On My Nightstand - Left Neglected

Left Neglected – by Lisa Genova

Source: Kobo

Book description (from Amazon.ca):

Sarah Nickerson is like any other career-driven supermom in Welmont, the affluent Boston suburb where she leads a hectic but charmed life with her husband Bob, faithful nanny, and three children—Lucy, Charlie, and nine-month-old Linus.

Between recruiting the best and brightest minds as the vice president of human resources at Berkley Consulting; shuttling the kids to soccer, day care, and piano lessons; convincing her son’s teacher that he may not, in fact, have ADD; and making it home in time for dinner, it’s a wonder this over-scheduled, over-achieving Harvard graduate has time to breathe.

A self-confessed balloon about to burst, Sarah miraculously manages every minute of her life like an air traffic controller. Until one fateful day, while driving to work and trying to make a phone call, she looks away from the road for one second too long. In the blink of an eye, all the rapidly moving parts of her jam-packed life come to a screeching halt.

A traumatic brain injury completely erases the left side of her world, and for once, Sarah relinquishes control to those around her, including her formerly absent mother. Without the ability to even floss her own teeth, she struggles to find answers about her past and her uncertain future.

Now, as she wills herself to regain her independence and heal, Sarah must learn that her real destiny—her new, true life—may in fact lie far from the world of conference calls and spreadsheets. And that a happiness and peace greater than all the success in the world is close within reach, if only she slows down long enough to notice.

My thoughts:

I really liked Lisa Genova’s other book Still Alice, so when I had heard people talking about this one and saying good things, I was pretty excited this was picked as a book club read, but honestly thought I did not love this book.

I really, really did not like Sarah’s character (although she did get better as the book went on) and I found the story dragged on for me.

I do like the concept though, and we had probably the best ever book club discussion about this book – so in that regard it was fantastic.

It really gets people thinking and talking – the whole what if this happened to you kind of scenario.
If you are in a book club and are looking for a book to get the discussion going - this would be your book.

My rating: 3 ½ out of 5.