Still Alice by Lisa Genova - Book Review.

I watched the movie 'Still Alice' before I read the book. I actually didn't know it was even a book until after I watched the movie. 

Book Blurb

"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."

Genre: Contemporary adult fiction 

292 pages. 

This is a truly heartbreaking story from Lisa Genova that gives a good insight to the alzheimers disease. 

 Alice is fifty years old when she starts forgetting things, she puts it down to being busy and having a busy lifestyle, she teaches lectures and has a lot to remember and think about. She has three grown up children and a husband. Alice soon realises there is much more to her forgetful memory and starts feeling disorientated, too! One day she's running the route she has always ran in the city she lives in and she completely forgets where she is and how to get home! Alice panics for a moment but her memory soon comes back. She seeks medical advice and under go a lot of tests. It turns out she has early Alzheimer’s and is put on medication to slow the Alzheimers down. There is no cure for the disease and it does get worse over time. Alice and her family learns that the type of  Alzheimers she's suffering with is hereditary. She remembers a lot of things about her childhood and I really like that Alice shares those memories. Alice's memory gets worse as time goes on, it's quite slow progressing alzheimers. I'm not going to lie, it is quite upsetting and yes, it's a hard subject to read about because it's so real and true but this is a page turner of a book! I actually learned a lot from this book, it's a real eye opener.

The book itself is very well written, it's very easy to follow! I found it quite hard to put down because I'd watched the movie, I knew what to expect. I did find the book slightly better than the movie. I found myself really connected to the characters, especially Alice! This is a story that is so real, even though it is fictional, it is something that could happen and DOES happen. 

I do wish I'd have read the book first but still, I enjoyed both the book and movie. I rated the book four stars out of five.

The movie is very true to the book. Alice is played by Julianne Moore and I honestly think she suited the role perfectly, I don't think anyone else could have played Alice. The acting is brilliant and I surprisingly like the fact that Kristen Stewart plays Alice's youngest daughter, 'Lydia'. I felt for Alice and her family. It is a sad movie to watch, especially feeling so connected to the characters. Overall I really enjoyed both the book and movie. I do think the book was a little better than the movie. 

I'd recommend reading the book first. 

Sarah xXx