Counting Backwards

In Kirshenbaum’s (An Almost Perfect Moment) latest, Leo is a professor at a prestigious university; his wife, Addie, is a collage artist. Their life, as a middle-aged, childless-by-choice couple in New York City, is fulfilling and peaceful, until Leo starts experiencing hallucinations. They start off as halos around streetlights and graduate to Gandhi stirring a pot of lentils. Leo consults ophthalmologists, neurologists, and other specialists, but none can pinpoint the cause of the visions. His symptoms and behavior worsen, until he finally gets a diagnosis of early-onset Lewy body dementia. When Leo stabs his nephew during a family visit, Addie must find a care home for Leo. This starts a long process of Addie struggling to find care for Leo and stay financially afloat while mourning a husband who is still physically present. In Kirshenbaum’s raw novel about loss, caretaking, and love, biting humor is used to relate searing observations on marriage, art, friendship, and disease.