Left Neglected by Lisa Genova ~ Book Review

Sarah Nickerson is the mom who does it all.  She juggles a high powered career, a husband who also is climbing the career ladder, and 3 young kids one of whom is under a year old.   They live in an affluent neighborhood outside of Boston with both her and her husband commuting into Boston to work and also own a home at a ski resort where they try to escape on the weekends to balance the insane schedules and 80 hour work weeks they keep. She has it all and for the most part loves the busyness.  She is the queen of multitasking to keep that wheel turning.  But one day it all comes to a grinding halt in a split second of time when she makes the choice to answer her phone while driving.  Surviving the accident but sustaining a brain injury called left neglect, she strives to put all her skills and her competitive nature into getting better and getting back to her life.  But brain injuries don't always listen to the strongest of our commands or determination and in the forced slow down Sarah must learn to listen to her body, find new  ways to navigate life and find the good in the bad circumstances.  Retreating to the ski hill she loves, she finds healing and peace but not in the ways she would have ever thought. 

Such a good book again by this author.  Once again, she is able to weave a fictional story around a real life brain illness or injury and teach her readers about the effects on both the injured and their families and those around them.  It's a very real, sensitive portrayal of the struggles they face and gives the reader compassion for those facing this kind of injury without it being a dry textbook factual read.  You are drawn into the story through the emotional elements the author is so gifted at bringing out in both the characters and the reader.  I also love how in this story the concept of the American dream is dissected in the light of one family having to re-examine what they thought was that dream and the accomplishment of it and taking a hard look a what really is important to them in the long run. 

I gave this book a 9.5/10.  The only reason it didn't score 10 for me was because in the beginning Sarah is having dreams at night and that really slowed the story for me.  I'm an at face value reader and struggle with allegorical and hidden meaning elements in stories so I found myself really skimming those parts.  Once those parts were done in the story it really picked up and became hard to put down.