LEFT NEGLECTED

Author: Lisa Genova

Genre: Fiction, Standalone

Published: 2011

Personal Rating: 4.5/5 (excellent)

Yearly Count:  106

From the Publisher:

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.

I absolutely love Lisa's ability to give her characters voice. She is a pro! Just like the family in Still Alice, this one came to life as well; they could actually be people I know. I don't have a lingering deep connection with the characters, but did care about each and every one of them during my read. Family life, sports and lessons, careers, date nights, skiing in Vermont - they couldn't be more relatable.

Unfortunately, this is the second book that I'm so on-the-fence in rating. Like the other, I have given it the benefit of the doubt and went with the higher rating. One reason for contemplating a quarter point lower is due to the fact that I don't care for dreams in my reading. Unfortunately, each chapter in the first half of the book opens with a dream. That caused me to experience a minor cringe every time. (odd, I know)  Another reason is that there were some plot points that were a little dramatic or maybe a little too set-up, but those were minor annoyances, nothing overbearing.

Lisa does an excellent job in helping others (us readers) to understand very complex brain glitches.  What a fabulous way to learn, and you don't even know it's happening!  Like I said - she's a pro!  

My thanks go to Simon & Schuster for sending me this e-Galley.  Left Neglected is scheduled to be published on January 4, 2011.