Wow! We are lucky that we have easy access to so much health-related information through books and databases, but to me nothing gets to the heart of understanding an issue like following someone, even a fictional person, on their journey of recovery. Of course reading fiction cannot in any way compare to the stress and heartache of actually living through a brain injury, but the reader has the advantage of seeing through the patient's eyes and feeling their frustration and sadness.
Susan Nickerson is a happily married superwoman, juggling a fast-paced, successful career, which requires 80 hours a week of her time, plus 3 children (named, oddly enough, Charlie, Lucy, and Linus), an equally career-oriented husband, and two homes. Susan and her husband, Bob, have been on the fast-track to success and wealth since school. Every moment is scheduled, every break used to catch up on email or phone calls or children's activities. One day, while reaching for her cell phone during her drive to work, Susan crashes her car and sustains a traumatic injury to the right side of her brain, an injury that results in hemispatial neglect, also called left neglect. When Susan awakes from an 8-day coma she discovers that the left side of her world has disappeared. her awareness of the left side of her body, her ability to notice things to the left or to draw the left side of a picture, has disappeared. She will need months of therapy to regain all or part of her ability to perceive the left side of her world.
Genova, a neuroscientist, has again (as in Still Alice) afforded her readers the rare opportunity to share in the experiences of a patient from the inside out. She does this SO well! I plan to read all of her novels and look forward to many more in the future. If you haven't read any of Genova's books, you should run down to the library today and check one out.
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