Lisa Genova - "Butterfly"

Author: Lisa Genova Title: Still Alice Original title: Still Alice Genre: Novel Medical topic: neurology, neuropsychology Year of first publication: 2007 (worldwide), 2011 (Poland) Description: The book’s main character, Alice Howland—a respected scientist and Harvard professor, a happy wife and mother of three adult children—sets out for her morning jog as she does every day. After a while, she realizes she has no idea how to find her way back home. After all, she hadn’t changed her route—she ran it every day—but today she can’t find her way; nothing looks familiar. Lost and terrified, Alice decides to see a doctor. The diagnosis suggests early-onset Alzheimer’s disease... "The Butterfly" is a deeply valuable and moving book that addresses the issue of Alzheimer’s disease, written from the patient’s perspective. And that of a patient who was initially very mentally sharp, whom such a disease affects, in a sense, more profoundly—for Alice teaches cognitive psychology. In the novel, we accompany the patient day by day; we witness the progression of the disease, not only through neuroimaging studies and tests assessing the progression of dementia. We see how the gradually developing dementia begins to interfere with her work, derailing her academic career, and how it starts to negatively impact Alice’s personal relationships and her daily functioning... The book paints a picture of what a tremendous burden the disease can become for the patient and those around her, but also, at the same time, how much support the family can provide and how the patient herself, through her strong resolve, can face progressive neurodegeneration. A beautiful, often moving; scientific, yet deeply human book.