A seventeen-year-old book blog offering book reviews and news about authors, publishers, bookstores, and libraries.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
The Story of Forgetting
Thanks to breakthroughs in medical technology, it is not unreasonable for people to expect to live well into their eighties or even past ninety years of age today. But, precisely because medical science can keep our bodies alive longer than ever before, more and more families are forced to deal with the impact of Alzheimer’s disease. And despite the disease’s near epidemic numbers since the seventies there is still no cure for it as it continues to devastate families in ever increasing numbers.
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Sounds like a good, but very sad novel. One of my dad's grandfathers had Alzheimer's, and I know it was very difficult for his family.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to steel myself and read this. Six out of nine in my mother's family developed Alzheimer's--two died young, so no one knows if they'd have developed it, and my only living aunt who doesn't have it thinks she's getting it. It is my greatest personal fear.
ReplyDeleteLike Susan, this is a terrible fear for me as well. My father, his mother, and two of his sisters have suffered from this disease. I don't think I can deal with The Story of Forgetting right now, but hope that at some point I can because it sounds very good. Books are a good way to work through difficult times, but at the moment it is just too close to home.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely-sounding take on the topic. Losing my memory is a terrifying thought for me; I fear it more than actual death.
ReplyDeleteWe've been fortunate in our family, Eva, with only one grandmother who was getting a touch of senility when she died at 97...but I've seen it devastate the in-law side of my family and it is tough to watch.
ReplyDeleteThat is scary, Susan, so I can well understand why this book might be difficult for you to handle. It pulls no punches about the disease but it does manage to keep from slipping into something too terribly morose in the end.
ReplyDeleteJenclair, this kind of thing is my biggest fear, too. It might not be so bad if a person would just wake up with no memory one day. It's that slow slipping away, while being aware of what is happening, that is so painful for me to contemplate.
ReplyDeleteHeather, I feel the same. I would prefer death to living like that, as I'm sure most of its victims would agree.
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading this book- and as weird as this sounds, it is in a way a positive look at the living with the disease. Someone he is able to add humour and a kind of grace to such a terrible thing.
ReplyDeleteI was amazed at this novel, and equally amazed that it was written by someone so young.
Good comments, anonymous. It was quite a serious novel for someone so young, and very well done, at that.
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