Left Neglected

By Lisa Genova

The moving second novel from the author of international hit Still Alice, which explores the life of a woman struck by a brain disorder, Left Neglect

'I think some small part of me knew I was living an unsustainable life. Every now and then, it would whisper, slow down. You don't need all this.'

Sarah Nickerson has it all: a high-flying career, a loving husband and children, a second home. But does she have time to enjoy it? Too busy to pay full attention, can she see what's left neglected?

One fateful day while driving to work, Sarah looks away from the road for one second too long. In the blink of an eye, her overfull life comes to a screeching halt. In the wake of a devastating accident that affects her body and mind in surprising ways, it's time for her to choose: who does she really want to be?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Mar 3, 2011
• ISBN: 9780857202680

Lisa Genova

Acclaimed as the Oliver Sacks of fiction and the Michael Crichton of brain science, Lisa Genova is the New York Times bestselling author of Still Alice, Left Neglected, Love Anthony, Inside the O’Briens, and Remember. Still Alice was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, and Kristen Stewart. Lisa graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in biopsychology and holds a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard University. She travels worldwide speaking about the neurological diseases she writes about and has appeared on The Dr. Oz Show, Today, PBS NewsHour, CNN, and NPR. Her TED talk, What You Can Do To Prevent Alzheimer's, has been viewed over 2 million times.  

Reviews for Left Neglected

[mhanover10 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a condition I have never heard of before. It's pretty scary that you can get a head injury and even though it's there, your body doesn't acknowledge the left side of anything. I already don't use my phone when driving for anything and this book makes me want to put my phone in the trunk when I'm driving so I'm not tempted at all. This was very well written and Lisa really pulled me into the story and into the lives of the characters. I highly recommend this book.

[howifeelaboutbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

love Genova's writing style because it's so easy to get sucked into her books. All the blurbs on the cover say things along the line of "Clear your schedule" - and that's brilliant advice. It was incredibly hard to put the book down each time I had to go do something else. But above her writing style, I love Genova's subjects. She has a PhD in neuroscience, and has used that knowledge in both of her books I've read so far (Love Anthony being the other). The condition of "left neglect" that is the focus in this book is so fascinating, and I had never heard of it, so I was absolutely drawn in to learning about the condition. The characters are realistic as well, and the side story lines are really interesting, but her knowledge of neuroscience makes me eager to read more of her books and see what else she tackles.

[heatherlinc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After a horrific car accident, successful business woman and mother, Sarah Nickerson, suffers a brain injury known as Left Neglect where the patient's brain is unable to acknowledge or recognise the left-side of anything. Suddenly Sarah finds herself helpless, unable to feel the left-side of her body, read the left-side of a page or see anything on the left-side of the room. Fiercely independent before the accident, Sarah suddenly finds herself relying on others to do the most basic of tasks for her. I had never heard of Left Neglect before reading this book and I found Sarah to have a believable voice. I shared her fears, frustrations, small successes and fighting spirit. I can only imagine her heart-ache when she first realised everything she had lost and how terrifying that must have been. Gradually, however, Sarah learns to cope with her limitations and comes to appreciate what is really important in life. Sarah's mother is another great character. With her own fears and insecurities she steps in to become Sarah's personal nurse - dressing her, helping with Sarah's physio therapy, looking after the children and taking care of the general running of a busy household.

My only negative would be that the build-up to the accident was a bit too long and the end came quickly, otherwise it was a fascinating read. I am becoming a real Genova fan. Can't wait for her next book.

[lmjenkins · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book a lot, and I liked Genova's other novel. "Still Alice" as well. Both books are about women with neurological issues, but she does a great job of drawing a character you can relate to and of situations you can imagine yourself in. I was drawn in immediately.

[starla_aurora · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

pretty good. a tiny bit predictable but atill4a great read.

