(169)Left Neglect by Lisa Genova

When an author has such a phenomenal debut as Lisa Genova did with Still Alice, she has to live up to some pretty high expectations. Her new book, LEFT Neglected , is a pretty strong follow up.

Left Neglected introduces us to Sarah Nickerson. Sarah is a graduate of Harvard Business School and a VP of Human Resources at a large company. She is married to a wonderful man and they have three great kids that spend more time with their Nanny, then they do with their parents. The Nickerson's live to work and have a highly over-scheduled life. It all comes to a screeching halt one day when Sarah is in a serious car accident. After being in a coma for eight days, she wakes up to discover that the left side of her world has disappeared. She has what is called Left Neglect. She can not see anything to her left. It just does not exist. She can not see her wedding ring or the hand it to which it is attached. She can not see her husband when he stands on her left side or the left side of the Junie B Jones book she is reading to her daughter.

Sarah Nickerson has had her whole world rocked. She went from being a corporate powerhouse to being totally dependent on those around her for her basic needs. As a reader we get to watch Sarah struggle, not only physically, but emotionally with her her "new normal". Still Alice was a profoundly emotional book for me to read, that story touched me more than any story has touched me in a very long time. Left Neglected did not move me AS much, but it was still a wonderful book to read. Sarah & her husband are strong, successful characters, but the way they deal with a crisis is nothing but human.

Lisa Genova has written another intelligent novel about how it takes more than a drive to succeed to survive a tragedy. It takes a whole team of people to cheer us on, lift us up, and show us what are the really important things in life. Still Neglected can be purchased in January from anywhere books are sold.