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Jul 05, 2011

Debbie rated it:

Fifty year old Alice Howland, a world-renowned expert in linguistics and a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Still Alice is the story of the unraveling of Alice's life as her disease progresses.

I started out not enjoying this book. The author's main character wasn't very likeable – she seemed too focused on how smart she was and how important and prestigious her job was, but I was quickly won over. Lisa Genova wrote from A More...

3 comments like (24 people liked it)

Dec 23, 2011

Annalisa rated it:

After you read this, you will never look at Alzheimer's the same again. Nor will you ever forget it. Oh the irony.

I'd always correlated Alzheimer's disease with old age and heard the best way to combat it was to exercise your brain. I do my fair share of reading, can solve a Sudoku puzzle faster than 2% of the population, and I shun mindless chick flicks for your more intelligent thrillers, but I'll never be as brilliant as Alice, a 50-year-old Harvard professor diagnosed with early- More...

5 comments like (20 people liked it)

Jun 05, 2009

Petra X rated it:

Still Alice reads like a memoir of Alzheimer's disease written by a family member but is in fact the first novel by a neuroscientist who, apart from being a great deal younger, lives the successful life of a top academic, as does Alice.

The book is unputdownable. I read through the night; dawn came and went and still I couldn't put it down but I don't really know why. The writing was ok, a bit heavy-handed at times, the denoument was predetermined and inevitable but still the book wa More...

2 comments like (29 people liked it)

Mar 01, 2009

Shannon rated it:

I give this book 5 stars not because its an amazing piece of literature but because of its impact on me. I can't stop thinking about it and when I was reading it I couldn't put it down. It is the story of Alice, a brilliant professor of cognitive psychology at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics who discovers she has early onset Alzheimer's disease. This book is beautiful and terrifying - ringing true in every word. To quote a reviewer, "with a master storyteller's easy el More...

2 comments like (22 people liked it)

Mar 04, 2009

Jenny rated it:

This book was great. If you have gone through Alzheimer's Disase before with a loved one, you will recognize and love this character. The twist is that she has early-onset AD, so she is only 50 years old, her children are grown and she has a successful career. This was a great book. The story was great, the characters seemed real and believable, the writing was clear and direct. In fact, it reminded me a lot of Kite Runner because there too I just loved the story and the characters, but the writ More...

3 comments like (13 people liked it)

Feb 24, 2009

Kimberly rated it:

Having this diease affecting my husbands mother (frontal lobe dementia; onset at age 58) this book shed a lot of light on some things for me. I do not have a medical background, and I had not spent much time with my mother-in-law because we have not lived close to each other, this book helped me to understand better what exactly she is going through.
Some of the situations Alice experiences brought back some memories of things my mother-in-law had done in the past, signs that possibly we c More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

May 25, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

Alice is a Harvard professor, published author, and nationally respected expert in her field of study. Early-onset Alzheimer's disease nails her in mid-career and is especially devastating to her self-esteem because so much of her identity is wrapped up in her intellectual gifts and stellar memory. The story follows the gradual deterioration of Alice's mental capacity, and the attendant frustration and heartache for Alice and those who love her. There are also small triumphs along the way. Al More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 28, 2011

LemonLinda rated it:

I reread this in 2011 for a local book club discussion and can honestly say my opinion and review as written in 2010 stands as follows:

Dr. Alice Howland is a highly respected Harvard professor in the Psychology Department specializing in psycholinguistics. She is also the much loved wife of Dr. John Howland, also a Harvard professor, and mother of three, Anna (a Harvard educated lawyer), Tom (a Harvard educated doctor) and Lydia (an actress who thus far has chosen not to attend colle More...

7 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 01, 2011

Rhonda Rae rated it:

Moving and compassionate...I wanted to know more about Alice...I grew to love her and found myself cheering her on!

This was written beautifully and from the mind of one who has early-onset Alzheimer's. Wow, I was taken back and couldn't put this one down. Very realistic and informative as well as moving.

