TLC Book Tour: Left

Mary Hogan's novel is one that hit close to home for me.  My father has Alzheimer's and while reading Left I found myself often nodding my head, understanding Faye's feelings and the events that were unfolding.

Left felt autobiographical to me.  I know it's not because I've read Hogan's author's notes at the end of this novel, but the fact that it felt like that shows how very accurately this story is told.  

My parents went on a trip of Europe and my father got lost, later brushing it off as an over-reaction on my mom's part.  In Left, they are in Europe as well, when Faye's husband pulls over and lets her out of their car to use a bathroom as he circles the block. He never returns to pick her up, and it is hours later when she is reunited with him.  He had gone on to the airport and can't believe she didn't know to go there.  I've seen this logic - or lack of it- firsthand and felt in that moment that Hogan really understood what living with someone with dementia is like. 

I know each situation is different, but Faye's husband was much like my father- unwilling to talk about the fact that something was going on, or admit that he had a problem.  And I think at first people didn't believe my mom when she verbalized her concern.  Faye feels this, too, as she talks to her husband's doctor, his son, and one of his colleagues.  

I loved this book.  Even though it was hard to read, for me it validated everything my family has gone through.  There is maybe a rose-colored glasses ending to this that I don't think is horribly realistic, but Hogan does a great job of sharing Faye's story and what it felt like to live with someone who was changing - leaving- right before your eyes.

There are lots of books that deal with dementia. Left is definitely one worth reading.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for providing a copy of this book for my review. All opinions expressed are, as always, my own.

For more information visit the HarperCollins website