[terran_9 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The narrator suffers a traumatic brain injury in a car accident. She is diagnosed with "left neglect" a lack of awareness of everything to her left, including the left side of her body. The author is a neuroscientist and does a marvelous job of describing the condition from Sarah's point of view.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Digital Audiobook narrated by Sarah PaulsonA high-powered, “Type A” professional woman is excellent at her job and at juggling the demands of her children, her husband and her career. That is right up until the moment that she suffers a major brain injury in an auto accident and wakes with “left neglect.” This is a real neurological condition brought on by stroke or trauma, that results in the patient’s inability to recognize anything on the left. Patients suffering hemispacial neglect can see, walk, talk, but their brains ignore any signals from the left. As she has done for other neurological disorders, Genova crafts a compelling story that educates and entertains. I felt Sarah’s frustrations as she worked with occupational therapists to try to regain some of her lost functionality. I empathized with her inability to let go of the high expectations she set for herself. Her relationships with her husband, her mother, her children were all greatly affected by her changed circumstances. Something as “simple” as getting a Coke from the fridge became a complicated, frustrating and possibly dangerous adventure. I applaud Genova (and Sarah) for finding a little humor in some of these situations. I know a person with some aspects of this (result of a stroke). His stroke was several years ago, and he has long since stopped any physical or occupational therapy. His wife (and now the caretakers at the assisted living facility he calls home) turns his plate around for him or he’ll eat only what is on the right side, totally ignoring the left side of the plate. When she was still alive, his wife frequently reminded him to use his left hand. Reading this book has helped me understand a bit more about his condition. That being said, I thought the book was interesting and informative, but not as compelling as some of her other works. Sarah Paulson did a fine job performing the audiobook. She has good pacing and enough skill as a voice artist to different the various characters. I particularly liked how she voiced Sarah and her mother; the emotions behind their words really came out in her performance.

[debs4jc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What is really important in life? This story examines that question through the eyes of a career driven woman suddenly laid low by a car accident. Sarah was a constantly on the go businesswoman whose pace of life was so fast it is no surprise that she is often on the phone while she is driving--a near fatal error that leads to an accident and to a brain injury. The brain injury leaves Sarah with a condition called "Left Neglect"--her brain no longer realizes that there is a "left", so things on the left side of her vision disappear, and she also has no control over the left side of her body. Still, Sarah is elated to be alive, and she plunges into therapy, thinking that since she has never failed at anything she will be back at work in no time. Except she isn't. And when she does return home she needs lots of help--which is when her mother, whom she has hardly spoken to in years, reenters her life. As Sarah works through her recovery, she finds that taking things at a slower pace and actually spending time with her mother, husband and children make her notice things that she never slowed down to take note of before. Sarah changes--but does her family change with her?I highly recommend this, especially if you like books that explore medical issues and/or family issues. I found it engrossing and the characters felt very real to me.

[amme_mr · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another book by the author who wrote "Still Alice". A fantastic book again, which deals with the characteristics of the brain that can go wrong, and cause issues. I would recommend others to read this book, and enjoy Genova's writing style.

[celise-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I found this book a little to get into. I think the author took too long to get to the story of the book. The subject matter, Left Neglect, is very interesting. But the writing didn't hold my interest despite the interesting subject.

[capecurry · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Plot was predictable, characters were not particularly interesting nor likable.

[permaswooned · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What I would really like is for Lisa Genova to write faster. Like someone else who reviewed the book, this was the first one I purchased on a Christmas gift card, and it was an excellent choice. The author holds a neuroscience degree from Harvard, but she doesn't write like a scientist. Her main character Sarah is quite different from Alice in her first excellent book "Still Alice", and I "liked" her right away. The consequences of her unusual brain injury are fascinating to read about. I like that she is frustrated, but does not spend a lot of time feeling sorry for herself. Excellent read that I could not put down. Highly recommended.

[shirleyonn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliant; couldn't put it down. An inspirational read for moms on the fast track.

