Overall, what do you think of Morningside Heights? (no spoilers in this thread, please)

Overall, what do you think of Morningside Heights? (no spoilers in this thread, please)

I think it’s a strong portrait of what it’s like to live and love someone suffering from Alzheimer’s. I’ve always thought that watching the brain of someone you love slowly disintegrate would be one of the most difficult things to deal with, especially as a caretaker.

Morningside Heights was very personal to me so I have to try to put things into perspective. I loved this book but cried a lot. My mother had dementia (we think she had Lewy's Body Dementia but that is unclear). The author handled this beautifully. I cried and laughed and read the book quickly. Thanks to everyone who allowed me to participate, despite the personal relationship I had with it.

I liked the book. My mother-in-law died of Alzheimers and my husband is terminally ill with a brain disease (PSP). As a caretaker, I totally identify with the events and feelings Pru experienced— except the adultery!

There have been a lot of books recently published that centered on dementia in some form, and I was somewhat hesitant to request this book because I didn’t want to read a depressing, and sad story. However, I was surprised by the manner in which Henkin approached his novel. This was so much better than I imagined and so much more interesting than I had hoped. It was a sad story but it was suffused with such compassion, growth, hope and complexity that I was entranced. The characters are so well developed and amazingly real that after finishing the book I still think about each of them and wonder what they are doing now.

I liked the book. I read for character and from the first page I was drawn to Pru. When I read novels the characters become my best friends. I loved their early relationship it took me right back to my college days. Spence’s illness was very sad and I realized more of what people with Alzheimer’s go through. This was a well written book and I now want to read Joshua Henkin’s earlier books. A good book for book clubs to discuss.

I found the story compelling. Although my husband's uncle and one of my aunts had Alzheimer's, I was not living close to either of them as they experienced the difficulties, so I've only read about the challenges. Watching Spence as he develops early-onset Alzheimer's is heart-breaking. He is such a gifted scholar that accepting his decline is difficult. In truth, for anyone, such a diagnosis would be hard.

First, how lovely to see the author's note on my reading copy. What a nice touch!

I loved this gem of a book and its quiet, thoughtful examination reminded me of Stewart O’Nan’s “Henry, Himself” and “Emily, Alone” in its poignance and lack of action. Instead we observe Pru and Spence navigating life’s milestones together, some more painful than others. Some of these challenges really resonated with me and I was glad to read "Morningside Heights" at this time in my reading life.

The characters are so well-drawn and dialogue well-crafted, I felt like I was air dropped into their home where I could silently participate in their daily events. This was the first book I read by Joshua Henkin and will not be the last.

The story of the Robin family's journey through early-onset Alzheimer's was heart-breaking, but told with a great deal of compassion. The characters were beautifully developed, their individual experiences and challenges well-detailed. Henkin shows great sensitivity in dealing with the human capacity to cope with challenges and maintain hope.

I was impressed with the author's ability to create characters with such depth! They were all studies in contradiction, complicated, multi-faceted... I really enjoyed that aspect of the novel. It surprised me that the book's focus was less on Spence's decline and Alzheimer's, and more on the various relationships, but I think it's a much more interesting and thought-provoking book as a result.

I also enjoyed the book and found it very easy to read, notwithstanding some heavy topics. I felt as if I was watching this family go through so many different experiences in NY City. In that respect, the author did a wonderful job of setting the scene and discussing the characters in the novel. Many experiences described were familiar to me and I found myself nodding in agreement or shaking my head in either frustration or disbelief. I would absolutely recommend this book to some of my friends and family.

I was delighted to see the inscription in my book from Mr. Henkin.

While reading Morningside Heights, I was very absorbed in the characters and became reflective about my own life, which good books often do. I liked that the book covered many years to show the relationships over time. The story shows how experiences shape people and how difficult it is to fully understand others, even within one’s own family. Attempts to show love can often be unrecognized or misinterpreted. After a diagnosis or unpredictable event, people make changes to adapt to their unexpected circumstances. This story showed how one family responded to life.

