From the inside cover of The Wilderness:
It’s Jake’s birthday. He is sitting in a small plane, being flown over the landscape that has been the backdrop to his life – his childhood, his marriage, his work, his passions. Now he is in his early sixties, and he isn’t quite the man he used to be. He has lost his wife, his son is in prison, and he is about to lose his past. Jake has Alzheimer’s.
This unusual novel, narrated by a man who is steadily losing his grip on reality, is a remarkable journey through the human mind and memory. I’ve never known anyone with Alzheimer’s, as it thankfully doesn’t run in my family (or they die too young), but if I had to guess what it would be like, this novel is it. Jake’s reality comes and goes; he finds his mind a total blank at times but usually he is just confused. He can’t remember if his daughter is alive or dead, why he is visiting this man in jail (his son), or who the woman sleeping next to him is, except in brief moments of clarity. He remembers his younger life the best and often has flashbacks to himself as a newlywed, in love with his wife, a successful architect, a new father. He can’t decide what is real and what he has imagined, or why some memories have significance and others don’t. In short, he is confused.
I’m not sure how I feel about this book. I wanted to love it more than I did, but I think it was too scary for me. I felt sorry for Jake and I just felt that the inevitability of his fate outweighed the beauty of the life that he had lived. It is powerful and it is moving and I suspect it has changed the way I will think about elderly people forever, but it’s also scary and depressing. This is the undeniable truth about what will happen to many of us if we live to be Jake’s age. He has lived a successful, mostly happy life, which he can piece together and remember gladly, but now he is losing that ability before he has even died. He boils the coffeepot dry, he can’t remember if he is supposed to eat eggshells, he forgets that he’s completed some part of therapy five minutes after it’s happened, and he doesn’t even know if his daughter is alive because he’s just remembered her older, and laughing, but at the same time he remembers her dead.
I do think that this is one of those important books that can open our minds to the suffering of others, one of those books that we should all read and think about. It reveals the wilderness that our brains can become as they lose so much in old age. I’m not going to lie though because it is heartbreaking and it is tough to read. It’s a worthy, worthy book, but it will make you cry.
I’m terrified of Alzheimer’s, so I think it will scare me too. And I have no doubt it will make me cry. It definitely sounds worth reading anyway, though.
I have heard good things about this book, but I know what you mean by scary book. I just read a memoir on Cancer and I’m not sure I can handle anything on Alzheimer’s. But this book is on my wish list, I’ll read it when I’m ready
.-= Violet´s last blog ..After You by Julie Buxbaum =-.
This is my favourite book of the year so far, but I know what you mean about being scary. I think the probability that this will happen to us, or someone we know means that it is a very hard book to read. It is one of the most emotional books I’ve ever read. I agree – anyone who read this book will need to keep the tissues handy!
.-= Jackie (Farm Lane Books)´s last blog ..The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver =-.
I wonder how similar this one is to Still Alice, which is about a woman who has the same illness. Alzheimer’s is an all too reality in both my and my husband’s family. My grandfather suffered from it and my husband’s uncle was recently diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. It’s had a rapid impact on him. My grandmother suffered from dementia, and although not the same as Alzheimer’s, similar enough symptom-wise. One of my worst fears is getting it.
.-= Literary Feline´s last blog ..TGIF: Music, Wish Lists & Tears =-.
Meh. I have a hard enough time watching my grandma go through this; I don’t want to read about it.
.-= heidenkind´s last blog ..The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker =-.
I must read this book; I loove stories that evoke emotion.
Thanks for posting this wonderful review.
.-= diane´s last blog ..149 – The Broken Window; Jeffery Deaver =-.
Forgetting who you are and then having moments of why you forget is down right terrifying to me. It was brave of you to read this book, knowing Alzheimer’s is always a possibility. These patients deserve the utmost respect and compassion.
Excellent review.
.-= jennygirl´s last blog ..Review: Nefertiti by Michelle Moran =-.
I, too, find Alzheimer’s terribly scary, and don’t know if I could read this book. I don’t think I could spend so much time reading about something that I find so terrifying, which is why I also won’t read Still Alice. I bet it’s a very emotionally touching book, but I just don’t think I will ever read this one. I liked your honest reaction to this book, and admire your ability to read it.
.-= zibilee´s last blog ..Moonlight in Odessa by Janet Skeslien Charles – 352 pgs =-.