Still Alice – book review

I usually write about the books that impress me in some way- good or bad, and I couldn’t but share my thoughts on this one, because I feel it’s really important to let people know about it, read it, think about it and their lives.

This is not one of the books you love.
This is one of the books you appreciate exists.
I highly recommend the book for the value of the author’s experience shared on the pages,not for it’s value as a piece of literature.

This is a book that every person should read, no matter personally affected or not by the disease and it’s mandatory for the people who are experiencing the disease or have relatives suffering from it.

However, the author is everything but a writer. The same topic would be better written by many other writers, without the scientific knowledge Lisa Genova offers. The characters are not likable and in places I felt like she treated them unfairly by forcing them to act unnaturally. This I think is due to a lack of experience in writing, maybe her next book will be better, who knows, but I really hope she writes with a co-author that writes better than her. She can contribute immensely to understanding the disease, but although you can see her compassion for the people who suffer from it, she can’t recreate it in writing.

Her characters are mechanic, the emotions are like statements, overall the book feels like a raw material. Which is not necessary a bad thing, if she improves her way of writing.

The book was engaging most of the time, although sometimes I felt like the author included scenes that she even wasn’t sure why, just for the purpose of having them. They didn’t build the character or benefit the book in any way.

The book is like one of those none-sugarcoated pills that you have to take and you know it’s going to make you better ( and give you understanding in this case), but you’ll have to taste the bitter wrapper of it.

Read it! You won’t regret it!
Even if it’s not the best piece of literature you’ve read, it might be the book that will change you forever!