I was drawn to this book for the simple reason that I am interested in the impact of Alzheimer's disease on those who witness it ravaging their loved ones. Here is a witness account: Alzheimer Diary, A Wife's Journal.

So is her book cover. Unlike the flashy, colorful, over-the-top book covers of todays' literary market, this book is done in monochrome, which draws attention to lights and shadows, and to the texture that is out of focus at the foreground, gets sharper briefly around the center, and falls away into a dark blur in the far background. It is the perfect metaphor for the loss of memory and visual perception that is so acute in those suffering from the disease.

As a reader, I felt complete trust in her account, because in spite of her fragility, the ongoing stress and and the emotional pain, she writes her true feelings--even if they don't happen to be loving at the moment she records them. Even if she has to resort to irony in order to keep her wits. Which is the way she opens her journal, cursing her husband under her breath because he cannot manage finding his goddamn hat.

Five stars. ( )