“Left Neglected” by Lisa Genova – A Shift in Perception

We often take what we see for granted, in the sense that we feel as if the world in front of our eyes is the ultimate reality, and that it will never change.

However, what we forget is that what we see is just our own, personal perception of the world, and it can very well change in the blink of an eye, forcing us to reconstruct or rearrange our personal reality.

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova is an exploration of that, at least to a certain extent, as we are presented with a lively and beloved mother in her thirties, Sarah Nickerson. Though she lives a good life, it seems that one day lady fate decided to frown down upon her, throwing Sarah straight into a car crash, leaving her with a rather unusual brain injury: left neglect.

In other words, Sarah has lost completely any awareness of events occurring on the left side of her field of vision. And so, she must reconstruct her reality in accordance with her perceptions, all while trying to navigate this chaotic world of ours.

Lately, I have to admit that I have given a lot of thought to the vague and always-open topics of reality and personal perception, so this book was of great interest to me merely because of its premise… and I have to say, the author truly developed the story in some interesting directions, but I will stop myself from spoiling them for you.

I will tell you thought that Sarah was probably the perfect protagonist for it all, going through the various phases and emotions one might experience during such a drastic change.

Throughout her odyssey in her own mind, Sarah comes to learn many new things about the world she once ignored, forcing herself to pay attention to the various bits, pieces and details which make up her reality.

At the end of it all, though it would seem that such a condition is a tremendous handicap and a nearly insurmountable hurdle, for Sarah it ends up being a tremendous milestone in her own spiritual development.

As far as the style of the book goes and all the technical aspects, Genova is simply without fault, writing in a rather light and somewhat humorous manner, even dealing with the harsher parts of such a life.

Though perhaps this fails to capture the seriousness of the whole ordeal in the eyes of some people, I believe that such a style reinforces the idea that even the way in which the most tremendous of problems impacts you depends on your perception.

Also, I should note that Genova’s experience as a neuroscientist seems to have spilled over into the book, as we are given technical and rather interesting details about how this type of brain injury affects you.

All in all, Left Neglected is a charming and captivating exploration of personal perception and reality through an unusual vehicle, and I suggest you check it out if you feel like reading a book which looks into some of life’s unanswerable questions as well as the human nature.

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Lisa Genova Personal site Lisa Genova is a neuroscientist who graduated from Bates College with a BS in biopsychology as well as a Ph. D. in neuroscience from Harvard University. She is also a respected author in literary circles, having penned Still Alice, Left Neglected, and Love Anthony. She made her author’s debut in 2007, but if her recent efforts are any indicator, there is still much more to come from her.