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JANUARY 10, 2011

Left Neglected ~ Lisa Genova

*****Comments by bas bleu

Left Neglected - Lisa Genova

A thought-provoking second novel...

Sarah Nickerson, an over-achieving, type-A Harvard Business School graduate, wants it all. And, for a time, she has it: a husband, three young children, a high-powered corporate job, a primary home in the Boston suburbs, and a vacation home in Vermont. Every moment of her day is spoken for, and she has elevated the concept of multi-tasking to a dizzyingly high level.

Sarah's precariously built house of cards comes tumbling down when, searching for her cell phone while driving to work one rainy day, she is involved in a horrific car accident. A traumatic brain injury leaves her suffering from Left Neglect, a condition where her brain fails to recognize the left side of her body or anything in her left field of vision. The underlying neurological processes of this condition are not well-understood, and Sarah must use her fierce drive and ambition to make as complete a recovery as possible.

During the recovery process, Sarah comes to examine her life and its priorities. She realizes that wealth and power cannot compare with having the time to be fully present in the lives of her husband and children. Sarah also forges a new and more meaningful relationship with her long-estranged mother, who comes forward to help Sarah and her family cope with this crisis.

Left Neglected offers life lessons for all of us. In our increasingly chaotic and frenzied world, we often get caught up in merely surviving the requirements and activities of each day rather than living our lives with true meaning. Lisa Genova is a talented writer who compels her readers to look more closely at their own lives with gratitude for the abundant blessings that we usually take for granted.

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Comments

CarolK said, on Jan. 10 at 7:02AM
Reading your review makes me want to read this immediately. I so enjoyed Genova's Still Alice and learned a lot too. How does this compare in quality? Lisa Genova answers a few questions in this blog interview http://womensvoicesforchange.org/tag/left-neglected

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bas bleu said, on Jan. 10 at 7:51AM
I had a few quibbles with Left Neglected. I would have liked the secondary characters to be more fully developed. For example, the husband is wonderfully loving, supportive, upbeat, and maintains a sense of humor about his wife's condition...but a part of me had to wonder if he had periods of doubt, despair, and anger at the loss he, too, experienced...how could he not??? And the long-estranged mother just coming in and assuming control of the running of the house, the young children (including an infant) and their needs, shuttling back and forth to the rehab facility...that seems a bit "off" to me as well. I know how tired I am at the end of each day, and I cannot imagine (at my age) having to be responsible for a young family's needs as well as a daughter who has a medical crisis...

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CarolK said, on Jan. 10 at 8:38AM
As I recall the secondary characters in Still Alice had some of these same flaws...particularly the husband. I'll let you know what I think when I read this.