Still Alice Page 0,90
hand with her eyelashes. He moved his hand up her forehead to her hair, tightened his little fist, and pulled. She gently unclenched his hand and replaced her hair with her index finger. He found her necklace.
“See the pretty butterfly?”
“Don’t let him put that in his mouth!” called the mother, who was in another room but within eyeshot.
Alice wasn’t about to let the baby mouth her necklace, and she felt wrongly accused. She walked into the room where the mother was. It was crowded with all kinds of birthday party–colored baby-seat things that beeped and buzzed and talked when the babies banged on them. Alice had forgotten that this was the room with all the loud seats. She wanted to leave before the mother suggested she put the baby in one of them. But the actress was in here, too, and Alice wanted to be in their company.
“Is Dad coming this weekend?” asked the actress.
“No, he can’t, he said next week. Can I leave them with you and Mom for a little while? I need to go to the store. Allison should sleep another hour.”
“Sure.”
“I’ll be quick. Need anything?” the mother asked as she walked out of the room.
“More ice cream, something chocolate!” yelled the actress.
Alice found a soft toy with no noisy buttons and sat down while the baby explored it in her lap. She smelled the top of his almost-bald head and watched the actress read. The actress looked up at her.
“Hey, Mom, will you listen to me do this monologue I’m working on for class and tell me what you think it’s about? Not the story, it’s kind of long. You don’t have to remember the words, just tell me what you think it’s about emotionally. When I’m done, tell me how I made you feel, okay?”
Alice nodded, and the actress began. Alice watched and listened and focused beyond the words the actress spoke. She saw her eyes become desperate, searching, pleading for truth. She saw them land softly and gratefully on it. Her voice felt at first tentative and scared. Slowly, and without getting louder, it grew more confident and then joyful, playing sometimes like a song. Her eyebrows and shoulders and hands softened and opened, asking for acceptance and offering forgiveness. Her voice and body created an energy that filled Alice and moved her to tears. She squeezed the beautiful baby in her lap and kissed his sweet-smelling head.
The actress stopped and came back into herself. She looked at Alice and waited.
“Okay, what do you feel?”
“I feel love. It’s about love.”
The actress squealed, rushed over to Alice, kissed her on the cheek, and smiled, every crease of her face delighted.
“Did I get it right?” asked Alice.
“You did, Mom. You got it exactly right.”
POSTSCRIPT
The clinical trial drug Amylix, described in this book, is fictional. It is, however, similar to real compounds in clinical development that aim to selectively lower levels of amyloid-beta 42. Unlike the currently available drugs, which can only delay the disease’s ultimate progression, it is hoped that these drugs will stop the progression of Alzheimer’s. All other drugs mentioned are real, and the depiction of their use and efficacy in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease is accurate as of the writing of this story.
For more information about Alzheimer’s disease and clinical trials, go to http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_clinical_studies.asp.
Readers Club Guide for
Still Alice
by Lisa Genova
Discussion Questions
1. When Alice becomes disoriented in Harvard Square, a place she’s visited daily for twenty-five years, why doesn’t she tell John? Is she too afraid to face a possible illness, worried about his possible reaction, or some other reason?
2. After Alice first learns she has Alzheimer’s disease, “The sound of her name penetrated her every cell and seemed to scatter her molecules beyond the boundaries of her own skin. She watched herself from the far corner of the room”. What do you think of Alice’s reaction to the diagnosis? Why does she disassociate herself to the extent that she feels she’s having an out-of-body experience?
3. Do you find irony in the fact that Alice, a Harvard professor and researcher, suffers from a disease that causes her brain to atrophy? Why do you think the author, Lisa Genova, chose this profession? How does her past academic success affect Alice’s ability, and that of her family, to cope with Alzheimer’s?
4. “He refused to watch her take her medications. He could be midsentence, midconversation, but if she got out her plastic days-of-the-week pill dispenser, he left the room”. Is John’s reaction understandable? What might be