Still Alice

My wife and I are huge fans of both audiobooks and Lisa Genova; we are not, however, fans of authors, however accomplished they may be, who presume to read aloud what they have penned (notable exceptions being the first rate Augusten Burroughs and David Sedaris; sorry, Stephen King). Why do great writers naturally assume that their talents extend to what is, when you get right down to it, acting?

There's a good reason most (though not all) readers of audiobooks have stage, screen, and/or TV credits: their day job is to bring characters on the written page to life and create drama using emotion, intonation, humor, regional accents, etc. Most of us, including Ms. Genova, do not possess this skill, or we, too, would have stage, screen and/or TV credits.

One has to wonder if Ms. Genova has ever listened to a great reader in action. Examples are too numerous to list, but the following come to mind immediately: the fabulous Shakespearian actor and Tony/Grammy award-winning Jim Dale (any of the Harry Potter books, as well as numerous others); Shakespearian actor and "audiobook superstar" Frank Muller (gazillions of titles); film, stage and television actor Dylan Baker (several books by Dean Koontz and Michael Crighton); Academy award winner Octavia Spencer, et al. ("The Help"); and Julia Whelan/Kirby Heyborne ("Gone Girl").

This is a beautifully written and deeply moving book by Lisa Genova, the writer. What a shame it was rendered unlistenable by Lisa Genova, the reader. Simon and Schuster Audio, what were you thinking?

First off... an interesting coincidence between the two audibooks I now own... In BOTH Still Alice and The Notebook, both lead women are named Alice or Allie for short.

The Allie or Alice in Still Alice was Prof at Harvard. She taught ( to use my own titling) Linguistic Sciences) . The Allie in The Notebook was more of an artist than an academic, but she also came from affluence. Both women would lose themselves to the ravages of Alzheimer's, but kept the love of the families they could hardly remember.

Having said all that I won't go into any major spoilers. I went through the book TWICE and discovered the interesting way Lisa Genova took us, her readers, through stages of the disease. The way she repeated points that we would have to go back and retrace; certain we'd already read a similar line about a point or person but Alice completely forgot about.

The family dynamic is an interesting one. Except for Lydia, who was the artistic type and longing to be an actress, the rest of the Howland family were big into sciences and academics. The one thing I really DIDN'T like about the family (NO criticism of the book, just the attitude of the family) was how Annie , John and Alice's eldest daughter, figured she would just have her kids and go back to work. The whole attitude of the WONDER WOMAN SYNDROME in this family drove me NUTS!

There I was, either reading the book or listening to the audiobook and yelling at Annie, "If you aren't going to RAISE the kids, WHY are you HAVING THEM?!?!"

I totally get the Suicide plot. I think if I'm ever diagnosed with this horrendous disease, that's what I would do. I've had breast cancer, which was caught in the earliest stage, but no matter (as of this writing) how soon you catch Alzheimer's, barring a sudden breakthrough, all it means is a few more months of relative normality. I wouldn't wish this disease on my worst enemy.

The book, on the other hand, is a ray of hope that academic stars like Lisa Genova can write with SOUL, when I was sure the book would come across as so dry and scholarly it would put an Insomniac into a coma. Never have I been so glad to be so wrong! STILL ALICE is a brilliant read and a worthwhile listen. I've already heard it through twice.

For anyone who has a friend or family member with Alzheimer’s Disease this is worth reading!

a sad, but compelling store. Poor Alice, she had it all, but lost some of it, then found things.

VERY INSIGHTFUL TO THE LIFE OF THE VICTIM OF A TERMINAL LONG LASTING DISEASE

I got the audiobook. So far it's not the best. I believe the author decided to record it. That was not the best idea.

Enjoyed this book

thanks

a story about a woman diagnoised with alz

I couldn't wait for the movie! And it is really good, too. You just have to read this book, so well done!