Left neglected by Lisa Genova
Simon and Schuster, 2012.
(Age: Adult) Recommended. Compellingly told, this story, as we read
in the prologue, is about a 'traumatic smack to the head'.
After a brief prologue, we are plunged into the frenetic life of
Sarah Nickerson, a super-high-achiever, a woman who appears to have
everything in place: important, well-paid job; large family house;
good, loving (equally high-achieving) husband; and three much loved
children. With one mishap, albeit one that springs from
something simple, but which we all know is absolutely risky, her
world collapses.
Interestingly, Lisa Genova does not present Sarah as initially
appealing, and it is impossible not to feel exhausted as she unfolds
her story of fully-timetabled days, where she dashes from one
important task to another. We feel somewhat unnerved by her
apparent, if somewhat cliched, racing headlong to disaster. Yet her
incisively detailed story, told in the present tense, in spare
prose, is so seductive that it is almost impossible to put the book
down. It would be hard to not be captivated by her narrative
of deep personal struggle, trying to come to terms with her puzzling
condition, of her early resistance and refusal to adapt, and by her
grudging acceptance that she has to live every day in an entirely
new way, mentally and physically.
Forced to come to terms with her 'left neglected' mind, Sarah has to
let go of her old life as she can be no longer the performer, whose
children were expected to fit into her rigid timetable, who
timetabled her demanding work schedule into her day, and her
relationship with her husband into clearly defined blocks, for
talking, eating, relaxing and loving. Acceptance does not
happen without the help of others, and we are led through a
beguiling story of the arrival back into her life of her mother, of
hospital staff who challenge her to respond positively to her new
world, of her understanding of the real needs of her children and
husband. As Genova subtly alters her protagonist's view of
life and disability, she constructs a new, gentler woman, who not
only finds her soul, but who also finds a way to choose to live
differently.
An adult book and it is outstanding.
Elizabeth Bondar