Still Alice - Libroj.org

292 paĝoj

Lingvo: English

Eldonita je 11-a de februaro 2007

ISBN:: 978-0-595-44009-2
Goodreads:: 2153405

(1 recenzo)

Still Alice is a 2007 novel by Lisa Genova, a neuroscientist and author. The novel is about a woman who suffers early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Alice Howland, a 50-year-old woman, is a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard University and is a world-renowned linguistics expert. She is married to an equally successful husband, and they have three grown children. The disease takes hold swiftly, and it changes Alice's relationship with her family and the world. It is Genova's first novel.Genova self-published the book in 2007 with iUniverse. Beverly Beckham of The Boston Globe wrote, "After I read Still Alice I wanted to stand up and tell a train full of strangers, 'You have to get this book.'" Beckham notes that the story is told from the inside: "This is Alice Howland's story, for as long as she can tell it."The book was later acquired by Simon & Schuster and published in January …

Still Alice is a 2007 novel by Lisa Genova, a neuroscientist and author. The novel is about a woman who suffers early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Alice Howland, a 50-year-old woman, is a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard University and is a world-renowned linguistics expert. She is married to an equally successful husband, and they have three grown children. The disease takes hold swiftly, and it changes Alice's relationship with her family and the world. It is Genova's first novel.Genova self-published the book in 2007 with iUniverse. Beverly Beckham of The Boston Globe wrote, "After I read Still Alice I wanted to stand up and tell a train full of strangers, 'You have to get this book.'" Beckham notes that the story is told from the inside: "This is Alice Howland's story, for as long as she can tell it."The book was later acquired by Simon & Schuster and published in January 2009 by Pocket Books (now Gallery Books). It was on The New York Times best seller list for more than 40 weeks. It has been sold in 30 countries and translated into more than 20 languages.

6 eldonoj

Stephanie Jane recenzis Still Alice de Lisa Genova

Film version cover, grrr!

3 steloj

There's a small bookshelf in the entrance to Chain Bridge Honey Farm which has a reasonable selection of second-hand books for sale. I spotted a good condition copy of Still Alice for 50p and decided to give it a read as the novel has been so popular since its film version was released. My first problem with the book however was caused by this duality. The Alice on the cover bears no physical resemblance to the Alice in the text, so there were a couple of significant points where I didn't immediately identify the small woman with dark curly hair described in the text with the straight auburn haired woman pictured. It does annoy me when publishers set their integrity aside to cash in like this! There must have other film images that would have been suitable and accurate to the prose. (Rant over!)

The novel itself is OK. Alice …

There's a small bookshelf in the entrance to Chain Bridge Honey Farm which has a reasonable selection of second-hand books for sale. I spotted a good condition copy of Still Alice for 50p and decided to give it a read as the novel has been so popular since its film version was released. My first problem with the book however was caused by this duality. The Alice on the cover bears no physical resemblance to the Alice in the text, so there were a couple of significant points where I didn't immediately identify the small woman with dark curly hair described in the text with the straight auburn haired woman pictured. It does annoy me when publishers set their integrity aside to cash in like this! There must have other film images that would have been suitable and accurate to the prose. (Rant over!)

The novel itself is OK. Alice Hoffman is a Harvard University psychology professor specialising in language, who begins to lose her own ability to communicate as she develops early onset Alzheimer's disease. Oh, the (frequently hammered home) irony! Genova also piles on emotional triggers by including a historic family tragedy and a forthcoming possible birth so this could have been a real tear-jerker in the right hands. I didn't feel that any of the characters leapt off the page to me though. Alice's husband, John, is an unsympathetic creation seeming mostly to exist to spout medical information to the reader.

For me, this story and the affluent family at its centre were just too removed from reality, despite the novel telling a story that must have all-too-real elements for many families worldwide. There have been a number of dementia-related novels launched over the past year or so and, for a nuanced and deeply understanding portrayal of the disease and its harrowing effects, I would recommend Elisabeth Is Missing over Still Alice anyday.