AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: STILL ALICE By Lisa Genova

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by Renee (Itsbooktalk)

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From Goodreads

Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she’s a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life–and her relationship with her family and the world–forever.

At once beautiful and terrifying, Still Alice is a moving and vivid depiction of life with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease that is as compelling as A Beautiful Mind and as unforgettable as Judith Guest’s Ordinary People.

*******

As you can see, I’ve decided to change my theme for the blog. I wasn’t happy with the design and layout of the previous one so I decided to make the change sooner rather than later:) That being said, I’m working on trying to organize things the way I want on this one so you may notice changes here or there as I experiment with different layouts and pictures. On to the review…..

I’m super late to this great book I know! I mean it was a bestseller and then a movie and it still managed to elude me on my TBR list. I’m so glad I remedied that with the audiobook as opposed to reading it. Let me first say, as you can probably tell by the fact that I have reviewed several already, I love audiobooks! For a book obsessed person like me, audiobooks mean I can stay immersed in a story while I’m driving, doing house projects, walking the dog etc. AND they help me make a dent in my ridiculous TBR pile because I always listen to a different book than the one I’m reading. For me, the key to sticking with and enjoying an audiobook is the narrator.

I was pleasantly surprised that Lisa Genova narrates this audiobook as authors don’t often narrate their own books…at least the fiction ones I’ve listened to. She tells the story in a straightforward manner, letting the characters speak without altering their voices in the annoying way that some narrators do which promptly causes me to turn off that audiobook and choose a different one.

The story is told from Alice’s perspective which is the perfect way to tell it. We meet Alice as she is busy managing her life as a psychology professor at Harvard,  wife to John and mother to grown children Lydia, Anna and Tom. She travels around the world lecturing about Linguistics, she teaches and mentors her students, she runs…her life is full and active. Until…little by little she notices she’s a little less organized, a little more forgetful. Then one day she becomes lost on the very familiar streets surrounding Harvard. Alice doesn’t waste time making excuses for herself, she understands on a deep level that something is wrong. This leads her to seek an answer and her diagnosis leads to life altering changes for her and her entire family. You will be left wondering what will happen to Alice and her family, each being affected in different ways by her devastating diagnosis.

Throughout this audiobook, I felt like I was getting a firsthand account of the story from Alice herself because of the way Lisa Genova narrated the story. At times, this made for a very emotional walk at the park because this was a sad story. But that’s not all it was so I would encourage you, if you haven’t already, to read or listen to this book. It’s one of the most thought-provoking reads I’ve come across in years. Highly recommended!

4.5/5 STARS

 

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Renee (Itsbooktalk)

19 thoughts on “AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: STILL ALICE By Lisa Genova”

    1. I completely agree! I really appreciate when a narrator doesn’t try to hard with over the top voice changes etc. I’m listening to YOU by Caroline Kepnes now narrated by Santino Fontana and he’s the best narrator I’ve ever heard. I’ll be shouting about this audiobook when I’m done…more so than I’ve already done on twitter:) Thanks for stopping by and commenting

      Like

  7. My husband has a deep fear of all types of dementia, which to him means becoming someone he is not. He’s so terrified that I never even considered reading this book or watching the movie. I would surely say something about it accidentally and deeply upset him. I actually like the audio books in which the narrator uses different voices because it reminds me more of an audio play–and I love those!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. It’s definitely not a disease anyone wants to think about getting, I can’t imagine myself or a family member getting Dementia of any kind. The author did a fantastic job depicting all facets of the disease which made it fascinating yet deeply sad. Thanks for stopping by and commenting

      Liked by 1 person

  8. Like you, this book has been on my TBR forever! I even own a copy that is sitting on my shelf as we speak. I also have a love for audiobooks. I only discovered audiobooks this year and they have changed my life! I have read 70 books this year, 30 of which were audiobooks! Love Love Love them.

    Liked by 1 person

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