Book Review: Left Neglected

Left Neglected, by Lisa Genova

• Heartbreakingly good

• Many layers of stories and importance

• A book that makes you think

• 4 stars

It has taken a while to post a review of this book, I needed to sit with it for a while. From the first chapter I had a feeling all the topics and emotions of the book were going to get to me. And I was very right.

Sarah, the main character, who starts the book living life in the fast lane (literally) has her life turned upside down in an instant. After a car accident leaves her with a brain that no longer recognizes the left side of her body (a condition know as left neglect) she has a long rehabilitation period.

As she comes home the hospital and begins to heal, he estranged mother comes home to help, bringing up lots of history and feelings. Then she learns of some of the struggles of her own son and family that she’s missed in her constant busy days. Followed by the state of her career and her husbands, and how do they move forward. All if it unfolds through the POV of Sarah, and I couldn’t help but feel how real it all was.

Not only a realistic tone and happenings, but how real it is that there is so much we miss and brush aside in our day to day. All the things that it shouldn’t take a life altering event to see, but that’s how it always seems to go.

Sarah starts coming to the realization that if she could go back to her life as it was before, would she want to?

It was the kind of book that made me look around, quite literally, and take things in. What was I missing. This has been a tough year or so, and while it wasn’t busy for me being stuck at home, it has come with it’s own version of living in a blur. The things we don’t take time to address, or the things we brush aside because we don’t have or make time. This book makes one think about all the things.

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My Synopsis: Sarah is a working mom with no time to spare. Keeping up with a demanding job, husband and kid, and feeling like she can do it all keeps her thriving. When a car accident leaves her injured and on a long road to recovery, she realizes not only what’s truly important but that having it all isn’t what she thought it meant.

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