Monday, March 21, 2011

More Bookish Thoughts...

Left Neglected

Left Neglected shares a lot of commonalities with Genova's first novel, Still Alice: both depict successful, powerful women forced to cope with a life-altering brain injury.  Both benefit from the author's expertise in neuroscience.  Both instill thoughtfulness and gratitude in the reader.

The first third of Left Neglected provides an engaging, humourous and poignant read, detailing the protagonist's harried lifestyle and the accident that leaves her unable to process the left side of anything (landscapes, books, her own body).  Unfortunately, the book then becomes rather repetitive and formulaic before picking up to a satisfying ending.  At least Genova's message bears keeping in mind: "Maybe success can be something else and maybe there's another way to get there.

1 comment:

Janice said...

Yeah...I got bored with "Still Alice"...great concept but pretty lousy literature.