Synopsis: Sarah is like any other career-driven supermom, leading a hectic but charmed life. Juggling her career, shuttling the kids to soccer, day care, and piano lessons; convincing her son’s teacher that he may not, in fact, have ADD; and making it home in time for dinner, it’s a wonder this over-scheduled, over-achieving Harvard graduate has time to breathe.
Everything changes one fateful day, while driving to work and trying to make a phone call, she looks away from the road for one second too long. In the blink of an eye, all the rapidly moving parts of her jam-packed life come to a screeching halt.
A traumatic brain injury completely erases the left side of her world, and for once, Sarah relinquishes control to those around her, including her formerly absent mother. Without the ability to even floss her own teeth, she struggles to find answers about her past and her uncertain future.
Type: Fiction
Quick Take: Highly Recommend - I had forgotten what a beautiful writer Genova is. This novel is written in the first person and felt like I was listening to someone tell me their story.
With the shooting in Arizona a few weeks ago I thought about the Senator several times while reading this book. Her road to recovery will be long and frustrating at times but hopefully she will find peace with her daily life at some point.
Sarah, the main character in Left Neglected, sounds just like any one of my friends pre-accident... the chaos of making it through the day can be overwhelming at times. She is constantly justifying her decision to work as opposed to staying home with her three small children. Post accident Sarah is a head strong woman navigating through recovery and finding peace with the 'new' Sarah. Since this book is written in first person so we don't hear her husband's side of the story - I would have liked to hear from him (this did occur to me a few times throughout the book).
Rating: 4/5 stars
Source: Personal Copy, audio (iTunes)
Challenge: Teresa's Audiobook Challange, January selection