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Keeper
Keeper Andrea Gillies' brilliantly cogent investigations into the way Alzheimer's works are interwoven with her mother-in-law's unravelling grasp on reality.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
62 people are currently reading
1483 people want to read
About the author
Andrea Gillies
10 books28 followersI was born in York and went to school there, went to St Andrews University,then worked in theatre publicity and as a journalist and editor. Married another freelance, had three children,and lived in Somerset, Orkney, France. Now separated and living in Edinburgh. Spent 2 years looking after my mother-in-law, who has Alzheimer's, and wrote a diary which became a book: KEEPER, which won the Wellcome and the Orwell. THE WHITE LIE, a first novel, was published in February 2012. Currently writing a second novel, a love triangle of sorts.
A website, andreagillies.com, will be up and running in summer 2012. Meanwhile, there's a facebook page.
You can read newspaper reviews of THE WHITE LIE here: http://shortbooks.co.uk/book/the-whit...
A website, andreagillies.com, will be up and running in summer 2012. Meanwhile, there's a facebook page.
You can read newspaper reviews of THE WHITE LIE here: http://shortbooks.co.uk/book/the-whit...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
December 4, 2019
This is a exceptional book but it is not an easy read and with that I recommend it to only those with a genuine interest in the subject. Unless one can relate to the author and her families predicament then they will subject themselves to pages of family related trauma, trauma that not all will want to read about or imagine.
What the author has offered is a view into a world that some will never relate to and with any luck never have to. My mum was recently placed in care, though my family were never full time carers we had a long road to travel to get her from her being alone in the family home to the assisted living that she needed. Many of the issues raised in this book were incredibly close to the bone and I found myself reading deep into the evening as I related to event after event that the author so articulately expressed with her sharp eye and ear and her deep sense of frustration. The author was also aware of the depth of power her family story may have had on the reader, so by interspersing the narrative with medical discussion through to philosophical debate she was able to give the reader an almost welcome break from the drama of the utter sadness of the story. This was constantly thought provoking and useful to the likes of me, someone who likes to have a some modicum of understanding as to life's personal and challenging events.
I see that this book has won both the Orwell Prize and the Wellcome Trust Book Prize. If this is indicative of the quality of the books that have won or even been nominated for these awards then these award winners must be of the highest quality in their fields.
Not only highly recommended to those with an interest in this subject but an absolute must.
What the author has offered is a view into a world that some will never relate to and with any luck never have to. My mum was recently placed in care, though my family were never full time carers we had a long road to travel to get her from her being alone in the family home to the assisted living that she needed. Many of the issues raised in this book were incredibly close to the bone and I found myself reading deep into the evening as I related to event after event that the author so articulately expressed with her sharp eye and ear and her deep sense of frustration. The author was also aware of the depth of power her family story may have had on the reader, so by interspersing the narrative with medical discussion through to philosophical debate she was able to give the reader an almost welcome break from the drama of the utter sadness of the story. This was constantly thought provoking and useful to the likes of me, someone who likes to have a some modicum of understanding as to life's personal and challenging events.
I see that this book has won both the Orwell Prize and the Wellcome Trust Book Prize. If this is indicative of the quality of the books that have won or even been nominated for these awards then these award winners must be of the highest quality in their fields.
Not only highly recommended to those with an interest in this subject but an absolute must.
July 29, 2017
This was my first read for the #WellcomeBookPrizeProject that Elena and I are doing together. The aim of this was to push outside of our comfort zones and get us to read some fiction and non-fiction we otherwise may not have. This particular award focuses on medical/health writing so it's all to do with that in some way.
The book 'Keeper' is a non-fiction memoir of Andrea Gillies when she was acting as carer to her mother and father in-law, Nancy and Morris. The book focuses on their lives as both the in-laws start to suffer from differing health issues such as Dementia/Alzheimer's for Nancy and Depression and Frailty for Morris.
What I liked about this story was that it felt pretty readable and approachable and the struggle was laid bare for the reader to endure and sympathise with alongside the author. Alzheimer's is a debilitating disease with little positive and no current treatment. It's a degenerative disease which continues to get worse for those who suffer from it and their loved ones who try to support them through it. I have no doubt that the raw emotions in this book were genuine and at times devastating, and I really liked the intensity of Nancy's story being told in a real way. It's sad, but it's also something I wanted to learn more about.
