Every Note Played

This book is incredibly well written. It depicts life with ALS perfectly (I would imagine) and allows you to be in the patients head. It was just so hard to read and made me super depressed. It’s a great book so feel bad giving it stars but it was excruciating to get through. I even had dreams I had ALS. Prob not a good choice for a beach read.

Seeing how this devastating disease affects not just the person living with it but everyone in their sphere was so well drawn. I also appreciated that the ending wasn’t tied up with a bow but true to each character. She knows the science but also human nature.

This lady is gifted. Once again she teaches you about a disease and at the same time writes a good novel that shows how some people deal successfully with it. This time it's ALS. I think anything she writes is worth reading.

Such a moving and inspiring book! I finished the book with tears streaming down my face and am truly touched. My heart goes out to anyone with ALS, and thank you, Lisa, for sharing this beautiful story!

I have been a caregiver of my Alzheimer’s reduced spouse. This novel was important for me to read. In spite of having placed him in a care home, I often ask that question...when will it end for him?

Such a moving and inspiring book! I finished the book with tears streaming down my face and am truly touched. My heart goes out to anyone with ALS, and thank you, Lisa, for sharing this beautiful story!

I have been a caregiver of my Alzheimer’s reduced spouse. This novel was important for me to read. In spite of having placed him in a care home, I often ask that question...when will it end for him?

I’ve lost a very special person recently and this brought back so many memories of the ICU and hospice. The author did a great
job of bring them to life. The author pulls us into Karina and Richard’s life, show us how important communication really is.

Another excellent, well researched book by Lisa Genova. In June last year I lost a very dear friend to this terrible disease and the course of her journey was only slightly different to the story told here.

A look into life with ALS. The relationships and difficulties of caring for someone with a terminal illness. The beauty and sadness are all here. Great story that makes you consider what you would do, and with this glimpse, builds empathy for all those that face this everyday.

What an amazing book. You really understood what it must be like to suffer from this. Horrific disease. Tears are falling as I write this. I would recommend that this is a must read. My heart goes out to all who suffer fromALS

Excellent book, well written, you can imagine yourself as the characters and feel what they endure. Not a happy light read but powerfully moving and makes you appreciate life and realize you should live each day to it’s fullest.

A reminder of the challenges of marriage and the complexity and frankly fragility that come with every individual. I try to remind myself that we’re all struggling in spite of what people try to make you believe.

Another well-written book by Lisa Genova about a very horrible disease. I appreciated all the information regarding the progression of the disease, but felt the story-line was not as enticing as those of her other novels.

When I read “Still Alice” I recommended that book to everyone I talked to. Actually, my copy traveled all over Wisconsin and then out to Portland Oregon. I shared it with everybody and they all loved it as much as I did. So when I saw this book and read the synopsis, I hit the preorder button right away! But let me tell you, I struggled to get through this book. My best friend who I read every single book with (our own little two person book club) has yet to finish, and we’ve read 4 books since starting this one. My sister who also loved Still Alice, made it through 25 pages and said, “I’m to a point in my life where I no longer feel I have to finish a book that I just can’t get into. On to the next”!
I got so frustrated reading about the drool running down his chin, everyone having to clean his pee off the floor, and laying in bed waiting to see if his finger would twitch. The music he loved became just as monotonous. I finally had to start skimming over the titles of all the songs because I just didn’t care anymore. I did finish this book but it took a lot of effort. And honestly, the only reason I finished it was because I was pissed that I spent $11.99 on a book that became disgustingly boring a quarter of the way in to it. Lisa Genova has one more book out that I had planned on reading. I won’t now! I don’t think I’ve ever written a bad review, sadly this is my first. What a waste of my money.

4 sad sad stars

Perhaps you have heard of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease commonly referred to as ALS. To receive a diagnosis of this disease is a death sentence coming in the form of the destruction of your neurons that control all your voluntary muscles. These nerve cells affected are located in you spinal cord and your brain ultimately leaving one trapped in a body that doesn't work, doesn't move, doesn't function, while your mind stays fully functioning. The cause for most patients is unknown while in a very few, it can be traced to a genetic link.

For Richard, a renowned concert pianist, this is the diagnosis he has received. He will experience the loss of the use of his hands, then his arms, and as this disease progresses he will be person locked within a body that will no longer work. He will no longer be that concert pianist receiving those standing ovations, being acclaimed, being loved by many. Who will care for him? Who will travel this road with him? Who will be able to make that journey and be strong for him?

