Still Alice is by Lisa Genova is published by Pocket Books, its available to buy from the 4th of March 2010, it can be currently bought on pre-order from Amazon.co.uk
I’ve been trying to find a tactful way of saying this, but tact has never been my strong suit. This… really isn’t my kind of book. There I said it. You’re far more likely to find me lost in a James Patterson, Dan Brown or Lisa Lutz book. But (and like all buts’ its a biggie) truth be told I enjoyed it and I really wasn’t expecting to.
As I mentioned above I’m a lot more at home with my characters chasing serial killers, kidnappers and the like. So a book about the slip in to an unrecognising oblivion didn’t appeal all that much. (In all truthfulness when I picked up Still Alice from the book case I picked up The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson and Martin Dugard, for when I’d given in after the first few pages or chapters. -As yet The Murder of King Tut is still sat on the coffee table unopened)
Personally, like each of you out there reading this I have a certain genre of books that I enjoy; there are other subsections of other genre that I find enjoyable but wouldn’t go out of my way to read like the Enid Blyton books I read as a child I enjoyed them then and probably would again but without being forced to read one I doubt I’d pick one up and read it. One thing that has remained constant since I was a kid though was that I always have a preference for fiction over non fiction and this is is because of 3 reasons.
1, Anything can happen, I don't read fantasy or sci-fi and never will they’re just not my kind of thing, much like many of you out there I’d rather be beaten with a phonebook rather than read a sci-fi fantasy book.
2, When something terrible happens be they murders, kidnapping or serial killers who tattoo themselves head to toe before trying to find out the secret word of the free masons. When you close the book you forget about it, its not like watching the news and seeing the damage of the earth quake in Haiti and not being able to do anything other than donate money. That kind of thing sticks with you.
3, To me non-fiction forces you to pick a side and then empathise with the people in the book, because that’s what they are… people they aren’t characters. The thought that they are out there; walking around some where just like you. So when you read some of the horrible things that happened to them its not as easy to put it out of your mind.
Although on the back of Still Alice it says fiction, to me it doesn’t read like it the little nuances and details that make up the quiet strengths of the book couldn’t be made up. Either that or Lisa Genova did an amazing job of researching before she sat down to write it.
In some parts of the book you feel like a bit of a voyeur as you read on, The profound feelings of loss strike out at you as part after part of Alice slips away. As I mentioned above it doesn’t feel like fiction as you read it, and I cant help but think that Lisa Genova has to have had experience of someone close with Alzheimer's, because to me there’s sections that simply couldn’t be plucked from the ether without first knowing, Like how after reading the book I got the feeling that I could trace it all back to a single point in time when it all began.
One thing I will say though is that Lisa Genova has wrote Still Alice with a forceful confidence that carries the book through some of the quieter parts of the story and forces you to empathise with Alice and her family as they go through the stresses and strains that Alzheimer's places on family and relationships.
I found Still Alice to be an enjoyable book, which is odd because as I mentioned at the top it really isn’t my kind of book.
Would I recommend it? Yes and I already have.
Will you enjoy it? Probably although its possible that you could like it for completely different reasons than I did.
Would I read it again? Yes and no for this one, yes I would read it again but it wouldn’t be for a while; I say that because like any book that leaves a mark, it takes a while and needs to be missed to be enjoyed a second time. That and now my mother has the book I doubt I’ll be getting it back anytime soon. LOL.