The writing style itself is also somewhat 'flowery'. I think the author wanted to be an author when she was working on keeping diaries to stay sane whilst caring and so this is the amalgamation of her time as a full-time carer. Much of this is taken from her diaries at the time. It still feels like it's written by a writer becuase there are moments of tranquility and love and hope (albeit small ones) and Gillies described these very well.
My quibbles with this book come from the science-y side of things. Don't get me wrong, I liked learning more about how Alzheimer's affects the brain and how things devolve, but at times I felt like I was reading an entirely factual book and it lost some of the connection and emotion I had with Nancy becuase it became a bit too clinical for me. I didn't ever dislike it, I just think some of the factual scenes could have been cut down a bit and we could have had more of Nancy's and Andrea's and Morris' day-to-day instead.
I can imagine this living situation to be a living nightmare. Some of the scenes were horrific and worrying and traumatic for Gillies and the reader alike. I know what a nasty illness this can be from having relatives with it, and it can make that person seem like someone completely different. I think that definitely came across in this book.
Overall it was a solid read and a (sometimes overly) informative one too. I would recommend it, especially if you know someone caring for someone with, or who has, Alzheimer's. 2.5*s from me.
The book 'Keeper' is a non-fiction memoir of Andrea Gillies when she was acting as carer to her mother and father in-law, Nancy and Morris. The book focuses on their lives as both the in-laws start to suffer from differing health issues such as Dementia/Alzheimer's for Nancy and Depression and Frailty for Morris.
What I liked about this story was that it felt pretty readable and approachable and the struggle was laid bare for the reader to endure and sympathise with alongside the author. Alzheimer's is a debilitating disease with little positive and no current treatment. It's a degenerative disease which continues to get worse for those who suffer from it and their loved ones who try to support them through it. I have no doubt that the raw emotions in this book were genuine and at times devastating, and I really liked the intensity of Nancy's story being told in a real way. It's sad, but it's also something I wanted to learn more about.
The writing style itself is also somewhat 'flowery'. I think the author wanted to be an author when she was working on keeping diaries to stay sane whilst caring and so this is the amalgamation of her time as a full-time carer. Much of this is taken from her diaries at the time. It still feels like it's written by a writer becuase there are moments of tranquility and love and hope (albeit small ones) and Gillies described these very well.
My quibbles with this book come from the science-y side of things. Don't get me wrong, I liked learning more about how Alzheimer's affects the brain and how things devolve, but at times I felt like I was reading an entirely factual book and it lost some of the connection and emotion I had with Nancy becuase it became a bit too clinical for me. I didn't ever dislike it, I just think some of the factual scenes could have been cut down a bit and we could have had more of Nancy's and Andrea's and Morris' day-to-day instead.
I can imagine this living situation to be a living nightmare. Some of the scenes were horrific and worrying and traumatic for Gillies and the reader alike. I know what a nasty illness this can be from having relatives with it, and it can make that person seem like someone completely different. I think that definitely came across in this book.
Overall it was a solid read and a (sometimes overly) informative one too. I would recommend it, especially if you know someone caring for someone with, or who has, Alzheimer's. 2.5*s from me.
October 18, 2010
This is one of the most painful books I've read. Andrea Gillies writes about her in-laws old age and her mother-in-law's falling away from Alzheimer's. Ms. Gillies also writes rather well about the science of the brain and the philosophy of the mind. Her comparisons between the UK system of eldercare and medicine and that of the USA are frustrating and scary. No matter where you live in either country, dementia costs the patient their identity and their family's lose piece of mind, friends and money. No one is spared. My father-in-law died relatively quickly after his diagnosis of Alzheimers. My father took rather longer to die with another form of dementia brought on by numerous small strokes. Gillies' book is sad and not very hopeful. If it had been more hopeful, I would have given it more stars. As it is, the number of people who will be diagnosed with some form of dementia is like an approaching tsunami and no one really seems to be sounding the alarm.
March 4, 2011
Andrea Gillies is an excellent teacher. I learned more about dementia from this book than from anything I have read so far.
I also learned about Andrea's all too human heart. She is an amazing survivor-caretaker. Bravo for all you did for your family, Andrea.
