Author:  Lisa Genova
Publisher: Simon & Schuster           
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Source: Purchased

Goodreads:  Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she’s a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life–and her relationship with her family and the world–forever.

At once beautiful and terrifying, Still Alice is a moving and vivid depiction of life with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease that is as compelling as A Beautiful Mind and as unforgettable as Judith Guest’s Ordinary People.

Ope’s Opinion:  I usually like to read a book before I see a movie.  In this case, I was on a  plane where the movie was being shown and thought – oh, well…  It actually turned out good to see the movie first.  I could see Alice’s small reactions in my mind while I was reading – I may not have caught some of that had I not watched the movie first. The book gave some more details the movie didn’t incorporate. 

It was scary to think how young Alice was when alzheimers started to effect her life.  Each member of her family reacted differently – very realistically too.

A big question is – if you could find out you had this or any other disease – would you want to find out ahead of time.  Science has come such a long way – we can now know more about our DNA.  Now you have to decide is it beneficial for you to know.

Overall, this was a hard but very good read.

Rating:  4 – I like this book so much I know several friends to share it with.