[glorybe1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really did enjoy this book about Left Neglect, which is a really weird condition where people who have had a stroke or an accident where the head is hurt, switch off the Left side of everything! A really hard concept to get your head round! They are not blind and can be in good health but don't see the left side of anything, their own bodies, a room, just about everything.This is the story of Sarah Nickerson a high flying executive who doesn't have enough hours in the day, 3 children (one of which has ADHD) a husband and 2 motgages. She has a dreadful accident which leaves her with Left Negelct and she has to rebuild her life.It is a really good read, written with warmth and humour, I am still not sure I have my head round the condition, but is not so terribly rare!

[4koo4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love the title of this novel and a double meaning that it carries with it. This is a story of the real medical condition called "left neglect" that is caused by the injury on the right side of the brain leading a person suffering from it to neglect everything on the left side of her/his world including the left side of her/his own body. And this is also a story of change and rediscovering sides of one's life and self that have been left neglected in life before the accident leading to brain injury and life change. Although this is a story of many losses, it's most of all a story of recovery, hope and discovery - what's still left and discovered gets celebrated over what is lost and gone. Life can still be good even if it's not the same anymore. Although the plot of the story is not the most original, Lisa Genova is a good storyteller whose characters come to life, and her background as a neuroscientist provides a firm ground for her writing about subjects like this. Truly inspirational reading for anyone living with a neurological illness or trying to imagine how it is to live with life-changing neurological symptoms.

[smits_52 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

really interesting book from the author of "Still Alice". A similar kind of story in which a woman learns to live with a disabling condition. Sarah is as endearing a person as Alice is.

[turtlesleap · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sarah is 37, a dynamic and successful human resources specialist with a high-powered Boston firm. She has three small children, a loving husband, a beautiful home and the lifestyle to match her salary. She also seems to be a bit of a brat. As a result of a catastrophic car accident, Sarah sustains injury to the right lobe of her brain and a condition called "left neglect." She has lost the left of everything--the printed page, her body, the space around her. As the book unfolds, Sarah begins to discover that her gradual rediscovery of her life brings with it a resolution of old emotional issues. Through the author's skill, the reader is able to watch this woman grow and mature, to rediscover the world around her, the reassess her entire value system and come to terms with a life-changing medical issue. The subject matter is compellingly interesting and the book is well written and a "fast read"--an excellent choice for a book discussion group.

[bhowell_35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a light and enjoyable read but becomes a bit predictable and soppy towards the end.

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sarah is 37, a VP at a major international company, a loving wife to Bob, who has a similarly fast-paced, high pressure job, and a mother to three young children. They have a house in a Boston suburb, another one in Vermont, $200,000 in student loans -- the embodiment of the "have it all" life.Sarah is injured in a car crash and suffers a brain injury, Left Neglect" where she is unable to perceive the left side of anything, including her own body. Not only can she not perceive it, she isn't aware that anyting is missing. Lisa Genova has written a wonderful story about how Sarah copes with her disability. Sarah, Bob, Sarah's mom and other characters are all very well developed. Ms. Genova writes with great insight and a touch of humour. She can keep the plot moving, while adding just emough of the minute details of life to make the characters come alive.Left Neglect is a fascinating condition that I knew nothing about. Since Ms. Genova has a PhD in neuroscience, she was able to show how this condition affects Sarah's life and I learned a lot from Sarah's story.

