Carolyn Steele

A Year on Planet Alzheimer Carolyn Steele

Armed with a small child, several degrees in Psychology and twenty years as a paramedic, the author decides she has what it takes to take a job caring for a Canadian senior with Alzheimer's Disease. This book details more than one journey. The trip across Canada is the easy one, the trip into 24/7 exhaustion and back to the Nazi occupation of Holland in someone else's mind is more challenging. Described by readers as a cross between Bridget Jones and Bill Bryson, A Year On Planet Alzheimer is almost the story of an adventure. It isn't quite a travelogue, despite being largely about places. It would be dereliction of duty to omit to pass comment on the remarkable ceiling at Vancouver Bus Station for example or the remarkable discovery that they don't turn Niagara Falls off at night. Neither is it really a psychological exploration of living with dementia, despite the title. It is almost the story of a child - what happens when you tell a nine-year-old that travel broadens the mind? What does travel do to a nine-year-old mind? Mainly there is life and the sheer unexpectedness of the way other people live it. Not just the snow dump but the incredulity generated by wanting to see it. It could be the story of an adventure with a few more shimmering sunsets dancing over majestic waves. There are some majestic waves, naturally, but this tale is more obsessed with meatballs. It is therefore the story of an escapade.