Awakenings by Oliver Sacks

This is the second book I've read by famed neurologist Oliver Sacks, and while different in subject matter than his book "Uncle Tungsten" which involved his experiences as a boy fascinated by chemistry, the brilliance and humanity of the great doctor come through the same way in this book, which involves his treatment of patients institutionalized because of encephalitis lethargica, or "sleepy sickness."

It took me more than my allotted 6 weeks to read, mainly because even when I got to the epilogue, I couldn't stop reading, because Sacks couldn't stop writing! Even after the many chapters on the patients he's treated, Sacks talks about the stage and screen adaptations of this popular text (most notably the film version by Penny Marshall starring Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams), and about the history of the "sleepy sickness" that occurred during and after WWI and which so changed the lives of the people it touched, patients, and families. I checked out the movie while reading the book (since it took me so long!), so it was interesting to see Sacks' take on the filmmaker and her 2 main stars, whom he calls Bob and Robin. This chapter itself makes it worth the fine I'm paying right now, because it is a fascinating look at all the effort the Hollywood team made to meet and study the patients with this particular disorder in order to portray them accurately in their movie. I am dismayed that the library doesn't have another famous play about such patients, called "A Kind of Alaska" by famed playwright Harold Pinter. Hint, hint, library book buyer!

As for the background of the disease, it is terrifying to think that one can have a cold or flu, and 20 years later end up with Parkinson's-like symptoms that may lead one to being institutionalized. Unfortunately, such a nightmare did happen for hundreds of people, and although I have studied the Great Flu Epidemic of 1918 before, this particular disease, while occurring around the same time, has gotten no Nova specials, even though it is horrifying in its own way that sufferers were condemned not to death, but to a form of living death that Dr. Sacks (among others) awakened them from decades later thanks to a drug called L-Dopa. Their stories are truly inspiring and show the resilience of the human spirit despite impossible odds and challenges. One patient especially (Ed W., who is portrayed by DeNiro in the movie as Leonard) strikes me as brilliant and his comments on his own condition and how he is trapped within his frozen body are among the most heart-breakingly moving.

If Sacks can be said to have a flaw as a writer, it is that he can't stop writing (a flaw we share, it seems!) Sometimes on a page, I couldn't decide whether to concentrate on the voluminous footnotes or the text itself, and sometimes upon turning a page, forgot which of the two I was actually reading. But that's my problem. I strongly recommend the book for those with interest in medicine, psychology, or Parkinson's disease, because it provides brilliant insights on them all. I have checked out another book from Sacks, and another book on the disease he describes here, and eagerly look forward to reading them both.

Submitted by Gerti