[danaburgess · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

From the front cover: "Remember how you couldn't put down Still Alice? Well, clear your schedule - because you're going to feel the same way." Jodi Picoult. True words!!Some of you will know that 'Still Alice' is one of my Top 63. (Truth be told, it is more like one of my top 5.) So when I found out that Lisa Genova had written a second book I raced to put it on hold at my local library. Best move I've made in a while.In our materialistic, rat race society full of two income professionals and 2.5 children, sometimes priorities get skewed. This is definitely the case for Sarah and Bob and their 'Charlie Brown' children. (The kids are Charlie, Lucy and Linus - don't get me started!) Between both parents working 60+ hours per week, kids in school and daycare, dance lessons, sports, homework and a nanny that can only work part-time, the Nickerson family is a case study in scheduling and organization. Then Charlie's teacher suggests he may have ADHD - and Sarah needs to make a phone call ... on her cell ... while she is driving ... (Quick aside here to vent about one of my pet peeves - DO NOT TEXT OR USE CELL PHONES WHEN DRIVING!!! PLEASE!!) Eight days later Sarah wakes up in the hospital. It soon becomes obvious that her brain has forgotten there is such a thing as "left". No left side of her plate, no left side of the room, no left side of her body, no "left".Despite all the difficulties of rehab and learning to live with a disability, I loved that Sarah was able to find the humour in some of the situations that arose. In all that she lost, she never lost the ability to laugh at herself. Sure, there was the occasional pity-party (well deserved, I'd say) but Sarah's indomitable spirit and desire to succeed won out.The only character I felt sorry for in this novel was Bob. He had such a load to carry and got virtually no attention or help. His support of Sarah was astounding. I would have liked to know him better.My "Top 63" has just become my "Top 64" My advice to you - if you liked 'Still Alice', read 'Left Neglected'!

[julie3billing · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Genova does an admirable job walking you through the difficulties of recovering from a brain injury. Left neglect itself almost sounds made up - that your brain ignores things on the left half of anything - rooms, books, faces, etc. An empathetically written book that's hard to put down (or in the case of audio, turn off.)

[readingwithtea · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Everything on the highway is still. Everything but me. I'm going 70 mph"Sarah is what has become known as a super-mum: high-flying career woman working a standard 80 hour week, mother to 3, with an equally hard-working husband. She tries to get home for dinner with the kids every night but never makes it to her son's football games. One day, driving to work, she looks at her mobile phone rather than the road, and is a victim of the predictably ensuing road accident. Waking up in hospital, she is fortunate not to have many broken bones, but her brain has been permanently changed - she has Left Neglect, a condition in which her brain fills in the left side of everything as if there is a blind spot there, meaning she can't see anything unusual on her left. Nor can she properly control her left hand or left leg.I'm still not sure about this fictional exploration of brain damage - in a sense, this reads like a survivor's memoir, and knowing that it is fictional leaves one with a sense of deception. On the other hand, using fiction gives Genova the opportunity to condemn the 200%-lifestyle that leads Sarah to the accident, and to have her experience a re-evaluation of life and recognise the need to downsize.All of the characters are entirely realistic - just reading about Sarah's job made me nervous as I thought about 60 emails coming in overnight (I usually only have 5!); her husband is wonderfully supportive but the conflict of a potential job loss, and Sarah's eventual challenge of him working so hard when the office is closed provides some much needed darkness to a very warm character. The kids are difficult, and the sub-plot about Charlie's schooling was a very interesting one - to have Charlie and Sarah doing their homework together was touching. As for Sarah's mother, who is a real piece of work...The writing was a little disappointing - judging from Jodi Picoult's rave quote on the front cover, I expected it to be similar to Picoult but I found the standard to be a little lower, and just below my snob threshold. I appreciated the single voice for the duration, rather than the recent fashion for switching narrator perspectives, but the incessant and unvaried present tense was a bit much for me.I'll be looking out for Genova's first book, Still Alice, and would recommend this as reading to anyone interested in brain injury. Just don't expect high literature.

