Book Review: Left Neglected

Left Neglected is the newest novel by neuroscientist turned novelist Lisa Genova, author of Still Alice. It’s the story of Sarah Nickerson, Harvard MBA, mother of 3, higher income earner alongside her MBA husband and, like him, working 80 hour weeks to afford their home in an exclusive suburb, a nanny, and all the requisite activities for the kids. Multitasking is her life, and things never seem to slow down.
Until a car accident (guess what she was doing at the time?) brings it all to a screeching halt, leaving her with a traumatic brain injury that results in left neglect, a condition which makes her unaware of anything, including body parts and objects in her environment, on her left side.

As she did in Still Alice, Genova takes an unflinching but compassionate look at what happens to a life when its brain begins to fail it. Left Neglected communicates the pain and frustration of left neglect, an uncommon and poorly understood consequence of traumatic brain injury with an abiding hopefulness and sense of humor that, in the best of circumstances, help people cope and learn to compensate. The book’s characters are realistic and likable, though Sarah’s husband’s character could have been written with more depth. The symptoms and accommodations related to left neglect are fascinating. Like Still Alice, the book is a page turner and an easy read … and I always love a happy (but not sappy) ending. 

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Number 26 in my  52 Books in 52 Weeks challenge.  Last one was Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths.

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