Annette asked Matthew Thomas:

I just finished reading your book, and am sorry that I couldn't go to your book reading in Austin last month. As a social worker who works with people with dementia and their families, I thought you did a fantastic job of capturing all the heartbreak, love, exhaustion, guilt, and perseverance of families marked by Alzheimer's. How were you able to capture so many nuances so well? Cheers, Annette Juba

Matthew Thomas Thank you for the kind words, Annette, and I'm sorry I missed you in Austin. I loved Book People. What a terrific store. (And the restaurant across the street, 24 Diner--great food!) Part of what gave me insight into the nuances of Alzheimer's disease and its effects on a family was my experience with my own father's early-onset Alzheimer's. My father died over a decade ago. I also did some research into the practical realities of the disease--financial, legal, and otherwise. But I would say the biggest tools at my disposal were the things any writer uses: the imagination (combined with an attempt at empathetic understanding), which allows one to inhabit the consciousness of people other than oneself; and a sort of observational attention--keeping one's eyes and ears (and mind and heart) open. When the memory of sense impressions and the study of the psychologies and emotional lives of people are employed in the service of the imagination, the result, when things are working right, can sometimes be the accumulation of deliberately chosen details that do multiple duties in bringing a story more vividly to life.

flag