[lynetterl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Having recently read Still Alice, I knew this would be a good read and I was not disappointed. Lisa Genova can both address the technical nature of the illnesses suffered by the characters in her books, as well as the day-to-day feelings they experience as they struggle to cope with something that is pulling their work life and self-perception to a halt. Unlike Still Alice's focus on Alzhemier's, I had no knowledge of the "left neglect" condition that can occur with traumatic brain injury to the right side of the brain. It was interesting to read about how that impacts someone's basic life functions, and I was almost more interested in that than in the story itself. Their were a few side stories that seemed a bit disconnected, such as the appearance of Sarah's mother after virtually being absent for most of her life. Her three children were not as much of a factor during her rehab as I imagined they would be, and being separated from them seems to be only a minor concern for her. Of course she was dealing with a lot, but if that were me and one of my children was only 9 months old, I'd be pretty worried about losing my connection with the baby who is not seeing mom much at all. Anyway, I did enjoy the book and look forward to more from her.

[kielianne · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book give a touching account of one woman, Sarah Nickerson, that acquires a brain injury from a car accident that leaves her with Left Neglect and how her and her family deal with how life as they know it changes more than they could have ever imagined before. Now Sarah has Left Neglect a form of neurological disorder that leaves a person with no concept of Left. They no longer perceive anything on their left side or the left side of anything to the right and then their brain tried to fill in the gaps. Essentially making it seem like they are seeing everything when they are really only seeing half of everything. Also along with this Sarah no longer associates her left arm and left leg as part of her body that she can control so they can easily get caught in things or get left in places she is unaware of. Also when asked Sarah would respond that she is aware she does have a left arm and leg but she doesn't know where they are and at times had great difficulty finding them.While learning about Neglect in my Communication Disorders in Adults class in post-grad I heard about this book and went right out and got the book from my local library. At the time I didn't get a chance to read it before it was due back. I then later picked up the audiobook which sat waiting to be read, along with a paperback copy I picked up not long after from a used bookstore, for nearly 2 years. I can't believe I waited this long to read this book! I absolutely loved it and wish I had read it sooner. :)

[bons_11 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What makes Lisa Genova's books so interesting is the fact she is educating her readers in neurological syndromes through her fictional books. She holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard. So not only do I find her stories well developed and entertaining, I also appreciate the ability to learn of these conditions. I truly am unable to imagine this Left Neglect condition. It is not a condition where the person is paralysed after a stroke or brain injury or even where they are unable to see their left side. In this case, the brain no longer acknowledges it has a left side therefore ignores it. Only at times does the story become a bit too detailed in the daily activities of pre-accident life, resulting in a rather slow beginning. But, again, this is an interesting read due to the subject matter and Genova's easy writing style.

[2chances · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Barnes and Noble are return Nazis. When I tried to return a Christmas gift for store credit (no receipt - it was a gift), the clerk was quite nasty about it. So I conceived an evil scheme: I would buy a book I was only mildly interested in (Lisa Genova's Left Neglected), read it, and then return it. Take that, B & N! A problem arose.Lisa Genova's book is...really good. Fascinating, actually. Sarah, the hard-driving, consulting-firm executive and mother of three, wins the daily gamble with her husband and gets to drive to work without dropping the kids at daycare. Her mind spinning with her endless to-do list, she allows her attention to stray for a vital instant, and suffers a horrific accident, including a traumatic brain injury. When she awakens, she finds she has lost all awareness of anything on her left - Left Neglect. This could have been a recipe for a somber, bitter novel, or perhaps an unrealistically inspirational one, but it is neither. Sarah, her husband Bob, Sarah's formerly neglectful, now eager-to-make-amends mother, are all fully-formed characters who are also immensely likable. (Thank you for that, Lisa Genova! I detest spending time with ugly people, even if they are well-drawn.) The decidedly peculiar problems faced by those suffering from this unusual condition are - well, they were just so interesting. At one point, Sarah's husband is urging her to "look left" and she asks him to describe the room to her, which he does. Then she asks him, "Okay, now what if I told you that everything your see is only half of everything that's really here? What if I told you to turn your head and look at the other half? Where would you look?"Ouch. But also, really well done, Lisa Genova! I really GOT that. Left Neglected is fast-moving, intellectually engaging, emotionally powerful, and really got me thinking about my own tendency to think there is only "one best way" to navigate the world. So I guess I'll have to revenge myself on B & N some other way.