I also wanted to say that the cover art is perfect for the story- the little world surrounding an armchair, with a woman's blurred outline just on the edge of the picture perfectly captures what Andrea described. Nancy became a blur of motion and speech which gradually faded into nothingness.
I remember years ago when I was in grade school, my dad came home from a house call (he is a podiatrist). He told me that a person's life gets smaller and smaller as they get older, and eventually it includes just their arm chair and the surrounding area.
I also learned about Andrea's all too human heart. She is an amazing survivor-caretaker. Bravo for all you did for your family, Andrea.
I also wanted to say that the cover art is perfect for the story- the little world surrounding an armchair, with a woman's blurred outline just on the edge of the picture perfectly captures what Andrea described. Nancy became a blur of motion and speech which gradually faded into nothingness.
I remember years ago when I was in grade school, my dad came home from a house call (he is a podiatrist). He told me that a person's life gets smaller and smaller as they get older, and eventually it includes just their arm chair and the surrounding area.
January 12, 2022
I treated myself to a secondhand copy early in the first lockdown because this was the inaugural Wellcome Book Prize winner. (The Prize expanded in focus over a decade; I don’t think a straightforward family memoir like this would have won later on.) Gillies’ family relocated to remote northern Scotland and her elderly mother- and father-in-law, Nancy and Morris, moved in with them. Morris was passive, with limited mobility; Nancy was confused and cantankerous, often treating Gillies like a servant. (“There’s emptiness behind her eyes, something missing that used to be there. It’s sinister.”) She’d try to keep her cool but often got frustrated and contradicted her mother-in-law’s delusions. Gillies relays facts about Alzheimer’s that I knew from In Pursuit of Memory. What has remained with me is a sense of just how gruelling the caring life is. Gillies could barely get any writing done because if she turned her back Nancy might start walking to town, or – the single most horrific incident that has stuck in my mind – place faeces on the bookshelf.
November 29, 2014
This is Andrea Gillies' first book. Written in 2009, it won several awards for the best book written on a medical topic in the United Kingdom.
After reading "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova, in which Lisa describes her own personal illness of Alzheimer's disease, "Keeper" is Andrea's experience of her mother-in-law's slow dissent with Alzheimer's. Most interesting to me is the conversational style of writing which illustrates the slow neurological changes. Interspersed with the author's own personal life changes is her detailed scientific writing of the brain changes that are actually occurring for her mother-in-law. The author is a phenomenal teacher. She gives the reader an "inside look" in to caregiving for those with Alzheimer's and even provides a wonderful list of resources at the end of the book.
After reading "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova, in which Lisa describes her own personal illness of Alzheimer's disease, "Keeper" is Andrea's experience of her mother-in-law's slow dissent with Alzheimer's. Most interesting to me is the conversational style of writing which illustrates the slow neurological changes. Interspersed with the author's own personal life changes is her detailed scientific writing of the brain changes that are actually occurring for her mother-in-law. The author is a phenomenal teacher. She gives the reader an "inside look" in to caregiving for those with Alzheimer's and even provides a wonderful list of resources at the end of the book.
December 3, 2011
Although the author has taken some criticism for revealing so much about a person who has no control of her own life, I think this book needed to be written. Most of us know the word dementia and think we understand the meaning. This book gives you a glimpse into the reality of living with it. It explores the human mind's capacity for memory and self-awareness and what it is like to lose them. We read not only about Nancy's decline but also what it does to her husband, her son and his family. Next to the personal story the author presents a suitable amount of science and theories that are interesting and well-written.
This is a heartbreaking book that really makes you appreciate what you have safe inside your mind, and makes you worry about losing it.
This is a heartbreaking book that really makes you appreciate what you have safe inside your mind, and makes you worry about losing it.
August 25, 2016
As an Alzheimer's caregiver myself, this is my favorite book. Ms. Gillies doesn't hide anything when she writes about her day to day travails dealing with her family. She shares her true emotions as she feels them. That is so important for other caregivers to read so they realize they are not alone in the wide swings of emotion that they experience. Yes, it is hard to read in the sense that she is brutally honest. For some, it might be too honest. This is a great book for the general public to read to enlighten them about what really happens in a caregiver's life. Perhaps it would prompt them to extend a hand to a caregiver, giving the caregiver a moment to breathe!
