Still Alice (2009) (edit title/settings)

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Summary edit see section history

Characters/People edit see section history

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• Dr. Alice Howland: Alice is the main character of this book. Diagnosed with Alzheimer's early in life, feels she has been given a death sentence in the prime of her successful life and career. John's wife; Psychologist; petite; works at Harvard; 5'3,curly black hair, brown eyes;50; mother and sister died in a car accident when she was 18; father died for cirrhosis of the liver
• John Howland: Alice's husband, he is a research scientist at Harvard. Always losing something; distinguished, tall man with white-flecked brown hair and glasses; 53
• Lydia Howland: Alice and John's youngest daughter, with whom Alice has a troubled but loving relationship. Lydia is trying to be an actress. Lives in LA; blond; 5'6
• Daniel Maloney: Alice's graduate student, working on his thesis. 4th year graduate student; J. Crew appearance; muscular, lean, clean-cut, short blond hair, toothy, cocky smile, confident, humorous
• Dr. Davis: Neurologist who diagnoses Alice. Works at Memory Disorders Unit; young, hairless face, wears black-rimmed glasses
• Anne: Alice's younger sister
• Anna: Alice and John's daughter; intellectual property lawyer; 27; oldest child; isn't a risk taker
• Charlie: Anna's husband, also a litigation lawyer
• Tom Howland: Alice and John's middle child and only son, a doctor, single; smart, intense, in the 3rd year of Harvard Medical School; planning to be a cardiothorasic surgeon; 25
• Mary Johnson: Age 57, frontotemporal lobe dementia; chin-length blond hair and round, chocolate brown eyes; real estate agent for 22 years
• Lauren: Neighbor who lived across the street
• Allison Anne: Anna's child
• Christina: Alice's best friend from kindergarten
• Dr. Tamara Moyer: Alice's physician for the last 22 years
• Harold: Husband of Alzheimer's patient
• Eric Wellman: Head of psychology department at Harvard
• Denise Daddario: Social Worker for the Memory Clinic
• Catherine: Add a description of this character.
• Sarah: Friends of Alice and John
• Gordon Miller: Head of the department
• Eric Greenberg: former colleague of Alice's at Harvard; now a professor in the psychology department at Princeton
• Sonya: Singer
• Lucy: Neurologist's wife
• Sarah: neuropsychologist
• Marjorie Wellman: Eric Wellman's wife
• Stephanie Aaron: Genetic counselor affiliated with Mass General's Memory Disorder Unit; shoulder length black hair and arched eyebrows
• Bob: Friends of Alice and John
• Dan Sullivan: Age 53, Early-onset Alzheimer's disease; thick mustache, a balding head, and a stocky build; used to be a firefighter
• Cathy Roberts: Age 48, Early onset Alzheimer's disease; smart, pleasing face, and eyes that smiled before her mouth did; worked part-time as a pharmacist and raised two kids
• Doug: Lydia's roommate
• Charles Thomas: Anna's child
• Josh: Alice's former Harvard classmate and respected egomaniac
• Barry: Mary's husband
• Leslie: One of Eric's graduate students
• Jess: Works at Jerri's
• Malcolm: Lydia's roommate
• Mark: Developmental Psychology Professor who received tenure at Stanford
• Evelyn: Alzheimer's patient; small, white-haired woman
• Jill: Tom's Ex
• Elizabeth: Dan's new wife
• Michael
• Dad
• Sarah Something
• Carole
• Marty

Quotes edit see section history

• “She remembered being six or seven and crying over the fates of butterflies in her yard after learning that they lived for only a few days. Her mother had comforted her and told her not to be sad for the butterflies, that just because their lives were short didn't mean they were tragic.”

• “At some point, there would simply be no point.”

• “"Okay, Alice, can you spell the word water backwards for me?" he asked. She would have found this question trivial and even insulting six months ago, but today, it was a serious question to be tackled with serious effort. She felt only marginally worried and humiliated by this, not nearly as worried and humiliated as she would've felt six months ago. More and more, she was experiencing a growing distance from her self-awareness. Her sense of Alice-what she knew and understood, what she liked and disliked, how she felt and perceived-was also like a soap bubble, ever high in the sky and more difficult to identify, with nothing but the thinnest lipid membrance protecting it from popping into thinner air.”

