Books like Left Neglected
Left Neglected
Left Neglected is a 2011 novel by Lisa Genova, a neuroscientist. It is the author's second novel.
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."
The novel focuses on 37-year-old Sarah Nickerson who 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 has a busy work and personal life, and this portion of the novel documents her daily routine. Later, 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 tries to pay greater attention to them, hence the double meaning of the book's title, "left neglected". Sarah asks her husband to quit his job and the two move to a weekend house in Vermont while navigating their new lifestyle and careers.