Richard was formerly married to another pianist, Karina. They had a daughter, now in college, but now they are divorced and Karina has many painful memories of what her life with Richard had entailed, the unfaithfulness, the absences while Richard jetted around the world giving concerts, the giving up of her career to be mother to their daughter. However, once she learns of Richard's illness she makes a decision that will change her life, bringing her a level of acceptance and ultimately finding the peace that comes with forgiveness.

Ms Genova gives us an intimate look into ALS. She shows us its devastation, the way in which it robs one of life and perhaps of hope as well, since right now, there is no cure. She writes of the care givers, generous loving people who provide for ALS patients and the support system the family so desperately need. She takes us into the mind, heart, and soul of not only the one affected but also the toil it takes on family. It was not an easy book to read. There is no happy ending for ALS patients, but perhaps there is hope for the families they leave behind when they know that all has been done to provide the best quality of life for their loved ones through the various organizations that provide care for these patients. Perhaps you know someone with ALS. Perhaps you have heard of their trials and illness. Perhaps the goal, fostered by the ice bucket challenge to cure ALS will be achieved by 2020. I have known of three people with ALS. All of them were wonderful people, loved by family and friends, productive, accomplished, and sorely missed by the family and friends they left behind. I hope and pray that soon this disease will become a memory, that it will no longer terrorize and destroy lives that are so worth living.

"Some nights the music is well played and applauded, and other nights, the music is transcendent. He lives for those transcendent nights."

ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), or more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a terrible, awful waste of human life. And author Lisa Genova writes this gut wrenching story about one man that has it.

Richard Evans is a world renowned concert pianist. He has devoted his entire life to his piano playing, letting it be all consuming and ruining his marriage and his relationship with his daughter.

So what happens when he can't play any more?

"The keys want to be caressed, the relationship ready and available to him, but he can’t respond, and this is suddenly the cruelest moment of his life. He stares in horror at his dead hand on the beautiful keys."

This book is written from mostly Richard's point of view, allowing the reader glimpses into his life as this disease steals pieces of him away, a bit at a time. There are no punches pulled in this book. Every heartbreak and indignity is shown on the pages of this story.

This is also written from his ex-wife's point of view as she takes over caregiving for him. It is a story of regret and forgiveness along with details of the disease.

I read Genova's book STILL ALICE not long after it was released and can still remember the tears I shed as I read about Alice's losing battle with Alzheimer's disease. It was gut wrenching too (I've had quite a few family members with Alzheimer's) but I think ALS might even be worse. With Alzheimer's the patient eventually doesn't realize what's happening to them. It's still horrible for caregivers but the patient is oblivious.

With ALS the patient's mind is clear up to the very end, knowing everything that happens to them.

Both diseases are horrible and Genova writes brilliantly. If you want to read a true "horror" book, read this or STILL ALICE.

I received this book from Gallery Books through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

Emotionally engaging and insightful, Every Note Played is a richly layered story that will nourish longtime readers and fans of Lisa Genova’s previous novels like Inside the O’Brien’s (which addressed the effects of Huntington’s disease) and Still Alice (Alzheimer’s) as well as appealing to new readers .

This time Genova, a neuroscientist, hooks readers with the tale of a renowned concert pianist, Richard Evans, and his battle with ALS, an unforgiving disease that has caused the demise of his career, much in the same way his career coupled with his roving eye lead to the demise of his marriage and a subsequent rancorous divorce.

His unfortunate circumstance has caused his ex-wife, Karina, to reenter his life as his caregiver and chronicles the daily frustrations both face as patient and caregiver. Alternating between the viewpoints of Richard and Karina, the reader witnesses the love of music that initially drew them together followed by a litany of events shared by the couple but perceived very differently by each.

The narrative shows both Richard and Karina to be far from perfect in their thoughts and actions but through this shared agonizing journey each experiences a degree of personal growth.

Genova has a talent for giving readers an in-depth look at the physical and emotional effects of the diseases about which she writes without overwhelming them with a lot of medical jargon and mumbo jumbo.

Don't waste your money. I have never "abandoned" a book before, so this was a first for me, a prolific reader. Yes, it's sad, but it's just downright depressing. Nothing happens but the ALS gets worse. The author just wants to get her medical knowledge of the disease out there for no other reason but to show-off her medical insight. There is NO story line other than that someone has a debilitating disease. Truly a horrible book.