75 Books...More or Less! discussion

Please post comments here for Left Neglected.

I have this one on reserve from the library and can't wait to get it! I finish Still Alice last night and just loved it. Genova manages to handle a tragic topic beautifully.

Looking forward to Left Neglected!

Is Left Neglected part of a series or a stand alone? I've never heard of it so I'm just curious before I go pick it up somewhere :)

It's a stand-alone. Same author as Still Alice but the stories aren't connected.

I haven't read Still Alice either...I might have to pick them both up. Thanks!

Just picked this up at the library today and I can't wait to start reading!

Okay, so I finished this one yesterday. I had mixed feelings. I loved the writing style and I thought the condition was an interesting one to explore, and I find it completely fascinating that it's a real thing. I also liked that it ended in a relatively upbeat way.

In general I dislike the genre of writing where a successful happy career woman has to be shown-- by trauma if necessary!-- that the only true happiness is staying home with family. I find it very difficult to imagine if Left Neglected were about the husband instead of the wife the ending would have been the same. I'm definitely not saying that no woman is happy staying home-- obviously plenty of women are, and I'm also not saying that's not a valuable thing to be doing-- but it was pretty clear Sarah enjoyed her work and was professionally ambitious. It seems condescending to suggest that she just didn't know her own mind and needed the wake up call.

I also was a little grossed out when Sarah's physical therapist friend was jollying her along that it could be so much worse. In nearly every situation something can be worse, that doesn't mean your can't acknowledge that a shitty situation sucks. It's just a tremendous burden on patients if they have to focus on getting better and making sure they have the happy patient attitude so that their caregivers can feel better.

I finished this one the other day~almost in one sitting!
I love her writing style, very easy to read and the topic was really interesting.
Gnatalby~I always love book clubs so that i can see what other people come away with when reading the same thing. I had a totally different perspective on this story...to me it was more a story of resilience...of realizing your own limitations and working within them to continue to be a productive member of society. She didn't just hang it up after a terrible trauma but continued to work and push herself with her therapy, the way she had before with her high powered job. I felt that Sarah just realized that she was given a situation and needed to make the best of it, and she did that by working at the ski lodge. I saw it as a story of a person with a disability not allowing that disability to define them .


I do agree with the fact that she should have been allowed her pity party for a while though....I think anyone would need that as part of the process of accepting their "new self".

I definitely didn't get from this book that "true happiness is staying home with family." I suppose that is sort of where the story leads, but I didn't see it in a "home is where the woman belongs" way. I think the situation could just as easily have applied to a workaholic father, but it may not have been quite as enjoyable (for me) since it's easier to relate to a female character. I guess I can see where that perspective comes from (especially if you've read several other books along the same lines), but I just didn't see it with that sexist slant.

I did find it slightly harder to understand this character's plight, compared to Still Alice. But I think that's just the nature of the medical condition. It's harder to convey in words what it would be like to completely lose the left side of your entire world, than it is to convey the progression of Alzheimer's. In that book, I think the author did an excellent job showing at first the subtle confusion, and then changing the narration as the story (and the condition) progressed. Left Neglected, while still an enjoyable read, and still a very interesting story, just didn't immerse me in quite the same way. But I honestly don't know that she could have done anything differently to help with that.

For anyone who enjoyed Left Neglected but hasn't yet read Still Alice, I highly recommend it.

At first I totally saw me in Sarah. Then it wasn't at all me. I'm not getting hundreds of e-mails and phone calls. I'm more relaxed and have enough time for reading and painting and for spending time with my family. I'm not a workaholic. But this book makes me think that very often our lives are so high-paced that we "have no time to stand and stare". Also the book shows that there are more sides to life than we can see. And that we change with time and what we once saw as unacceptable with time has more sense. Like workaholic Sarah in the book working only twenty hours a week and happy about that. I really enjoyed reading this book.

I'm a little late but I picked-up my copy from the library this past Friday and can't put it down. I had no idea what this book would be about. I didn’t bother reading the back cover I just dove in thinking I need to keep up. I was pleasantly surprised the first couple of chapters. I though this woman sounds like me, minus the husband and 2 extra kids. I find that some of my favorite reads are those that hit close to home. I thought that because she’s workaholic her relationship with her husband would deteriorate and it would all be predictable, not at all.
Again, the parallels with my own life fascinate me. Back in December I was in a car accident and my Beetle was totaled and I too have issues with my mother. My injuries were not life threatening or life altering and my relationship with my mother is not as strained but I so get her resentment and can’t blame her.
I broke down when Charlie was helping her with her homework because I know my kiddo would do the same. I can’t wait to get back to it.