Still Alice by Lisa Genova

The book club was grumpy with me for selecting a book that was not exactly a pleasant read. This one was, for me, at least, much tougher than Never Let Me Go. Part of that is no doubt because I kept seeing Mother travel farther and farther away into her own little world. At least I didn't see my father in Alice's husband who had so much difficulty accepting and dealing. Granted, in the end he didn't dump her and run as it seemed he might.

Both Genova and Ishiguro brought me right inside the character and made me angry. Angry at Kathy because she stayed around after her childhood friends were cut up for spare parts to fulfill her own destiny as spare parts when she could have just disappeared into society. Angry at Alice because when the time came to take her prepared way out, she was too far gone to do it, so she fulfills her "destiny" as well by degenerating into a mindless creature incapable of tending to her own basic physical needs.

The difference is that the cloning for parts issue is in some fictional future. Alzheimer's is here and now and very real. I'm not sure Genova really intended to write a horror story, but Alice is a highly educated woman at the top of her field and from the beginning she is aware that she is losing bits and then whole chunks of herself. The abilities on which she based her identity slide away from her - and she is aware of them going. And eventually, she reaches the point where she is no longer aware of the degeneration - and that seems almost more horrifying. And perhaps the most horrifying thing is the knowledge that one of her daughters has the gene defect and will (not may) also develop the disease - and that daughter has children, each with a 50% chance of carrying the gene.

On the other hand, I rather think that everyone who must deal with Alheimers or any form of progressive dementia (what Mother had was not Alzheimer's although the effects were similar in many respects) should read this. And that could be any of us.