April 10, 2014
One of the best books I've read on caring for someone with Alzheimers. Informative, hysterically funny in parts and heartwrenchingly tragic in others.
May 24, 2022
An insightful study of Dementia from a prime caregiver. Brave and honest, this is a book for anyone who wants to understand the brain and/ or aging more deeply. Gilles is a brilliant writer who paints landscape vividly. At times I felt like I was in the house with them. Heartbreaking and scary, funny and sad, this story is real.
I liked so much about this book. My granny has dementia and I care for her and this book captures the madness a carer can begin to feel through the heavy exposure to it. At times I disliked all the quotes that lace through the memoir. The secondary references were from mainly from men and it flagged up some gender issues for me especially when thinking about the role of women as caregivers and if dementia is a gendered thing.
So many interesting topics are explored through this narrative: the art of forgetting stood out to me. I also liked the ending which talks about the stigma of dementia. How people are embarrassed by dementia, "The unpredictability of how someone may act, what they may say to you." The embarrassment we feel of others as if they are an extension of ourselves is parental and also human. I found it's inclusion in this book to be incredibly insightful.
I liked so much about this book. My granny has dementia and I care for her and this book captures the madness a carer can begin to feel through the heavy exposure to it. At times I disliked all the quotes that lace through the memoir. The secondary references were from mainly from men and it flagged up some gender issues for me especially when thinking about the role of women as caregivers and if dementia is a gendered thing.
So many interesting topics are explored through this narrative: the art of forgetting stood out to me. I also liked the ending which talks about the stigma of dementia. How people are embarrassed by dementia, "The unpredictability of how someone may act, what they may say to you." The embarrassment we feel of others as if they are an extension of ourselves is parental and also human. I found it's inclusion in this book to be incredibly insightful.
August 7, 2017
Haunting story of a caregiver who pours herself into her mother in law with Alzheimer's and father in law who is wheelchair-bound. The plan was for she and her husband and children to move a large home in north Scotland, relocate her husband's parents, and turn the home into a B&B while she worked as caregiver, mother, and writer.
The story is brutally honest and despairing at times as reality can hurt and damage the best intentions. Caregiver, family and the elderly all struggle and depression, communication and anger build. Interesting that she loses herself as she intently tries to makes sense of the strange disease of Alzheimer's. Almost as relief or a way to validate she was doing her best, there are chapters explaining the medical side of how Alzheimer's effects the brain. I skimmed some of those parts.
Strong willed daughter in law and unanswered questions from her mother in law fill the pages.
The other characters build a little towards the end which help build more dimension.
From pure love and giving to isolated, terrifying, loss of selves with a few tastes of humor and success woven in the two year timeline.
The story is brutally honest and despairing at times as reality can hurt and damage the best intentions. Caregiver, family and the elderly all struggle and depression, communication and anger build. Interesting that she loses herself as she intently tries to makes sense of the strange disease of Alzheimer's. Almost as relief or a way to validate she was doing her best, there are chapters explaining the medical side of how Alzheimer's effects the brain. I skimmed some of those parts.
Strong willed daughter in law and unanswered questions from her mother in law fill the pages.
The other characters build a little towards the end which help build more dimension.
From pure love and giving to isolated, terrifying, loss of selves with a few tastes of humor and success woven in the two year timeline.
February 16, 2020
Szczera do bólu, przejmująca, przenikliwa, mądra i skłaniająca do wgłębienia się w sedno człowieczeństwa relacja z niemożliwej do wygrania walki na froncie Alzheimera. Mnóstwo informacji i wiedzy, od medycznej, przez filozoficzną, po kulturalną. Wiele pytań, które zostają jeszcze długo. Smutna, przygnębiająca, ale bardzo ważna i dobra książka. Trzeba czytać.
December 18, 2020
Read with MiLAN Bookgroup - a difficult subject but well written . Thoughtful and realistic portrayal.
June 28, 2022
i am living this journey now. this book serves as route notes for the bumpy - and devastating - ride ahead. read it if anybody you love has this horrid illness.
