Book Review: Left Neglected by Lisa Genova
Left Neglected
Book: Left Neglected
Author: Lisa Genova
Publish date: July 2011
Paperback Pages: 352
I didn’tthink my mom was lying exactly. It’s just – I don’t know, I couldn’t fathom it.I mean, she couldn’t see anything on her left? Only on her left?
My mom’sleft hemisphere neglect – the result of an injury to the right hemisphere ofher brain (she hit her head hard while working in Paris) - was short lived andminimally disabling, in part because mom is a brain and behavior expert withthe skills, tools, and knowledge of how to help herself immediately.1 Due to my mom’s ability to turn things aroundand make good use of them, it became like so many things happening to my mom:something that makes her seem weird while giving her a deeper knowledge andunderstanding of brain and behavior.
However,for so many others (including Sarah, the main character in Left Neglected)it is far more life changing and challenging.
LeftNeglected is thesecond novel by Lisa Genova, author of Still Alice. Both books center onsuper successful women who are compelled to re-frame their own versions ofsuccess when confronted with neurological dysfunctions.
In StillAlice, the dysfunction is early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
For Sarahin Left Neglected it is left neglect, an arguably less famous but stillsignificant condition.
The novelbegins by dropping readers into the non-stop chaos of Sarah’s home and worklife. Both Sarah and her husband, Bob, are competitive high achievers. Theyhave three adorable children (I fell in love with them instantly!) and theiroldest – a first grader – is struggling both at school and at home to followdirections and complete assignments. With both parents working all hours andpaying for two homes they are blessed to also have the help of atwenty-two-year-old nanny, Abby. She lives ten minutes away, has a degree inpsychology, and adores the children.
The pace oftheir life, of the story, of Sarah’s inner dialogue, is go go go. There isalways something needing to be done, someone needing to be delegated to do it,and goals to keep an eye on. It is hurried, but not unhappy. The group workswell as a team and though they rarely take a moment to enjoy it, they areenjoying it. It fits into the dream they have for their lives.
However,Sarah is in an accident on her way to work and wakes up missing the entire leftside of her vision. She cannot see or attend to anything on her left. The speedwith which she moved through her life is no longer available to her.
It is hardto describe what it’s like to have left neglect. In Sarah’s experience (as inmy mom’s) she thinks she’s seeing everything. Everything appears whole to her,yet she is consistently unable to see, feel, or attend to the left. Forexample, she’ll finish eating all the food on her plate, be certain it is allgone, yet everything on the left remains. She is not seeing it, but she alsocannot recognize that she is not seeing it. Walking and dressing are nearlyimpossible at first because her left side does not exist for her. It isn’tparalyzed, it isn’t missing, it just isn’t.
In therapyshe practices focusing on moving, seeing, feeling, and being aware of the left.These descriptions are fascinating and hard to hold onto. As a reader I bothcould and could not quite understand. Which, of course, is true of trying tounderstand anything completely foreign to our experience.
As thestory goes on, now hindered by Sarah’s inability to see the left, we slow down.(Though Sarah does not do so easily! As in keeping with her character she plansto beat this thing; to impress everyone with her ability to win therapy.) Inslowing down we see new things. Sarah’s mom reenters her life and it is a turbulentreunion. Sarah has anger toward her mother for not being available to her asshe grew up. She struggles to allow her to be there for her now.
Sarah’s hardshipsinspire a new kind of connection with her oldest son, and together theydiscover creative ideas for their challenges with homework and reading.
Sarah’sinternal debates about being handicapped are candid. At first, she refuses toaccept herself as a disabled person. She feels certain that she can push andwork her way out.
Hence, asadaptations are presented, she wrestles with the question of whether it isgiving up to accept tools designed to assist her as a disabled person. Is itgiving up to snowboard with assistance when she really wants to ski without it?Will she become complacent? Will she stop insisting on healing?
Lucky forus she chooses to accept the opportunities offered by the (NEHSA)2 – a real organization – and we gosnowboarding. Sarah’s world becomes bigger.
With thisnew movement, this new momentum and adaptations, Sarah sees a new idea for adifferent life that might suit her and her family well.
The bookdoes a lovely (though not exactly subtle) job of reminding readers that many ofus are voluntarily neglecting entire aspects of our own lives, for a variety ofreasons in a variety of ways.
Because ofSarah’s brain trauma she gains a new beautiful relationship with her mom, shefinds time and meaningful ways to be with her children, she accepts employmentthat feels holistically fulfilling. She does not judge the life she was livingbefore, and indeed misses elements of it. However, by adapting she has alsocreated something more suitable and sustainable for her family.
It is anice reminder that we can be proud of who we were even when we choose to besomeone new, evolving and progressing does not have to include disliking ordisapproving of the past.
LeftNeglected is a goodbook with a lovely message: that left neglect is a real thing so maybe my momwasn’t making it up when she said she couldn’t see anything on the left.
(Hmmmm?Pardon me? I see, I’m being handed a note that tells me my mom was not, in fact,the moral of the story. I will rewrite that.)
LeftNeglected is a goodbook with a lovely message: that a single moment can derail everything you’rebecoming but if you do the work of adapting, if you do not neglect theopportunities and people around you, life can become a different yet equalsuccess.
1. If you are interested in my mom’swork as a brain and behavior expert, or simply curious about such a weird andwonderful mom of eight, you can visit her websites to see books, videos, and somuch more, here: www.lynettelouise.com / www.brainbody.net
2. To learn more about the New EnglandHandicapped Sports Association you can visit their website by following thislink: https://nehsa.org/
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