We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas

We Are Not Ourselves

Matthew Thomas

An epic family saga which follows Eileen, the determined daughter of Irish immigrants, who strives for the American Dream. Unfortunately, life doesn't always go according to plan and her dreams are dashed when her husband develops early onset Alzheimer's disease. Although I struggled to connect with the principal characters, I enjoyed the author’s focus on the everyday rather than on life’s big events and this kept me reading right to the end.

Extract
She was angry at Ed for the class that met two nights a week, and she was angry at him for staying late another night to attend to his research. If he was going to be away this much, at least he could be making good money doing it. His turning down the job at Merck still bothered her, and the fact that he’d spent these years taking on extra instruction only served to make him more irresponsible somehow.
Parallels
  • The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
  • Still Alice by Lisa Genova