The Little Things
February 1, 2016

I read Left Neglected immediately after finishing Love Anthony. I appreciate Lisa Genova’s stories, and enjoy the mix of medical information being woven through a story, while also showing what it’s like for individuals and families to experience whatever  illness she’s talking about.

I had never heard of “left neglect” before, which made this book even more interesting. The main character gets in a car accident and lands in the hospital, where she slowly realizes that her brain is no longer registering things on the left side of her body. Left Neglect, or hemispatial neglect, occurs when an injury occurs on one side of the brain and this causes an inability to take in stimuli from one side of the body. Fascinating, isn’t it? This is the story of one woman’s fight for independence, connection with family, and figuring out what is truly important to her.

Left Neglected Book Review

The quote below is one of my favorite parts of the entire book:

“I’ve been so focused on what’s horrible and unfair and terrifying about my condition that I hadn’t acknowledged what is positive about my condition, as if the positive had been sitting quietly by itself on the far edge of the left side of my condition, there but completely ignored. I can’t copy a whole cat. But I can recognize it, name it, know what one sounds and feels like, and I can copy most of it, enough for anyone who looks at it to know what I’ve drawn. I am lucky.”

On goodreads I gave this book a 4 out of 5, and definitely enjoyed it more than Love Anthony, but not as much as Still Alice. If you’re interested in more book suggests, check out my book review page!

Now it’s your turn to share! How do find new book suggestions for yourself? What draws you to a book after reading the description?

←

Comments are closed.