May 12, 2013
One of the best books I've read dealing with the caregiving of someone suffering from Alzheimer's or dementia. She tried so very hard and for so long (YEARS!!) to give complete care to her in-laws, but truly, there comes a time when you must admit (for your own mental/emotional stability) you can no longer provide the necessary care. It is never a pleasant realization, but you must set boundaries and limits to protect your own health. I was so glad I had read this book as my own Mother's battle with dementia progressed; I was very aware that I had to set limits so I could remain healthy. After all, if (as I was) you are the ONLY advocate/caregiver, you can't be effective if you are unhealthy. I felt badly for Gillies that she didn't assert herself earlier, but by publishing her own challenges, she helped others like me be aware of such pitfalls, and hopefully, avoid at least some of them. I thank her for sharing her own struggles. She imparted invaluable insights and knowledge, particularly with regard to being persistent about your own intimate knowledge of the sufferer, and insisting the medical professionals take you seriously and listen! Unfortunately, serving as a medical advocate for someone you love may well be one of the most frustrating experiences ever...but you must persevere! I truly feel sorry for those with no one to oversee their care...or lack thereof.
January 3, 2016
I could not take this book after 120 pages. I was so excited to read it, and dug in with a desire to try and wait it out for it to get better.
It didn't. There was example after example of how Nancy (the Alzheimer victim) was affected, and how it affected Nancy's husband and Andrea's family, but that was all it included from the human perspective. Other than that, the book was peppered with theories of the disease, which, while interesting for a bit, brought me back to long neuro psych lectures in college, which was not what this book makes you seem to expect and/or be in the mood for. In my opinion, it took Nancy's actions and tried to always explain them in a clinincal diagnosis, while I was more curious about the human emotions these actions caused and the direct way it affected the characters of the book.
If you are in the mood for a generalized textbook anaylsis of the disease, this book would be a great start. Anyone looking for more of a story will be sadly bored.
It didn't. There was example after example of how Nancy (the Alzheimer victim) was affected, and how it affected Nancy's husband and Andrea's family, but that was all it included from the human perspective. Other than that, the book was peppered with theories of the disease, which, while interesting for a bit, brought me back to long neuro psych lectures in college, which was not what this book makes you seem to expect and/or be in the mood for. In my opinion, it took Nancy's actions and tried to always explain them in a clinincal diagnosis, while I was more curious about the human emotions these actions caused and the direct way it affected the characters of the book.
If you are in the mood for a generalized textbook anaylsis of the disease, this book would be a great start. Anyone looking for more of a story will be sadly bored.
May 6, 2012
Taking a break from the YA fantasy I've been reading (TA Barron's Merlin series), was looking for something meatier - and was really pleasantly surprised that this author not only vividly described the painful human experience of living with a loved one who is losing her mind, but also offered a reasonably technical description of the actual pathogenesis and pathology of Alzheimer's and a few other dementias. Having watched from a relatively safe distance one of my own extended family members suffer through the stages of this disease all the way through to complete loss of any human function, I can only imagine what it might have been like to be up close like this author - and I feel her pain from here.
March 16, 2014
A powerful insight into caring for someone with Alzheimers.
This is a very worthwhile read for anyone with an interest in Alzheimers and particularly for anyone looking after someone with Alzheimers. It is a very honest account of the trials of a carer who is looking after both mother and father in law. Her father in law has physical problems while his wife of nearly 50 years has fairly advanced Alzheimers. I did find that the narrative sometimes strayed from the basic story into deeper philosophical thoughts. Sometimes these were more interesting to me than others and at times I simply skipped parts. However I do think it is an interesting and powerful read which anyone with an interest in the subject matter should find a worthwhile read.
This is a very worthwhile read for anyone with an interest in Alzheimers and particularly for anyone looking after someone with Alzheimers. It is a very honest account of the trials of a carer who is looking after both mother and father in law. Her father in law has physical problems while his wife of nearly 50 years has fairly advanced Alzheimers. I did find that the narrative sometimes strayed from the basic story into deeper philosophical thoughts. Sometimes these were more interesting to me than others and at times I simply skipped parts. However I do think it is an interesting and powerful read which anyone with an interest in the subject matter should find a worthwhile read.
