Postmortal and Still Alice

I have just finished the books Postmortal and Still Alice, I enjoyed both books and it was hard for me to put them down.  I love the plot of postmortal, humans have found a curing for aging but not a cure for death and throughout the book I was reminded of that. I thought it was great how the main character views changed and developed over time.  John lost the people he loved so much throughout his lifetime, starting with his mother.  I felt that was a huge factor in John deciding to get the cure, I felt like he was running away from death during the first part of the book. Then during the second part of the book I felt that John wanted death but was too scared to die so he helped other find that freedom and in the end John was finally ready to end his life and he did so on his on terms by ending his own life. During the end of the book John also found love again and committed to her by marring her which I thought was an interesting plot twist.  I also loved how the author wrote about the issues that came with living forever and didn’t try to paint this perfect picture of what life is like for a postmortal. Though out the book I loved how humans regressed, in the beginning humans were excited about the cure and thought that it would be a great thing to have in society. Then as time wore on humans became more violent and careless with life and then near the end humanity started to kill each other off due to lack of resources and space.  The book to me was thought provoking and I found myself wondering if the cure did exist would I get it and to be honest I don’t know.  

Still Alice was my favorite book, I could relate so much to Alice family members since my own grandmother died a few years ago to dementia. Reading this book gave me a peek inside someone life who has Alzheimer’s disease.  So many emotions overcame me while reading the book, I found myself remembering my grandmother and thinking that must be what she felt like. I believed that Alice until the very end of the book didn’t let the disease define who she was; she was determined to keep her identity intact. I personally didn’t like Alice husband I felt he was being a little selfish and not understanding. I understand that people cope differently but I just felt he could have handle things better. I also loved how Lydia ended up bonding and getting closer with her mother and was often her mother advocate.  At the end of the book I thought that she had passed away, I was very surprised that she ended up living with her daughters and staying in MA while her husband went to NY.  I felt the book was a very good read.