Lisa Genova - Still Alice

Lisa Genova

Still Alice

MORE PRAISE FOR LISA GENOVA'S POIGNANT AND ILLUMINATING DEBUT NOVEL,

STILL ALICE

"After I read Still Alice, I wanted to stand up and tell a train full of strangers, 'You have to get this book.'...I couldn't put it down.... Still Alice is written not from the outside looking in, but from the inside looking out.... [It] isn't only about dementia. It's about Alice, a woman beloved by her family and respected by her colleagues, who in the end, is still Alice, not just her disease."

--Beverly Beckham, The Boston Globe

"Still Alice is a heartbreakingly real depiction of a woman's descent into early Alzheimer's, so real, in fact, that it kept me from sleeping for several nights. I couldn't put it down. As a part-time caregiver to a parent with dementia, I can say that Dr. Genova's depiction seems spot-on, from the subtle changes in everyday life to the ultimate changes in both patient and family. Still Alice is a story that must be told."

--Brunonia Barry, New York Times bestselling author of The Lace Reader

"At once agonizing and engrossing, this tale of brilliant Harvard psychology professor Alice Howland's descent into dementia grabs you from the first misfired neuron. With the clinician's precision of language and the master storyteller's easy eloquence, Lisa Genova shines a searing spotlight on this Alice's surreal wonderland. You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to read this book. It will inform you. It will scare you. It will change you."

--Julia Fox Garrison, author of Don't Leave Me This Way

"I wish I could have read Lisa Genova's masterpiece before my dad passed away following a ten-year struggle with Alzheimer's. I would have better understood and appreciated what was unfolding in his confused and ravaged mind.... This book is as important as it is impressive and will grace the lives of those affected by this dread disease for generations to come."

--Phil Bolsta, author of Sixty Seconds

"An intensely intimate portrait of Alzheimer's seasoned with highly accurate and useful information about this insidious and devastating disease."

--Dr. Rudolph E. Tanzi, coauthor of Decoding Darkness: The Search for the Genetic Causes of Alzheimer's Disease

"Genova has brilliantly captured the subjective experience in this intimate story.... Touching and informative."

--Daniel Kuhn, author of Alzheimer's Early Stages: First Steps for Families, Friends, and Caregivers

"An ironic look at complicated family relationships, our hopes for future generations, and the essence of life.... Whether or not you or someone in your family has dementia, Still Alice is a great read."

-- The Tangled Neuron

"Powerful, insightful, tragic, inspirational...and all too true. Genova has the great gift of insight, imagination, and expression that allows her to pry open the fortress door and tell a story from a perspective seldom spoken.... Her revealing insights into these deeply personal experiences show true empathy and understanding not only of cognitive neuroscience and dementia, but also of the human condition."

--Alireza Atri, M.D., Ph.D., Neurologist, Massachusetts General Hospital, Memory Disorders Unit

"The experience of Alzheimer's disease is a process of discovery. Readers, along with Alice, are artfully and realistically led through this process, moving from the questions and concerns that accompany unexplained memory difficulties to the experience of diagnosis and the impact of Alice's changing needs on relationships with her family and colleagues."

--Peter Reed, Ph.D., Senior Director of Programs, Alzheimer's Association

"Dementia is dark and ugly. Only a writer with a mastery of neuroscience and the grit, the empathy, of an actor with Meisner training could get both the facts and the feelings right--the way I live it daily. Still Alice is a laser precise light into the lives of people with dementia and the people who love them."

--Carole Mulliken, cofounder of DementiaUSA

Pocket Books

A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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New York, NY 10020

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright (c) 2007, 2009 by Lisa Genova

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Information from the Activities of Daily Living Questionnaire was taken with permission from "The Record of Independent Living" by Sandra Weintraub, Ph.D., in the American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementia, Vol. 1, No. 2, 35-39 (1986), a SAGE publication.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Genova, Lisa.

Still Alice / Lisa Genova.

p. c.m.

1. Alzheimer's disease--Fiction. 2. Women college teachers--Fiction. I. Title.

PS3607.E55S75 2008

813'.6--dc22 2008030986

ISBN-13: 978-1-4391-5703-9

ISBN-10: 1-4391-5703-0

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In Memory of Angie

For Alena

Acknowledgments

I'm deeply grateful to the many people I've come to know through the Dementia Advocacy and Support Network International and DementiaUSA, especially Peter Ashley, Alan Benson, Christine Bryden, Bill Carey, Lynne Culipher, Morris Friedell, Shirley Garnett, Candy Harrison, Chuck Jackson, Lynn Jackson, Sylvia Johnston, Jenny Knauss, Jaye Lander, Jeanne Lee, Mary Lockhart, Mary McKinlay, Tracey Mobley, Don Moyer, Carole Mulliken, Jean Opalka, Charley Schneider, James Smith, Jay Smith, Ben Stevens, Richard Taylor, Diane Thornton, and John Willis. Your intelligence, courage, humor, empathy, and willingness to share what was individually vulnerable, scary, hopeful, and informative have taught me so much. My portrayal of Alice is richer and more human because of your stories.

I'd especially like to thank James and Jay, who have given me so much beyond the boundaries of Alzheimer's and this book. I am truly blessed to know you.

I'd also like to thank the following medical professionals, who generously shared their time, knowledge, and imaginations, helping me to gain a true and specific sense for how events might unfold as Alice's dementia is discovered and progresses:

Dr. Rudy Tanzi and Dr. Dennis Selkoe for an in-depth understanding of the molecular biology of this diseaseDr. Alireza Atri for allowing me to shadow him for two days in the Memory Disorders Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, for showing me your brilliance and compassionDr. Doug Cole and Dr. Martin Samuels for additional understanding of the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer'sSara Smith for allowing me to sit in on neuropsychological testingBarbara Hawley Maxam for explaining the role of the social worker and Mass General's Caregivers' Support GroupErin Linnenbringer for being Alice's genetic counselor Dr. Joe Maloney and Dr. Jessica Wieselquist for role-playing as Alice's general practice physician

Thank you to Dr. Steven Pinker for giving me a look inside life as a Harvard psychology professor and to Dr. Ned Sahin and Dr. Elizabeth Chua for similar views from the student's seat.

Thank you to Dr. Steve Hyman, Dr. John Kelsey, and Dr. Todd Kahan for answering questions about Harvard and life as a professor.