• “"Even then, more than a year earlier, there were neurons in her head, not far from her ears, that were being strangled to death, too quietly for her to hear them. Some would argue that things were going so insidiously wrong that the neurons themselves initiated events that would lead to their own destruction. Whether it was molecular murder or cellular suicide, they were unable to warn her of what was happening before they died."”

• “"'Mom, what does it feel like?' 'What does what feel like?' 'Having Alzheimer's. Can you feel that you have it right now?'"”

  conversation between Alice and Lydia

• “"I know what I'm looking for, my brain just can't get to it. It's like if you decided you wanted that glass of water, only your hand won't pick it up. You ask it nicely, you threaten it, but it just won't budge. You might finally get it to move, but then you grab the saltshaker instead, or you knock the glass and spill the water on the table. Or by the time you get your hand to hold the glass and bring it to your lips, the itch in your throat has cleared, and you don't need a drink anymore. The moment of need has passed".”

  Alice

• “"I can't remember how to put on a bra, John! I can't put on my own bra!"That's not a bra, Ali, it's a pair of underwear."”

  Alice and John

• “"I don't think I can do it, Alice. I'm sorry. I just don't think I can take this being home for a whole year, just sitting and watching what this disease is stealing from you. I can't take watching you not knowing how to get dressed and not knowing how to work the television. If I'm in lab, I don't have to watch you sticking Post-it notes on all the cabinets and doors. I can't just stay home and watch you get worse. It kills me""No, John, it's killing ME, not you. I'm getting worse, whether you're home looking at me or hiding in your lab. You're losing me. I'm losing me. But if you don't take the next year off with me, well, then, we lost you first. I have Alzheimer's. Whats your (curses) excuse?"”

  John and Alice

• “Alzheimer's disease was an entirely different kind of beast. There were no weapons that could slay it.”

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• “My yesterdays are disappearing, and my tomorrows are uncertain, so what do I live for? I live for each day. I live in the moment. Some tomorrow soon, I’ll forget that I stood before you and gave this speech. But just because I’ll forget it some tomorrow doesn’t mean that I didn’t live every second of it today. I will forget today, but that doesn’t mean that today didn’t matter.

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• Those with cancer could expect to be supported by their community. Alice expected to be outcast. Even the well-intentioned and educated tended to keep a fearful distance from the mentally ill. She didn’t want to become someone people avoided and feared.

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• “I also want you to take vitamin E twice a day and vitamin C, baby aspirin, and a statin once a day.

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• Attention, rehearsal, elaboration, or emotional significance was needed if perceived information was to be pushed beyond the recent memory space into longer-term storage, else it would be quickly and naturally discarded with the passage of time.

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• Each of your children has a fifty percent chance of inheriting this mutation, which has a one hundred percent chance of causing the disease.

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• More and more, she was experiencing a growing distance from her self-awareness. Her sense of Alice—what she knew and understood, what she liked and disliked, how she felt and perceived—was also like a soap bubble, ever higher in the sky and more difficult to identify, with nothing but the thinnest lipid membrane protecting it from popping into thinner air.

  Highlighted by 153 Kindle customers

• “In examining disease, we gain wisdom about anatomy and physiology and biology. In examining the person with disease, we gain wisdom about life.”

  Highlighted by 138 Kindle customers

• Plus, she liked being reminded of butterflies. She remembered being six or seven and crying over the fates of the butterflies in her yard after learning that they lived for only a few days. Her mother had comforted her and told her not to be sad for the butterflies, that just because their lives were short didn’t mean they were tragic. Watching them flying in the warm sun among the daisies in their garden, her mother had said to her, See, they have a beautiful life. Alice liked remembering that.

  Highlighted by 124 Kindle customers

• “I miss myself.” “I miss you, too, Ali, so much.” “I never planned to get like this.” “I know.”

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• concatenated moments of presenting in front of a listening audience—teaching, performing, telling a story, teeing up a heated debate. She also loved the adrenaline rush. The bigger the stakes, the more sophisticated or hostile the audience, the more the whole experience thrilled her.

  Highlighted by 66 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Harvard Square
• Cambridge
• Boston

Organizations edit see section history

• National Alzheimer's Association: Add a description of this organization.

First Sentence edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Alzheimer's Disease: Describe this theme.
• Family and Relationships
• Mental sickness

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Lisa Genova (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Bronte Prize (2008)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3607 .E55 S75 2009
• Dewey: 813.6

Notes for Parents edit see section history

I believe Young adults could actually benefit from this book. It is heavy subject matter, but clean.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary

More Books Like This edit see section history