After reading Genova’s
“Still Alice”, an absorbing story of a relatively young woman (50’s) and her
battle with Alzheimer’s, I was extremely interested in what she would write
next. I was not disappointed with “Left
Neglected”. Ms. Genova holds a PhD in
neuroscience from
This book tells the story
of Sarah Nickerson, a 37 year-old woman with three children, a husband and a
very high-powered job. She easily works
an eighty hour week, all the while juggling the demands of her household and
three young children. All of this comes
to a stop one day when she is in a horrific car accident. She has sustained a injury to the right lobe
of her brain and now has what is called Left Neglect. This is where her brain no longer recognizes “left”. She can’t see anything to the left of her and
cannot make the left side of her body work.
In one scene in the book,
Sarah’s husband Bob gets a little frustrated with her and tells her to “just
look a little more to the left”. She
replies with, “Bob, tell me everything you see in this room.” Bob goes on to describe the room, when he is
done Sarah says to him, “Now, if I told you that you missed half of everything
that was in the room, where would you look?”
He admits that he doesn’t know and Sarah explains that is the way with
her. Her brain no longer “gets” left.
This is the story of Sarah
and her family learning to cope with her condition and is a gripping read. There is also a sweet sub-story of Sarah’s
relationship with her mother.
4 stars (Rated PG – for
adult talk and situations)
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