Book Review for "Still Alice" {by Lisa Genova}

(Source

TITLE OF THE BOOK: "Still Alice"

AUTHOR: Lisa Genova

PUBLISHER: Self Published and later acquired by Simon & Schuster

NUMBER OF PAGES: 292

YEAR PUBLISHED: 2007

READING LEVEL: appropriate for teens and adults

GENRE: Adult Fiction

BOOK SUMMARY: From Goodreads:

Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she’s a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life--and her relationship with her family and the world--forever.

Our Star Rating is...

4.3

(Delicious Reads)

OUR GROUP REVIEW: Those of us who have first-hand experience with someone who has suffered from this disease found it an especially raw and emotional book. Even though it was heartbreaking to watch what unfolds in Alice’s life you can’t put it down.

(Kelly & her Grandmother)

(Kelly and her grandmother at Kelly's college graduation)

(Kelly's Grandmother)

Kelly expresses, “I wish, oh how I WISH I would have read this book before my dear grandma who had dementia, passed away last summer. Alice tries to stay aware of what is happening to her, but as the disease advances her voice becomes quieter and briefer. I remember that exact progression happening to my Grandma and not knowing how I should act towards her since "she forgets so much" but reading "Still Alice" gave me a road map of sorts for Alzheimer's. It overwhelmed with so much insight and understanding of what individuals living with this Disease are dealing with and how best to treat them.”

(Carissa & her Grandmother)

Learning more about the disease from a clinical perspective was so helpful for me. My grandma was not diagnosed with Alzheimers until she exhibited many of the signs Alice was showing later on and it made me realize that she might have been struggling long before anyone caught on.

One of the questions we all discussed was whether or not we would get genetic testing for the early-onset “familial Alzheimer’s disease” if one of our parents or grandparents had the disease. Scientists have been able to pinpoint a rare gene that directly causes Alzheimers as early as 30 years old and multiple generations are affected. Because there are no cures available right now that cure or even prevent Alzheimer’s disease, being tested has no practical impact on treatment decisions. Therefore, does the knowledge that you have a higher chance make a difference?

Most of us agreed that knowing DOES make all the difference! Knowing gives you the power to journal and document your life as if you’ll forget everything because you just might. You might cherish each relationship knowing you might not remember how much you cared for that person.

Some questions we all asked ourselves:

• Would you get tested?
• What are some of your fondest memories?
• Do you have a memory you would like to completely erase from your memory?
• Do you think your personality/self would change if a bad memory was removed?

Test your knowledge of the book with a fun quiz you can DOWNLOAD HERE.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS TO USE FOR YOUR REVIEW:

1. What did we enjoy the most about this book? Why?
2. What did we not enjoy about this book? Why?
3. Did we have any thoughts as to the authors writing style?
4. What did we think of the main characters? Did we love or loath any characters in particular? Why?
5. Share any thoughts, quotes or comments made by anyone in our group that you wish or that you felt were important observations.
6. Share a favorite moment or scene from the book. {*Please keep spoiler free}
7. Overall, how did we feel about the ending of this book? {*Please keep spoiler free}
8. Did we learn something new we didn’t know before we read this book?
9. Were the characters and their problems believable and or realistic? {Some books won’t apply to this question.}
10. What were some of the themes or use of symbolism in this book?
11. Did you feel /think as a group, we learned something from this book? What lessons does this book offer its readers?
12. Do you think this book makes a good book club book? Why or why not?
13. If one (or more) of the characters made a choice that had moral implications, would you have made the same decision? Why? Why not?
14. What emotions did this book create for you or some of our members?
15. Overall, what did we think of this book?

*CONTENT CATEGORIES*	*RATING*
LANGUAGE/PROFANITY	MEDIUM
SEXUALITY	NONE
VIOLENCE	MILD
DRUG/ALCOHOL USE	MILD
INTENSE/SCARY SCENES	---

xoxo,

Carissa