Still Alice

This novel was written by a neurobiologist about a woman named Alice. Alice is Harvard professor who studies the brain and language. Alice receives a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's Disease just after her 50th birthday. Sometimes information can be expressed better in a novel than non-fiction. Just like the book I read recently, "The Nineteenth Wife" told the story of polygamy, "Still Alice" tells the story of Alzheimer's Disease from the point of view of a person living with the disease. Alice gets forgetful. It's normal, right? Don't we all get forgetful? One day, while jogging her usual path through her Boston neighborhood, she can't find her way home. She recognizes this to be her neighborhood and she should know the way home but she just can't find it. Being incredibly smart makes it easier for her to hide the symptoms longer. She is accustomed to solving problems in more than one way. Alice has a husband and three children. None of them signed up for Alice becoming so sick so quickly. Alice was somewhat estranged from one of her adult daughters. As her illness progresses, she and the semi-estranged daughter become closer than they ever had before. Alice is smart. She knows what is coming ahead for her. She makes a file on her computer called the Butterfly file. In this file she asks herself five questions. If she can't answer the five questions, she has a plan to end her life. I won't say how this dramatic story telling technique turns out because I don't want to spoil it for you. This is a terrific book. I could hardly put it down. I'd read for a couple hours and then stand up to do something and I would feel just like Alice - confused. Our book club discussed the book tonight. Everybody liked it. The person who brought treats brought a lemon cake because with Alzheimer's, the first taste and smell to go away is lemon. Anyone who couldn't taste the lemon in the cake would know they had the disease. I passed on the cake. If I'm going to find out I have Alzheimer's, I don't want to find out at a book club meeting. If there was a test I could take to find out if I would end up with Alzheimer's, I'm not sure if I would want to know the results. Would you?