy anyway. With cancer, she’d have something she can fight. There was surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. There was the chance that she could win. Her family and the community at Harvard would rally behind her battle and consider it noble. And even if defeated in the end, she’d be able to look them knowingly in the eye and say goodbye before she left” (Alice, 117)
Though Alice and her battle with Alzheimer’s is the focal point of the story, the novel also has rich supporting characters. The book’s portrayal of John, Alice’s husband, who struggles with coming to terms with the fact that his once independent wife suddenly relies on him is raw and tender at the same time. Alice’s youngest daughter, Lydia, an actress with whom Alice often argues, is compelling in that now Lydia finds a way to connect with her mother.. Alice’s daughter Anna and her husband, who are trying to have children, have their own struggles as their plans for a family are affected by Alice’s illness.
In the book, Alice often looks back at her family life growing up, which we find had its fair share of tragic elements as well. Alzheimer’s, it seems, may have played a role in Alice’s life earlier as others close to her may have been afflicted with it. Additionally, the contrast between the happy, cozy life Alice has until the illness is revealed and the book’s description of the points of tension, fear and heartbreaking loss within the family as they deal with their new reality post Alzheimer’s is profound.
Despite the subject matter, Still Alice has its share of uplifting moments. The reader is drawn into Alice’s journey and is too busy connecting to the characters to be hung up on the depressing nature of the subject matter. The end of the novel somehow manages to leave the reader feeling both sad and joyful as Alice is seen in the late stages of her disease, but with her family by her side supporting her, each having achieved their goals in life while also being there for Alice.
This book is heavy with just the right doses of occasional inspiration. It’s a must-read even for those who may fear Alzheimer’s as it pulls back the curtain on the struggle associated with this cryptic disease, leaving the reader with a more enlightened world view.