Book Review : Still Alice

Title : Still Alice

Author : Lisa Genova

Publisher : Simon and Schuster

ISBN : 978-1-84739-624-2

What happens when somebody loses his/her complete identity while still very much alive?

'Still Alice' is the story of Alice Howland - a successful academician, an accomplished Harvard Professor, who is diagnosed with early onset of Alzheimer's Disease soon after she celebrated her 50th birthday . The doctor's verdict comes as a rude shock in her otherwise extremely active life, which she loves dearly and which is part of her real identity - full of travel, giving lectures, mentoring students besides being a loving wife and a mother of three.

It does not take long for her condition to deteriorate. The story is the third person account of how her disease progresses and the preventive measures she takes in order to extend the period of her being aware of who she actually is. Some of the parts are really touching and very sensitively handled - her being lost inside her own home looking for the bathroom, her forgetting everything about her actress daughter, her loneliness amidst her own family, her interactions with her youngest daughter and her heart-wrenching speech as an Alzheimer patient. These are the portions in which the author excels brilliantly, successfully invoking the right feelings in the readers.

But there is much that is left unripe, unbaked and amateurish.

The author keeps dwelling on the fact that Alice is a smart Harvard Professor umpteen number of times. The early onset of Alzheimer is a tragic development for any person engaged in any occupation. In the beginning while introducing the protagonist, the mention of all her details are expected but too much of the same piece of information is definitely unpalatable.

Interaction among the family members on many occasions fall in the category of being artificial and superficial. While reading this kind of story I was expecting the handling of the close relationships in much more sensitive fashion. Characters should have been etched with a little more detail and warmth. The elder two children and even Alice's husband John come across as dry and shallow individuals.

This story had all the ingredients of being a great read but the lack of proper handling makes it fall short on many fronts. Despite all this, it is still an engaging book as it offers a close to accurate account of how it feels to be the patient of such brutal unforgiving disease.

Book Review : The Long Road

Title : The Long Road

Author : Dr. Vivek Banerjee

Publisher : Pustak Mahal

ISBN : 978-81-223-1163-1

I must thank the author Dr. Vivek Banerjee first for sending a review copy to me.

'The Long Road' (journey is the destination...) is the story depicting the inside picture of medical college - the studies and the training routine, through the lives of five young aspiring doctors who have taken admission in the post-graduate degree courses.

Each of these five individuals hail from different backgrounds, have different aspirations and expectations from life, personally as well as professionally. Rahul and Sarika are old classmates and lovers since their graduate days but Sarika being a very driven and dedicated student disapproves of the casual attitude of Rahul towards the future and hence opts out of the relationship but it takes a fatal accident to make her confess her true feelings for Rahul and revisit her decision about their relationship once again. Ranjiv comes from a very affluent but lonely background, who does not acquiesce with the choices his doctor father made in his life, so wants to escape from his shadow. Hina, daughter of a Maulvi realized very early on in her life that the way out of the small attic in the mosque of Bhiwandi is through books and working hard. In the new open environs and with the support of a loving person, she blooms to be a confident and strong person.

The book gives a glimpse of the pressures of being in a medical college and the grueling studying ad working schedule the aspiring doctors need to follow in order to be an expert in their respective fields. The author being one belonging to the medical fraternity, very authentically brings out the nuances of this profession - the ups and downs, the lows and highs, the efforts and outputs, the confusions and hard decisions and rewards and disappointments. Amidst this academic drama, a couple of love stories are weaved in beautifully and through these relationships, the precarious balance every individual in such high demanding job needs to maintain has been brought to light.

Overall its a light-read, feel good story, very engaging and a page turner. There are no tough or complex situations brought into the narrative. The characters are very well etched, the editing is tight and no situation or incidence gives the impression of being redundant or not supporting the story. The language is simple, could be made typos free though. The medical terminology has been used where required but does not overwhelm the readers at any point of time.

However, it comes across as a little too simple and straight forward book where everything is divulged in words, not relying on the subtlety and the intelligence of the readers. Sometimes even the titles of the chapters give away the whole plot of the chapter, which robs off the charm and suspense of the following pages. In my opinion, there is a great scope of addition of some more content to the story.

This book brought back the memories of 'Doctors' that I read more than 20 years back, which has the similar backdrop - the medical profession. But the similarity ends at this point only. Doctors by Eric Segal was a much more meatier book and offered a lot of substance to retain forever.

But for a first time author, 'The Long Road' is a wonderful attempt and I sure will look forward to his next writings.

I will recommend this book for its simplicity and the feel good factor.

Book Review : Coming Home

Title : Coming Home - A Practical Compassionate Guide to Caring for a Dying Loved One
Author : Deborah Duda
Publisher : Synergy Books
ISBN : 978-0-9842358-9-6

A perfect handbook for the people around a loved one who chooses to spend the last days of his/her life in a warm and loving home environment instead of an impersonal hospital. The author of the book - Deborah emphasizes the point that selecting between the two - hospital or home, is the first step for a terminally ill patient and after making the desire known the next step is for the people around the patient to rationally evaluate the feasibility or workability of that option. Once these steps are over, the actual implementation stage ensues and a lot of preparation goes in making this whole process easier, smooth and stress free for the patient as well as for the family or friends who are helping the patient move towards a new life.

One of the tasks that is to be done by the patient him(her)self is the acceptance of dying. It does take a little time to get used to the feeling that the person him(her)self is not in control. The author very appropriately puts it in these words, 'To surrender and to be free, we have to accept life as it is instead of holding on to how we think it should be'. When the circumstances of the lives cannot be controlled or managed as per our liking or desire, we can still choose the attitude to take the same. The attitude about dying can also be rationally selected - optimistically or pessimistically. Just with a little twist in this attitude the same eyes get different lenses to look at the same world.

For the caregivers , this book provides a step by step tour of the whole process and the important points and suggestions which they need to keep in mind while engaged in this noble task. But before anything else, she tries to make the point very clear that the main objective of the caregivers is 'not to cure but to give quality to the life'. So feeling good about the decision to bring the patient home is very important and at no point the guilt of any kind should interfere the initially taken decision. Other important aspects which should be planned and executed well are - managing finances intelligently, the right kind of home care, keeping the morale of the family and the patient high, not shying away from taking help from others, having a sound support system and some backup so that there never comes a time that the caregivers feel drained out and the whole process starts becoming a burden.

Deborah starts the book by narrating her own personal experiences of participating in the home deaths of her father, mother and her two friends. I found it a very nice way of starting the book as it makes the whole work very personal and rightly conveys the point that what all she has suggested throughout the book is very much doable. She has sensitively touched and handled the medical, emotional and spiritual aspects of the process of dying and the sense of achievement the family and friends feel by participating and contributing in this endeavor. In my opinion this is a 'must have' book for the families of the dying individuals and especially those who have decided to bring the patient home for the final journey. The book can be used as a good checklist, a hand book and a manual for those hours, days, months or years before the terminally ill individual begins the new life.