The family portrayed was so real that I had to remind myself that it was Fiction. The author did a wonderful job getting into the mind of someone with this disease and More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 07, 2009

Kathy rated it:

This book has changed me. Lisa Genova's writing style is wonderful- I feel more informed, aware, sensitive and moved by being engrossed in Alice's life and experience. As a nurse, I am a better caregiver from reading this book. As a nurse educator, I will use some brief passages from the book to help my students' understand and develop caring approaches to their clients and families. And sadly, as a niece, granddaughter and great-grandaughter of women who have suffered from Alzheimers Disease, More...

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Feb 23, 2009

Barbara rated it:

I couldn't put this book down. And, I agree with other reviews of this book that it was heartbreaking. But, I saw something else in this story. Pain and heartache and change comes into everyone's life in some form and not everything that comes from that is bad. Genova does a good job of showing the devastation in Alzheimers but also the beauty in redefined relationships.

2 comments like (15 people liked it)

Apr 04, 2009

Sharon rated it:

The subject matter of this book (Alzheimer's Disease) made it a very difficult book for me to read. The author, who is a Harvard trained neuroscientist chose to write this fictional book from Alice's point of view. Most books written about Alzheimer's is from the caregivers point of view. I believe that because of her background, and the book being recognized by the Alzheimer's Association, her description of what life is like for a victim of early-onset Alzheimer's is as close to factual as o More...

1 comment like (11 people liked it)

Mar 30, 2009

Lee Anne rated it:

Before I read a page of this, knowing it was about early-onset Alzheimer's, from the victim's point of view, I imagined it would be like Flowers for Algernon, like by the end of the book, there would be nothing, text-wise. Wrong.

Then, I started reading, and I have to say, it starts a little clunky: places are over-explained, there's a lot of awkward phrasing. So I figured it would read like what it was: a formerly self-published book by a neurological wonk who'd never written fi More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 17, 2009

Jenna rated it:

This book will stop you in your tracks. Whatever you had been doing before you started reading Still Alice, will have to be put off until you finish...It is that good. Genova draws the reader quickly into the story of 51 year old Alice, a highly driven Harvard professor with 3 grown children. At the novel's opening Alice is travelling all over the country and world, giving lectures and attending conferences, but the foundations of her solid and successful world are starting to crumble. After More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Mar 04, 2009

Julia rated it:

The main character of this book is a 50 year old woman who has a very successful and fulfilled life as a Harvard Cognitive Psychology Professor, a Husband with as many credentials and 3 grown well adjusted children. She is diagnosed with early on-set Alzheimer's disease. She slowly loses her thoughts and memories and is aware at first that this is happening. As the disease progresses, she is forced to give up lecturing and working all together. Each famiy member relates differently to the per More...

6 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 27, 2009

Medora rated it:

This is a sensitive and optimistic narrative about a Harvard professor who is a victim of early onset Alzheimer's disease. It is certainly a timely topic, though at first I felt some trepidation about even thinking about it. The author, much like the title character, is a Dr. of neuroscience at Harvard, and well informed on her topic.
She shows great insight into the changing mental state of Alice as well as describing some of the same events from the perspective of those who observe Alice More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2012

Ellen rated it:

The first reason I read this book was that I wanted to know more about Alzheimer’s disease since now I am working on my thesis that somehow related with Alzheimer’s.

Alice was diagnosed with early-onset of Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 50. At first she didn’t know what was wrong with her. She kept on forgetting things but she just suspected that it might be a symptom her menopausal period. Until one day she went to a neurologist and found out the truth...

This book giv More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 27, 2011

Bridget rated it:

This book really affected me emotionally. Like, really affected me. Like, I very nearly cried on the Metro during one scene and I absolutely sobbed for the last 25% of the book. I'm not sure why, exactly. My mother's grandmother had Alzheimers disease for at least a decade, but while I loved my Grandma Rose, I wouldn't say I was especially connected with her at the time of her death. (To be fair, and so I don't seem like a total dick - I was 14 and living at boarding school. Wait, I'm not sure t More...

