Still Alice
Lisa Genova
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Still Alice is Lisa Genova's novel about Alice Howland, a brilliant cognitive psychology professor who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease in her early fifties. The novel traces Alice's gradual cognitive decline from her perspective, showing how she experiences forgetting, disorientation and the loss of self as the disease progresses. It is both a portrait of a woman's life and an exploration of what memory and identity mean when they are being erased.
- 1Alice is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease at age fifty, a diagnosis that is initially difficult for her to accept.
- 2The novel follows Alice's experience of the disease's progression, from subtle memory lapses to more profound cognitive changes.
- 3Alice must navigate her career, her family relationships and her identity as she loses the cognitive abilities that have defined her.
- 4Her family, her husband John and their adult children, struggle to adjust to Alice's illness and to support her through the disease's progression.
- 5Alice becomes an advocate for Alzheimer's awareness and tries to live fully and meaningfully even as her abilities decline.
- 6The novel traces the emotional and practical challenges of living with a disease that gradually erases memory and self.
Key ideas
Memory and identity
Genova explores whether we are our memories and our cognitive abilities. As Alice's memory fades, the question becomes urgent: who is Alice without her mind?
The progression of disease
The novel traces the gradual and then accelerating decline caused by Alzheimer's, showing both visible symptoms and internal experiences of confusion and loss.
Family as witness and support
Alice's family must adjust to becoming caretakers and must face the tragedy of losing a loved one while that person is still physically alive.
Advocacy and meaning
Alice finds meaning in her illness by becoming an advocate for Alzheimer's awareness, suggesting that even in tragedy, meaning can be created.
The invisible disease
Alzheimer's is often invisible from the outside. Genova shows the internal experience of someone whose mind is deteriorating while others may not immediately notice.
Acceptance and grief
Alice must grieve the loss of her cognitive abilities while still living. The novel traces her path toward acceptance and peace.
Who is it for?
Readers interested in medical narratives or in explorations of illness and identity will find this moving and illuminating. It suits anyone who has loved someone with Alzheimer's or anyone interested in understanding the disease. The novel is emotionally intense but ultimately affirming.
Full summary
Alice Howland is a distinguished cognitive psychology professor at Harvard, respected in her field and living a full life with her husband John and their adult children.
Alice begins to experience subtle cognitive symptoms: she forgets words, becomes disoriented during a talk, loses her way briefly. These symptoms are initially dismissible as normal aging.
After neurological testing, Alice is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, a diagnosis that is devastating and initially difficult for her to accept.
As the disease progresses, Alice's symptoms become more pronounced. She forgets conversations, loses her way in familiar places, and struggles with language and cognition.
Alice decides to step down from her position at Harvard and to focus on living fully with the time she has. She becomes an advocate for Alzheimer's awareness and speaks publicly about her diagnosis.
Her family, John, her husband, and their three adult children, must adjust to Alice's illness. They become increasingly involved in her care and support.
The novel shows the emotional toll of Alzheimer's on Alice and her family. John struggles with the loss of his wife as she gradually becomes less able to recognise him.
As the disease advances, Alice loses more and more of her cognitive abilities and self-awareness. The novel traces her experience of forgetting, confusion and the gradual loss of identity.
