Left Neglected is a 2011 novel by Lisa Genova. It is the second novel of the author, who is a neuroscientist. Heller McAlpin of the San Francisco Chronicle stated that Left Neglected "is about tending to neglected areas and healing rifts - familial and emotional as well as neurological."
Story
In the book 37-year-old Sarah Nickerson gets into a car accident and receives left neglect, a condition which results from damage to the right hemisphere of the brain. The first quarter of the novel occurs before the brain damage, while the remainder takes place after the brain damage. Prior to the accident Sarah is very busy with her work and in her personal life, and this portion of the novel documents her daily routine. Sarah gets into an accident while looking through the contacts on her cell phone while driving. After the accident she learns to live with her condition. Sarah realizes she had previously neglected aspects of her life and she puts attention to them, hence the double meaning of the title "left neglected". Sarah asks her husband to quit his job and the two move to a weekend house in Vermont while having new lifestyles and careers. Craig Wilson of the USA Today characterized the ending as "a bit of a happy ending, or at least a things-are-getting-better ending." The novel criticizes consumerism in the suburban lifestyle and the overwork that is often necessary to get the consumerism, since they result in neglect in personal life.
Sarah's mother - Sarah is estranged from her mother prior to the accident, and she believed her mother had neglected her after the death of Sarah's brother Nate. After the accident Sarah's mother comes to take care of her and lives with her.
Reception
Jessica Treadway of The Boston Globe wrote that the book "is a novel worth reading for the way it informs a little-known medical condition, as well as the engaging story of a character who transcends what could have been a tragedy to find a fresh appreciation for life." Treadway argued that some elements of the plot may be, for certain readers, "a bit too neat." Carla Lucchetta of The Globe and Mail concluded that Genova successfully depicted left side neglect. Lucchetta wrote that the story has some clichés and that it lacked the "vital and immediate" feeling in Still Alice. McAlpin wrote that the story is "engaging, sympathetic - if not particularly subtle". Wilson argued that "This is a well-told tale from a keen medical mind." Publishers Weekly stated that compared to Still Alice, Left Neglected is more accessible.