5 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 08, 2010

deLille rated it:

The biggest problem with self-published work is the lack of an editor who tells you how to go from good to great. “Still Alice” has a wonderful premise: let’s tell the story of Alzheimer’s from the patient’s point of view, but somehow the book sounds like a professor telling you the Alzheimer’s story from a patient’s point of view, rather than having the patient tell her own story. (Using first person rather than third would have been more effective.) I felt that I was reading nothing more th More...

3 comments like (20 people liked it)

May 07, 2010

Lyn rated it:

Lisa Genova has earned her stripes and proven her skill with the well-researched masterpiece that is Still Alice.

However, this book confirmed for me that I am far more afraid of loosing my ability to think than I am of pain or infirmity. I will try to bare well any challenge that is thrown my way, but I crave the luxury of retaining my memories and ability to think and reason throughout. I place a lot of value in the minds of older people. I would like to serve future generations th More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 06, 2010

Brenda (Lansdowne) rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 18, 2009

Juliekjewell rated it:

This book is a fictionalized story of a woman who was a Harvard Professor until she was stricken with early on-set Alzheimers. It is written by a woman who holds a PhD in neuroscience with input from several early on-set Alzheimers people who were able to share their feelings and experiences. It touched my heart and gave me perhaps a better understanding of what these people go through. While they may not be able to express themselves as they are accustomed, they can still share a listening e More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Feb 26, 2009

Leeann rated it:

This was a really excellent book. I got it from the library but it may be one of those few special books that I purchase because I know I will want to read it again and loan it to my friends.

I will say, however, that it scared the crap out of me and every time I couldn't remember something or something slipped my mind, it would almost send me into a panic attack!

I will be interested to read the next book this author puts out. I hope it is as good as her first!

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2009

Hendo rated it:

Even if you've never been personally affected by someone living with Alzheimer’s disease or advanced dementia, you should read this book. Still Alice is about a 50 year old woman who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, and it’s both heartbreaking and insightful. That sounds trite, I know, but the praise blurbs on the cover of this one were dead on. The author is a neuroscientist at Harvard, but her background doesn’t in anyway hinder her tale (I was afraid there’d be way too much technica More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2009

Malissa rated it:

Haunting
Compassionate
Disbelief
Self-pity
Acceptance
Heartbreaking
Emotionally draining yet fulfilling
I haven't had a good cry like that of what I experienced as I read this book. My heart truly ached for John and Alice, and their three children.
For Alice - because she realized the whole time what was happening; she realized the need to fight and yet she knew it was a losing battle. However, in some ways she was victorious over the disease.
For Jo More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Feb 13, 2009

Jayne rated it:

I became completely engrossed in this self published book - written by a neuro-scientist. It is a novel - but I got caught up/lost in the realism of the book. It is so interesting how she mixes so expertly the approach of two scientists to a disease that actually needs a very emotional response. The ending is especially powerful as is her discussion of why Alzheimer's is so hard to deal with as a disease - in comparison to something like cancer. And the character of Lydia touched me in a very More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Feb 07, 2009

Laura rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Feb 27, 2009

Janet rated it:

I couldn't put this book down. Maybe it was because the protagonist was about my age and one of my greatest aging fears is losing my mind, but I thought this was so touchingly written. The author is a neuroscientist so I also felt as if I was learning more about the dementia process and got a look into the world of the person who is afflicted. Really wonderful book.

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Feb 27, 2009

Renee rated it:

What a set up this is: a 50 year old woman who is a cognitive psychologist and research professor at Harvard is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s Disease. This book is so much more than a clinical journal of the horrific disease itself (although it is that too), it is about identity, and living a life that matters and about what a crisis does to a family.

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 17, 2011

Jen rated it:

This was a very heartbreaking, but insightful read. While we many never really know (God willing!) what it is like to be in the mind of a person with Alzheimer's, I thought the author did a phenomenal job of bringing us as close to the experience as possible.

The story is of a middle-aged woman who is ambitious, intelligent, successful and diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. The book takes you through her rapid decline into the disease from her perspective.

You easily More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)