Saturday, August 4, 2012

Still Alice

I have just finished Still Alice, which is really an interesting and thought-provoking book. Actually, this is the first time for me to read a novel describing the daily life of a person with Alzheimer's disease. Making Alice a fifty-year-old Harvard professor rather than an eighty-year-old retired grandmother may give us more thoughts into the Alzheimer's disease itself. Most people may not be aware of the disease, and for someone like Alice, who had been well-educated; she may understand the disease, but she just didn't see it coming to herself. So she denied, agitated, and almost lost whoever she used to be. Fortunately, her family members gave her abundant support, care, and love. The last scene of this book really fascinates me. When Lydia, Alice's youngest daughter, asked Alice to listen to her performance and told her whatever Alice thought. At that time, Alice already couldn't remember the name of her daughter. All she knows was that the young lady sitting in front of her was a young actress. Nevertheless, the young actress' acting still gave Alice the feeling of love. No matter how far the disease goes, love will still be there.

1 comment:

  1. I heard Dr. W. Thomas once speak about his wife's journay through ALZ. It was so touching. He said that his child had once made a wooden heart and when they moved to a smaller place it was one of the items they kept. He would find it in his pocket when he traveled. He would put it on his wife's vanity and then the next day he would find it somewhere that was his, his pocket, book etc. He felt this was her way of still being able to communicate her love to him. I hope this was true.

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