I was really somewhat reluctant to read a book with a large part of the focus on Alzheimer’s but this was so well done that I’m really glad that I read it.

This was the first book I have read by Joshua Henkin, and it won't be the last. It was a beautifully written depiction of a family , in particular a couple, who deal with a terrible disease that robs the future of everyone. It is a story full of love and compassion, humor, warmth and human failings. It was a true slice of real life with very real characters. Highly recommended

Overall, I think it was a good story about love and loss and all the ways the two can be so very complicated. I also felt the story was realistic about these complications.

I thought this book was beautifully written. The author thoroughly explained what it feels like caring for a family member with Alzheimer’s. Pru is a strong determined character and all her feelings of her roller coaster life were written extremely well. Kudos to the author.

I thought the book skipped around and introduced too many characters who were not in touch with each other. The secondary characters didin't have much bearing on the story line and I'm not sure that they added much to the story. I would have liked their stories to be more connected to the main story.
I think the author did a good job describing the impact of Alzheimers on the family, and in describing the unpredictability of the disease. And I think that the focus of the book - maintaining dignity and love for the individual who has unwillingly changed- was an excellent premise.

I really enjoyed the book. A slow but meaningful look inside the family dealing with an illness and how it effects each individual member.

I really enjoyed this book and am more than willing to look at others by this author. However, I have to agree with Shirleyf. The secondary characters didn't add much to the story.

The book drove home many issues adults deal with as life progresses. The primary one of the disease was a compelling, sensitive vision of how it progresses and the effects it can have on all involved. The book demonstrates the importance of family relationships in getting through times of struggle, physical or otherwise, and that of communication and empathy as a core resource.

The story is compelling about a family dealing with a devastating disease and what that does to each member of the family. It is about love and caring as well as the stress and expense of taking care of someone with a long-term illness.

I am sorry I am coming into this discussion late, have been having some computer problems. I did enjoy the book once I got into it. For some reason, I was confused at the beginning. It was hard to read because my husband has the start of some dementia. I understand what caring for a patient with this problem involves. I also liked Pru very much.

Overall I liked the book. My mother has dementia, so there were things in the story that were hard to read as she isn't there yet. I liked the characters and their relationships. I plan on reading the author's other books.

I really enjoyed this book, though I’ve let it sit with me for a couple of weeks before really participating in the discussion because - as many others have commented - I have a close relationship with a loved one with dementia, as my dad had Lewy Body Dementia for ten years before he died last November. It captured well the experience of caring for and loving someone with dementia, particularly the evolution of the disease and the transitory nature of it, which can be both frustrating and such a gift.

I probably would not have read this book had I not received my copy from Bookbrowse. But having said that, I found that I enjoyed it; the book and the “action” really moved along for me. Having lost a family member to Alzheimer’s, many of the caregiver issues were familiar to me, but no less upsetting. The characters seemed to be well developed, and none of them were perfect, which made me ponder over them more. I generally prefer books with more action, so this was a little too character driven for me. Also the writing style seemed kind of abrupt, not a lot of description but lots of dialogue. Sometimes little details were thrown in, and I wondered why?

I love the way the author portrayed the reality of alzheimers disease in this book. It was realistic and even though it was a central them to the book, there were so many other aspects of the story to think about as well. I really thought it was a good read.

I really thought the personal note was a lovely touch! I have only read one other book about Alzheimer's and thought this was was the best. Although as I said previously I wasn't a big fan of Spence, but the portrayal of his Alzheimer's was so well done, I actually felt sympathy for Spence and especially Pru. I would like to read other books by the author and think he should do one on Arlo, my favorite character.

I loved this book and was hooked from the first few sentences! I was interested in learning more about all the characters, I felt emotionally connected to the story and feel it was told in such a beautiful way. I'm going to seek out more writing by Joshua Henkin.