July 1, 2016
This is my third book in my library program about reading around the world. It qualifies because the author lives in Scotland and the story takes place in Scotland. It is a true story of Andrea's and her husband's care for their parents. Nancy suffers from Alzheimer's disease and Morris doesn't walk very well. It is a sad story because the care giving sucks the life out of the givers. The book rambles on about all the medical vagaries of Alzheimer' s but it goes into it so much that I am lost and want to go back to Nancy and her naughtiness. I did learn from the story, but I could not wait for it to end.
January 28, 2011
It's certainly well-written, and the sections on brain science are fascinating, but I think this memoir is exploitative. "Darkly comic" the reviews say, meaning, the author's mother-in-law says and does bizarre, childlike things as her disease progresses, and she gets herself into wacky scrapes like greeting a group of of visitors wearing only her underpants. It would be horrendous enough to have Alzheimer's without having every embarrassment recorded for posterity and sold to a publisher and read by bored people on planes. Thank God I don't have any authors in my family.
January 1, 2015
I give full points when a book keeps me reading the way this one did. It is a non-fiction book that presents a great amount of research about Alzheimer's Disease interspersed in the story of the author's efforts to care for her mother-in-law through various stages of the disease. I plan to ask my children to read this book if and when they suspect that I am developing dementia. I'm not sure whether I want to shame them into caring for me in their homes or encourage them to put me in a nursing home as soon as possible!
April 5, 2011
I've met Andrea through Twitter and when I had an ugly exerience with a relative with Alzheimers and tweeted about it, Andrea was extremely supportive and helpful. After that I decided to buy the book. I haven't regretted that for a second. It's beautifully written, full of the latest research and very personal. I cannot believe how anybody can do what Andrea did for her mother-in-law. If you know anyone with Alzheimers, this is a good book to read. But it won't cheer you up.
January 30, 2012
I think if there were a reading list for life, this book should be on it. As a journal, it is fluently written, with almost painful to read honesty.
In addition Gillies presents much research on both the disease and the process of laying down memory as a kingpin of identity.
Alzheimers may lie ahead for our grandparents, our parents and it may also lie ahead for us. Who knows - it is better to be well-informed in advance.
In addition Gillies presents much research on both the disease and the process of laying down memory as a kingpin of identity.
Alzheimers may lie ahead for our grandparents, our parents and it may also lie ahead for us. Who knows - it is better to be well-informed in advance.
May 6, 2013
This book should be read by anyone who has an aging loved one. Dealing with my Mom's newly-diagnosed dementia, I read this book and got so much insight into the disease. The book gives a real-life account, not just medical advice like most books on the topic. I thank the author for having the courage to write this.. I as a caregiver found this book very helpful and interesting.definitely a book worth reading, and one that is very interesting..
June 23, 2012
If I could give this book TEN stars, I would...but unfortunately the most stars are five.
This was a library e-book, BUT, I will visit my local Barnes and Noble and buy this book. Very real story, especially since my father is in the middle stages of Alzheimers...excellent read that I could not put down.
So many pages of this book I felt like I could have written!
This was a library e-book, BUT, I will visit my local Barnes and Noble and buy this book. Very real story, especially since my father is in the middle stages of Alzheimers...excellent read that I could not put down.
So many pages of this book I felt like I could have written!
March 12, 2013
This is a brilliant book written by someone who set out to care for her mother in law with dementia and found out more about it and her self along the way. Very honest, pulls no punches, very personal and I thought, quite compulsive but not an easy read and probably not a good idea if you at the beginning of caring for someone with dementia. Otherwise much recommended.
June 29, 2012
Well written. Well researched. A good first hand account of living with someone with memory problems.
Highlights the acceleration of dementia when person is moved from familiar surroundings.
As Jo Brand said "a fantastic book - down to earth and darkly comic. Compelling"
Highlights the acceleration of dementia when person is moved from familiar surroundings.
As Jo Brand said "a fantastic book - down to earth and darkly comic. Compelling"
July 22, 2012
A caregiver's account of her mother-in-law's descent into Alzheimer's and the trials of caring for her and her bedridden husband. Engrossing. Scary. Sad. Well-written and thought-provoking. Informative.
July 4, 2014
I really found this book fascinating as I do not have personal experience with Alzheimers. The balance of science and story was engaging.
August 30, 2012
Heartbreaking.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews