Emil
"Handsome" is about a moment in time with Evvie, a woman suffering from Alzheimer's.
The stream of consciousness writing style is difficult to get into at first and can feel exhausting to read, which for this book I personally love. Things get repeated a fair amount, and there are no full stops. The chapters are of a reasonable length however which does help give you places to mentally catch your breath.
It really did feel like I was sitting in the room with Evvie listening to her talk about her life and experiences, her opinions and feelings. Her story is told nonlineary and sometimes suddenly, but it always made some sort of sense through the chaos.
I feel like some media surrounding Alzheimer's can really infantilise the person suffering. I didn't get that feeling from Evvie; she has personality, wit, extremely strong emotions on both sides of the spectrum. Even through her illness you can see who she is. I will be thinking about her long after I finished this book.
I do think the book went on slightly too long, maybe by a chapter, as the reptitiveness of her thoughts do start to become very tiring to read by the end. You could argue that's part of the point though.
I think some people could struggle with the writing style, but if you can adapt to it I would recommend it.
"Handsome" is about a moment in time with Evvie, a woman suffering from Alzheimer's.
The stream of consciousness writing style is difficult to get into at first and can feel exhausting to read, which for this book I personally love. Things get repeated a fair amount, and there are no full stops. The chapters are of a reasonable length however which does help give you places to mentally catch your breath.
It really did feel like I was sitting in the room with Evvie listening to her talk about her life and experiences, her opinions and feelings. Her story is told nonlineary and sometimes suddenly, but it always made some sort of sense through the chaos.
I feel like some media surrounding Alzheimer's can really infantilise the person suffering. I didn't get that feeling from Evvie; she has personality, wit, extremely strong emotions on both sides of the spectrum. Even through her illness you can see who she is. I will be thinking about her long after I finished this book.
I do think the book went on slightly too long, maybe by a chapter, as the reptitiveness of her thoughts do start to become very tiring to read by the end. You could argue that's part of the point though.
I think some people could struggle with the writing style, but if you can adapt to it I would recommend it.