Still Alice Book Check In 1

doozer1345 · January 2016

I guess to start I'll post some questions in the book club part of the book:

Why doesn't Alice tell John when she gets lost in Harvard Square?
Why do you think Alice has such a dissociated reaction to her diagnosis?

1. I think she's in denial or thinks she can "fix" herself due to her background as a word/psychology professor. It's also very scary coping with something like that then adding someone else's input can just confuse things more as well as puts more pressure on you to cope. Maybe she just wanted to swallow it herself alone first, maybe get a game plan, see how bad it was first before she brought John in on it.

2. I think her dissociation to her diagnosis comes from not wanting it to be so. A denial that something like that could happen to someone of her knowledge in the psychology world.

ETA: Next Sunday will be pages 85-169.

yogahh · January 2016

I agree about the denial... Also she is such an in control person, so admitting that something happened that was out of her control would have been out of character for her. Additionally, there were issues in the marriage which may have left her feeling that she had no one to talk to about what happened. She felt alone, like she had no one to support her.

doozer1345 · January 2016

Am I the only one who is suspicious John is having an affair?

mcb2016 · January 2016

The idea of an affair hadn't crossed my mind. They seemed to have both gotten wrapped up in their careers and lost focus of their relationship. I agree that she was in denial and needed a lot of time to process everything internally before speaking about it with John.

blaisdew · January 2016

I second @doozer1345 's reasons Alice had to keep her experience from John. To add to it, I wonder if the author was intent on creating a strong and independent female character, and therefore wanted the reader to see her process and manage her problems on her own. I love the character of Alice, and know it would have changed her a bit had she told John right away. I also think she was terrified to have something threaten her intelligence and livelihood, so she didn't fully confront it herself.

wamam027 · January 2016

@doozer1345 this was a thought of mine from the get go, in regards to the affair.

Agreed on what everyone else is saying in regards to why Alice didn't tell John that she had gotten lost in Harvard Square. As someone studying and not too far from an MS in psychology, a lot of the lingo and diagnoses from the DSM are spoken of and studied regarding other patients on a regular basis. Like Alice noted when she was being tested by the Neurologist using the Stroop and other standard tests used in psychology, she had taken these several times before (so does every other psych major, I've taken them too) but she took them to use as the control in a study of subjects; this time around SHE was the subject being compared to the scores used for the control group. Not only is the general diagnosis of Alzheimer's difficult to accept for anybody, but even moreso for somebody who has a career in which diseases such as this are studied on a psychological level. Alice not only had to face accepting her own fate with this disease, but accepting that SHE is now the subject and not the one doing the researching on another subject.

gamommyx3 · January 2016

I think her dissociative reaction has a lot to do with her training as well. She looks at everything analytically, & adding an emotional attachment was just not her inclination.

kbrands7 · January 2016

I see the dissociation from the diagnosis/symptoms and her reasons for not telling John sooner as being very closely tied. She communicated several times that she had worked hard for her accomplishments-- even past the hit that her career took when she became a mother (that John's career didn't take). She has a lot of disdain for her father, who was out of control and dependent-- and it turns out likely had Alzheimer's as well. Losing independence, or appearing needy as she puts it, and appearing more like her father are two things that she just can't come to terms with readily. Add to this the deep understanding that she has of psychology that @ncm0328 pointed out, and you have a woman who is feeling like she is losing her entire world, likely.

I see her husband as kind, but dismissive. Maybe it's professional or the busy schedule, but getting lost and feeling the need to see a neurologist is definitely not the sort of conversation that you want to rush. When she finally does take the time to explain things, he is in denial at first like she was, then runs off to do some research. He was emotionally supportive when he thought she simply stressed, but reverts to science when he realizes there might be a problem beyond fleeting stress. I think it does show care, but not the sort of care that she needs right now.

yogahh · January 2016

kbrands7 said:

I see the dissociation from the diagnosis/symptoms and her reasons for not telling John sooner as being very closely tied. She communicated several times that she had worked hard for her accomplishments-- even past the hit that her career took when she became a mother (that John's career didn't take). She has a lot of disdain for her father, who was out of control and dependent-- and it turns out likely had Alzheimer's as well. Losing independence, or appearing needy as she puts it, and appearing more like her father are two things that she just can't come to terms with readily. Add to this the deep understanding that she has of psychology that @ncm0328 pointed out, and you have a woman who is feeling like she is losing her entire world, likely.

I see her husband as kind, but dismissive. Maybe it's professional or the busy schedule, but getting lost and feeling the need to see a neurologist is definitely not the sort of conversation that you want to rush. When she finally does take the time to explain things, he is in denial at first like she was, then runs off to do some research. He was emotionally supportive when he thought she simply stressed, but reverts to science when he realizes there might be a problem beyond fleeting stress. I think it does show care, but not the sort of care that she needs right now.

I was looking forward to your viewpoint, since I know you do this for a living

kbrands7 · January 2016

@yogahh Lol. I'm just glad that I was able to fit reading back into my schedule! I have typos and such because I typed this up while my lunch was microwaving, but I'm excited to be discussing something without teaching it

kp90 · January 2016

Has anyone watched the movie? I don't have the book and didn't want to chime in in case the book and movie differ like a lot of them do.

blaisdew · January 2016

I've read the book and seen the movie and from what I remember, they are very similar.

doozer1345 · January 2016

kp90 said:

Has anyone watched the movie? I don't have the book and didn't want to chime in in case the book and movie differ like a lot of them do.

It was OnDemand for a while and of course I didn't watch it! I heard it was good though.

doozer1345 · January 2016

blaisdew said:

I second @doozer1345 's reasons Alice had to keep her experience from John. To add to it, I wonder if the author was intent on creating a strong and independent female character, and therefore wanted the reader to see her process and manage her problems on her own. I love the character of Alice, and know it would have changed her a bit had she told John right away. I also think she was terrified to have something threaten her intelligence and livelihood, so she didn't fully confront it herself.

I didn't even think about how it would have changed my view on Alice had she told John immediately. That is really interesting.

kbrands7 · January 2016

doozer1345 said:

blaisdew said:

I second @doozer1345 's reasons Alice had to keep her experience from John. To add to it, I wonder if the author was intent on creating a strong and independent female character, and therefore wanted the reader to see her process and manage her problems on her own. I love the character of Alice, and know it would have changed her a bit had she told John right away. I also think she was terrified to have something threaten her intelligence and livelihood, so she didn't fully confront it herself.

I didn't even think about how it would have changed my view on Alice had she told John immediately. That is really interesting.

Qbf--------

She's definitely given up a great deal of personal freedom by telling John. Had she told him earlier, there would probably have been many uncomfortable, watchful scenes between the two rather than their usual ships-passing sort of exchanges. I'm expecting this next section of the book to be very uncomfortable. I think we'll get a much clearer picture of their marriage too-- for anyone who suspects infidelity, this next section should give us a clear idea of how invested John is in Alice.

evalynn24 · January 2016

I'm in agreement with PP's, but also I think she simply didn't tell him about getting "lost" because it wasn't as big of a deal at the time. Had that of happened after all the other memory issues then she may have been more concerned and told him before being diagnosed, but that was the beginning of her symptoms. She did end up telling him when she told him about the diagnosis.

kp90 · January 2016

doozer1345 said:

kp90 said:

Has anyone watched the movie? I don't have the book and didn't want to chime in in case the book and movie differ like a lot of them do.

It was OnDemand for a while and of course I didn't watch it! I heard it was good though.

It was definitely good. I'd say watch it once you're done with the book for sure! @doozer1345

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