Still Alice in Review

"Relieved, Alice took out the ingredients for the white-chocolate bread pudding and placed them on the counter-vanilla extract, a pint of heavy cream, milk, sugar, white chocolate, a loaf of challah bread, and two half-dozen cartons of eggs. A dozen eggs?? If the piece of notebook paper with her mother's recipe on it still existed, Alice didn't know where it was. She hadn't needed to refer to it in years. It was a simple recipe, arguably better than Marty's cheesecake, and she'd made it every Christmas Eve since she was a young girl. How many eggs? It had to be more than six, or she would've taken out only one carton. Was it seven, eight, nine?
She tried skipping over the eggs for a moment,but the other ingredients looked just as foreign. Was she supposed to use all of the cream or measure out only some of it? How much sugar? Was she supposed to combine everything all at once or in a particular sequence? What pan did she use? At what temperature did she bake it and for how long? No possibility rang true. The information just wasn't there.
What the hell was wrong with me?" pg. 65


The above is an exerct of my latest non-work related read. Alice is a 50 year old linguistics and psychology professor at Harvard University, wife, and mother to three children. She is a top notch, globally respected authority in her field. Until she starts noticing that her eloquent speeches and dynamic talks are not flowing as they used to. Names of people she sees everyday are not coming to her. She gets lost in her own neighborhood, where she has walked everyday for 25 years. She initially blames menopause, stress, etc... but it becomes clear it's more. She is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's Disease. The book is from her perceptive as the disease progresses and dramatically changes life as she knows it, and how she views it's impact on her peers and family.

Personally, I have only heard about Alzheimer's from sad, worried, and frustrated family members. It was a hard but profound read through Alice's eyes. I would highly recommend giving this book a shot. Though you may not experience the warm feelings we all love to get through our stories, it opens your eyes, increases empathy, and is more than worth reading.

Plus, it's a quick read, I finished in 2 days.