Book of Week

Left Neglected, second novel of Harvard-educated neuroscientist Lisa Genova (Still Alice, 2009), is the most enjoyable book I have read since The Help by Kathryn Stockett two years ago. 

The story is told in the smart and witty voice of protagonist Sarah Nickerson, a successful Boston executive living her dream. Ever since she and husband Bob met at Harvard Business School, these two have been on a mutually supportive race to the top. Three children, a Vermont vacation home, and many pairs of Jimmy Choo's later, the adrenaline of success has become an addiction.  

When a car accident upends this frantic life, Sarah's cranial injury results in a brain condition called "left neglect," the inability to perceive anything left of her midline. 

Genova's thorough research and neuroscience background take the reader inside therapy and rehab, and to Sarah's very personal struggle to reclaim her life. Relationships to her children, husband, estranged mother, and even to herself undergo seismic changes when she is forced to adapt to the new limitations and need for assistance caused by her brain injury. Along the way, Sarah discovers humility,  forgiveness, gratitude and a new understanding of what it means to be "whole."