Good mystery. ( )

Don't you hate it when a book doesn't live up to its potential? I kept reading because I really wanted to get into the mind of a smart person who is sinking into the abyss of Alzheimer's dementia. But the author muddled an interesting exploration with a stupid murder mystery. ( )

A compelling and highly readable first novel that follows he downward spiral of Jennifer White, who is in her mid-sixties and is affected by dementia. Earlier, she had been a surgeon specialising in hand and arm medicine, but LaPlante captures movingly her decline as she gradually forgets more and more of her past and is unable to grasp her current situation. Jennifer’s memory comes and goes, so that at times she cannot recognise her daughter and son and her live-in carer. This mix is complicated by the recent murder of her close friend, Amanda, whose fingers on one hand have been amputated. Detective Luton who is investigating the murder, tries to piece together whether Jennifer was the culprit, but because of her illness, receives contradictory and unclear answers. LaPlante has captured perfectly, the increasing bewilderment and occasional lucidity of Jennifer and the effects of dementia, not only on the sufferer, but on those around them.

La doctora Jennifer White es una cirujana ortopédica retirada que padece alzhéimer. Cuando su amiga y vecina, Amanda, aparece muerta con cuatro dedos de la mano amputados quirúrgicamente, la doctora White se convierte en la principal sospechosa. Pero ella no sabe si lo hizo. Narrada con el discurso fragmentado y elocuente de la voz de Jennifer, la novela reconstruye la compleja relación que existió entre estas dos amigas de toda la vida, dos mujeres orgullosas y con carácter que, en ocasiones, fueron formidables rivales. A medida que la investigación del asesinato avanza y las relaciones entre Jennifer, su cuidadora y sus dos hijos adultos se intensifican, surge una pregunta escalofriante:

There are two certainties, one is that 64 year old hand surgeon Dr. Jennifer White has dementia that causes her memories to resurrect in spurts, and often not at all. And, the second certainty is that Dr. White's best friend and neighbor was brutally murdered with five digits cleanly severed from her hand.

The author takes us on a journey of what it is like to want to remember, but tragically, both long and short-term memories slip away, never to return. Jennifer has two grown children, a daughter, and a son. The daughter is much more mature than her younger lawyer brother. And, together they must find a way to be patient and find what is best for their mother.

Increasingly, all evidence of the murderer of Amanda seems to point to Dr. White, though she cannot remember anything about the murder of her friend, and some days cannot even remember she once had a friend.

Remininiscencent of Still Alice written of Lisa Genova, who also covered the topic of dementia in a scientific, understandable manner, both these well written books are most reads for those of us who may confuse forgetfulness with true dementia, or are part of the sandwich generation wherein we have health issues, but we must sacrifice ourselves for the love and care of those we love.

Jenifer White cannot remember the names and faces of her children or her full-time care taker. She thinks she is still married, and doesn't remember her husband's death.

So many holes in her memory make it almost impossible to prove she murdered her friend. What is sure is that their friendship was tenuous, problematic, and Amanda wasn't the friend others thought she was. Amanda was mean, vindictive and quite a bitch.

The author captured the issues of dementia in a very realistic manner. I had a 86 year old neighbor that I loved very much. As her memory became filled with gaping holes of loss, and her personally was quickly becoming lost, there were instances when I cried. I lost my friend. Her happiness, her ability to make me laugh, the sureness of her love, day by day were chipped away and left to a place never to be recovered. I will never forget the day she walked across the street to my house, sat on the chair she liked the best, and said "Linda, my mind is going. I do not know where it is going, but I cannot find it."

This was an excellent book because my experiences matched the way in which the writer portrayed Jennifer White's journey into an abyss of no return. ( )