[toobusyreading · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This novel introduced to me a medical condition I've never heard of before, left neglect. I tried to imagine not knowing what my left side is doing, not knowing if my hand is clutching something or waving or even still there. Everything should work, but the brain just doesn't process the left side.While interesting, this book didn't engage we quite as much as the others I've read by this author, especially Still Alice. The protagonist was stretched thin with family and career, but I didn't especially like her. She had more than a little hubris, and prided herself on multitasking. Wow, did that go wrong!There were heartfelt moments in the book, and some funny ones, too, although at the expense of Sarah. To me, though, I just couldn't connect with Sarah. She didn't have the depth I expected from one of Genova's characters. This is still a good book, but I liked both Still Alice and Inside the O'Briens better.I listened to an audio version of this novel, and the narrator is quite good.

[cherybear · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An excellent book. Genova is a master. I loved Sarah and her family. But Sarah and her husband work too hard, too many hours, in order to live a certain lifestyle and raise their 3 small children. But they are working so hard they aren't enjoying their life. Then Sarah is in a car accident, and suffers a brain injury called Left Neglect. She is completely unaware of the left side of her body, the left side of a room, the left side of a page of print, the left side of her plate--to her brain, and to her "left" does not exist. As she did in Still Alice, Genova takes inside Sarah and her life to make us feel what she is feeling and experiencing. As you can imagine, this experience means huge life changes for this family, as they come to terms with Sarah's limitations, and she works hard to live with them.

[tututhefirst_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ever since I read Lisa Genova's saga of an Alzheimer's victim, "Still Alice", I've been anxious to get to this one. Although written as fiction, the story of this more common than we realize neurological condition known as "Left Neglect" is compelling, frightening, encouraging, discouraging, depressing, and uplifting all at once.The main character, Sara Nickerson, is portrayed as an over-achieving, multi-tasking, high powered executive, mother of three who thinks she can have it all--and almost does, until a momentary lapse of judgement (trying to dial a cell-phone while barreling along a crowded turnpike at 70mph) results in a horrific accident, and a traumatic brain injury. When she awakes in the hospital, she is confronted with the fact that the entire left side of her experience is missing. She can't see on her left, she can't use her left arm or leg, she can't hear on her left--in essence, she is missing half her reality. She can't dress, bath or toilet herself, she can't read, she can't use a computer, she can't walk, she can't feed herself, and the outlook is less than optimistic for a full recovery.For about 60% of this book, I wanted to smack this woman. She is obnoxious, arrogant, demanding, selfish, and totally unlikable. But..............she is suffering an incredible challenge, and an almost impossible obstacle course to recover her previous life, so I continued reading, praying for a change of heart. On top of the physical issues she had to deal with, she is confronted with having her mother moving in to her household to help out with day to day chores, with her daughter's physical needs (dressing, bathing, moving etc) and with childcare - particularly for the toddler. Apparently, Sara has not been on speaking terms with her mother for most of her adult life, and the psychic energy she must expend on re-building (or tearing down) that relationship is an additional trauma to her system. On top of everything, the family has to face a precipitous drop in its very affluent life-style if Sara is unable to return to work.Genova has given us a powerful portrayal of the physical, mental, psychological and spiritual challenges of this type of injury --not just to the victim, but to the family and friends who also are impacted by its devastation. In the end, it is a story of the power of the human spirit to rise above adversity and get on with life. It is a story that will stick with the reader for years.

[iudita_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a pretty good read, but it failed to make an impact on me the way "Still Alice" did. I found it somewhat predictable and I couldn't relate to this character in the way I related to Alice in her previous book. I'm sure that many people will enjoy this book but I would suggest not going into it with high expectations based on Still Alice because I think it falls a bit short of the mark. Overall though, still a good book.