10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
How It Feels, January 9, 2002
To many people, the thought of losing control is terrifying. It is the basis of many phobias, from fear of flying to claustrophia. So imagine how it must feel for a strong, vibrant, very controlling professional woman--a successful columnist, renowned speaker, revered mother, grandmother, and friend--to know that she is inexorably succumbing to a disease that will leave her completely helpless.
That terror, faced by a woman in her prime who slowly suspects that she is suffering from Alzheimers Disease, is what is so finely captured in this book. The early symptoms, resultant anger and denial, fearful acceptance, and slow decline of Grace Dorian, a nationally famous advice columnist, is described in heartbreaking detail, first from her point of view, and then from the points of view of each of her subsequent caretakers, from her daughter Francine, who has always been eclipsed by her powerful mother's shadow, to Francine's daughter Sophia, a troubled young woman with problems of her own, to Father Jim, a priest and childhood friend who is Grace's closest friend and confidante.
There are many subplots as well, of course, and they could be considered the usual standard romance-novel fare except that the over-riding reality of Grace's illness and her family's response to it rings so true that it makes everything else in the novel interesting and believable.
Therefore, timid Francine, forced to ghostwrite her mother's syndicated columns, gains strength and insight. Handsome young doctor Davis Marcoux, who is compassion itself when it comes to treating Grace, provides a love interest for one of the main characters. Troubled Sophie, who idolizes her grandmother, is forced to grow up overnight. Father Jim, devastated by his close friend's interest, must finally reveal a terrible secret.
It sounds trite and contrived, but "Shades of Grace" is written with such compassion and humanity, such earnest honesty, that it is impossible to put down until the last heart-wrenching page. It is easy to identify with the characters, particularly Grace in the early stages of the disease, as she jeopardizes her life in her absolute need for denial. And for Francine, who must switch roles with her formerly domineering mother. And for Sophia, who must overcome her inner horror at her mother's and grandmother's role reversals.
I am not going to tell you that this is a fun, day-at-the-beach read. But it is well worth picking up, and in my opinion, remains in the top 5 of Delinsky's ouvre. Her later novels may be more sophisticated, but none equals the sheer heart of "Shades of Grace."
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Does The Silver Spoon Feed The Soul?, March 11, 2005
SHADES OF GRACE is the most powerful, engrossing, and cathartic of the 25 novels I've read in Delinsky's collection.
What a courageous way for an author to begin this story, from the viewpoint of a mind in early stages of Alzheimer's. With courage to carry a torch into the darkest corners of trauma, Delinsky treats soulful issues with such grace and compassion that the reader is entertained simultaneous to receiving a handbook for survival through catastrophe. Her logo should be a cornucopia spilling from a sunrise.
Holding wounding memories of loved ones who suffered from Alzheimer's, I was hesitant to pick up this book. But, knowing that this author treats gut wrenching issues with gentle grace, yet without the slightest denial of the rigors of reality, I decided to take a dive.
While I admired the technique of opening the story from the mental processes of Grace in her early struggles with Alzheimer's, as I began reading, I wondered if it might be ineffectively arrogant for an author to attempt to describe, from the deteriorating character's thoughts, a mental process of such complex nuance, which the author hadn't directly experienced herself. I was concerned that something so raw as a mind losing itself in a particular pattern would come across as a poor "best guess" riddled with wrong assumptions of cause and effect.
I was not disappointed in any way in this real and poignant, special work of fiction. It was an emotionally satisfying, enlightening journey. The irony of Grace being an "Ann Landers" type of syndicated columnist was dealt with flawlessly, exposing elegantly how knowledge and practice of a precisely prescribed book of "Manners" can become a wasteland of emptiness when one is forcibly exposed to a more raw and honest guide to genuine courtesy and compassion.
Who cares which fork is appropriate when the hand has forgotten where the mouth is. As SHADES OF GRACE evolves, a gentle blossoming occurs in a true family's caring about that vulnerable hand.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good book!, May 21, 2001
Shades of Grace tells the story of a woman battling with Alzheimer's disease. It shows a lot of her point of view, the first times that she notices something is wrong, the panic in not remembering where are you or what you are doing. It also shows how her family is affected.
Overall it is very good. The facts and feelings about the disease seem to be very accurate. Recommended!
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