Left Neglected

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova   324 pages

I read this book because Shirley's review made it sound like a really good read (so I won't summarize here --- you can find Shirley's review which was posted this month).  I had enjoyed Still Alice by this author, but I had never looked for more of her books --- and once I read this, I couldn't believe I hadn't.

I appreciate that the author is a neuroscientist because while I enjoyed the characters and the storyline, I also felt like I was learning something new.  I had never heard of this kind of traumatic brain injury and I appreciated that the author included a lot of details about, but never made it seem like it was a dire sentence for the main character.  In fact, there was a fair amount of humor here, which I really liked.  For example, when Sarah realizes her brain isn't acknowledging anything on her left, she doesn't think it's that serious ---- until she realizes that her brain is not acknowledging that she has a left leg.  Or a left arm.  Or a left hand.  How the heck is she supposed to walk?  Or go to the bathroom?  Yes, all these things we take for granted.

Definitely an interesting book, but also a story I enjoyed.  Thanks, Shirley!!

Left Neglected

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova              PlayAway:  9 hours, 12 minutes          Paperback Book:  352 pages                  

This was a very good book about a woman with a husband, 3 kids and a high pressure V.P. position.    She worked 12 hour – 16 hour days then put in time working at home on work projects to keep up with the demanding pace of her job.   She never put in less than 80 hour weeks then when she got home, there was dinner to be made, dishes to be wished, bathing and reading stories to the kids and running all over town getting her son to his sports events, her daughter to her ballet classes and recitals, etc.    Her husband didn’t pitch in a lot with the kids and even if she had important international meetings on her schedule for first thing when she arrived at work, her husband would not volunteer to drive the kids to daycare and school.   The best he would do is rock, paper, scissors with the loser having to take the kids to school/daycare and she usually tended to lose and had to do it.   In that, I think he was a jerk.   He could have been more helpful, he could have been willing to take the kids half the time at least instead of being a turd about it, but, no.    Rushing the kids to daycare and school ran her behind (again) and of course their son who has attention deficit disorder decided to bolt and climb the jungle gym on the playground, her daughter has a melt-down over something, it is cold and icy and she is trying to rush across the playground in 4 inch heels to get her son and talk him down.    In so doing she left the baby who was asleep in the car while trying to corral the older kids and get them inside the building.    By the time she accomplishes all that, speaks briefly with another parent while on the fly, she realizes the baby is alone in the running car.   Yes, you are thinking what I did.   OMgosh she is going to get back out there and someone will have highjacked her car and took the baby in the process!  That didn’t happen thankfully, but, something equally bad does.    Don’t want to completely spoil the story for you, because it is a good one but author Lisa Genova takes the reader on such a realistic ride from start to finish that you will find yourself getting the visual and commiserating with the main character all the way to the end of the book.    Very realistic situations, very realistic dialogue, an astounding amount of research presented in many medical situations that opened my eyes to a whole new genre of medicine I had never considered before.    This book is by the author who wrote the story, “Just Alice,” about a college professor who succumbs to Alzheimers, which was also a very realistic, very well researched book on a medical life changing condition.    Excellent book.   I highly recommend it to anyone probably 5^th or 6^th grade on up through adult infinity.

 - Shirley J.

The Ghost in My Brain

The Ghost in My Brain

by Clark Elliott, PhD.  297 pages.

This book is about the author's experience with a concussion, which resulted in traumatic brain injury.   His car was rear-ended, and overnight, he started suffering odd symptoms which kept getting worse.   Doctors couldn't find anything wrong with him, and then once they suspected a brain injury, just told him that he'd have to live with it, and wouldn't recover.   However, Dr. Elliott was determined, and after eight years of struggling, he met two Chicago-area research-clinicians who changed his life, and got him back on the road to recovery.

This is a fascinating book, although I admit I could only read it in bits and pieces, because not only was there a lot of information to take in, but it also freaked me out a bit.   The idea that what seemed like a simple car accident could lead to such traumatic brain injury was really sobering.   In addition, the fact that this man, a brilliant man in his own right, couldn't get doctors to listen to him, or even really help him, was disturbing.   In the beginning of the book, right after the accident, he goes to doctors to get help, but he's quickly dismissed, which is frustrating, but also frightening.

But, I digress.   Dr. Elliott's journey to recovery, and what the research-clinicians were able to do to help him is fascinating.  Brain injuries aren't something I have a lot of familiarity with, so it was interesting to learn about things like the correlation between the sensory input into the brain and then the resulting behavior.   For example, Dr. Elliott, in the beginning, was easily overwhelmed by auditory input (listening to people on the phone, for instance) and basically, his reactions, physically, would just shut down.      Definitely a good book if brain injuries, or brain science, is something that interests you.

A Three Dog Life

A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas
182 Pages

"When Abigail Thomas's husband, Rich, was hit by a car, his brain shattered. Subject to rages, terrors, and hallucinations, he must live the rest of his life in an institu­tion. He has no memory of what he did the hour, the day, the year before. This tragedy is the ground on which Abigail had to build a new life. How she built that life is a story of great courage and great change, of moving to a small country town, of a new family composed of three dogs, knitting, and friendship, of facing down guilt and discovering gratitude. It is also about her relationship with Rich, a man who lives in the eternal present, and the eerie poetry of his often uncanny perceptions. This wise, plainspoken, beautiful book enacts the truth Abigail discovered in the five years since the acci­dent: You might not find meaning in disaster, but you might, with effort, make something useful of it. "


A short little memoir about a woman rebuilding her life after her husband's accident.