People Watching

Prue’s character arc in People Watching partly revolves around her mother Julia’s diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. The Alzheimer’s Association defines this disease as “a type of dementia that affects memory, thinking and behavior,” and Alzheimer’s is the leading type of dementia overall, accounting for between 60% and 80% of cases (“What Is Alzheimer’s Disease?” Alzheimer’s Association). Julia experiences symptoms common to middle-stage Alzheimer’s, including forgetfulness of recent history and confusion about location or time. People with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia sometimes have difficulty creating new memories and experience short-term memory loss, while long-term memories are often retained longer (“Memory Loss And Dementia.” Alzheimer’s Society). As illustrated by the wedding incident, Julia often relives events from 20 or more years ago, believing that those events are her present, rather than her past. When such experiences are confronted with reality, such as when she sees adult Milo in Chapter 3, Julia becomes confused and upset because she is unable to reconcile what she thinks is true with what is actually happening around her. Alongside these moments of severe regression, she also experiences times of striking lucidity when she seems to be aware of who she is, when it is, and the truth of reality in the current moment. Most of the time, though, she settles somewhere between believing it is the past and truly understanding the present, revealing the daily confusion that Alzheimer’s patients live with.

While Julia exemplifies the life of someone with middle-stage Alzheimer’s, Prue offers a stand-in for the life of a family caregiver. Prue’s frustration and stress at the beginning of the book highlight the daily struggles experienced by those who are caring for a loved one with dementia. The novel’s representation of Prue’s situation is based on the reality of daily life as a caregiver; the Alzheimer’s Association reports, “In 2023, 11.5 million […] caregivers of people living with Alzheimer’s or other dementias provided an estimated 18.4 billion hours of unpaid help. On average, this represents nearly 21 hours of care per caregiver per week” (“New Alzheimer’s Association Report Reveals Top Stressors for Caregivers and Lack of Care Navigation Support and Resources.” Alzheimer’s Association, 20 Mar. 2024). While Julia jumps from one whim to the next, Prue is forced to keep up with where her mother is on any given day. This often leads to Prue giving up her time, resulting in her feeling an exhausted level of resentment toward her mother. Her attempts to do everything herself ultimately fail as she realizes that caring for an Alzheimer’s patient is too big a job for one person, and the novel advocates for extended family and community support to diffuse the intense responsibilities of caring for someone with Alzheimer’s.