Still Alice
Author: Lisa Genova
Rating: ā 2/5
Date Read: 2015/01/24
Pages: 292
I waffled between giving this a two or three star review, and, as much as Iād like to give it three stars, I just canāt do it. Still Alice sounds like an excellent book: the story of a Harvard Professor Cognitive Psychology who gets diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers. Author Lisa Genova, also a cognitive psychologist, did a considerable amount of research for the book, and I looked forward to reading a depiction of the experiential reality of Alzheimers from someone uniquely qualified to fictionalize it.
Unfortunately, Genovaās academic expertise far outpaces her writing ability, which significantly reduced the impact of her overall message. Indeed, it read more like a subpar young adult novel than serious fiction for adults, which is a shame. I figured this out early on: in one of the first chapters, Genova describes Alice and her husbandās physical appearance by having them look at themselves in the mirror (note to aspiring writers: if you find it necessary to make sure the reader knows what your characters look like, emulate Tolstoy, rather than Stephenie Meyer. I can still picture Natasha, slight and ebullient, sitting restlessly on the couch of her drawing room, just as I can easily visualize the Little Princess, with her peach fuzz mustache. Yet I have no recollection of what Alice is supposed to look like, even though I just read the description two days ago, because Genova never gave me a reason to care.). The writing doesnāt get any better from there, with a random Mary Sue-ish episode in which Alice ends up at the same restaurant as Jennifer Aniston, and obnoxious PSAs about support for people with Alzheimers thrown in, seemingly independent of the plot.
Actually, the whole thing read like a very special episode of a lowest-common-demoniator sitcom. Exhibit A:
Definitely a fascinating subject, though. Iād like to see it explored in the future, in the hands of a more capable writer.