An Absent Mind


Fiction - General
276 Pages
Reviewed on 04/20/2014
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

Author Biography

Eric Rill was born in Montreal and graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts and UCLA with an MBA. Having held several executive positions in the hospitality industry including president of a global hotel group, he finally figured out that he was more the creative type than the corporate type. So he packed up and headed to the Caribbean where he wrote his first novel, Pinnacle Of Deceit. That was followed by The Innocent Traitor.
His third novel was to be another thriller, but after he was more than halfway through, he put it aside and penned An Absent Mind—a novel he knew he had to write, having been through eight years with his father’s Alzheimer’s. His goal was not only to write good fiction, but to provide readers with a true picture of this dreaded disease that afflicts more than 35 million people worldwide.
Eric Rill was born in Montreal and graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts and UCLA with an MBA. Having held several executive positions in the hospitality industry including president of a global hotel group, he finally figured out that he was more the creative type than the corporate type. So he packed up and headed to the Caribbean where he wrote his first novel, Pinnacle Of Deceit. That was followed by The Innocent Traitor.
His third novel was to be another thriller, but after he was more than halfway through, he put it aside and penned An Absent Mind—a novel he knew he had to write, having been through eight years with his father’s Alzheimer’s. His goal was not only to write good fiction, but to provide readers with a true picture of this dreaded disease that afflicts more than 35 million people worldwide.
Eric Rill was born in Montreal and graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts and UCLA with an MBA. Having held several executive positions in the hospitality industry including president of a global hotel group, he finally figured out that he was more the creative type than the corporate type. So he packed up and headed to the Caribbean where he wrote his first novel, Pinnacle Of Deceit. That was followed by The Innocent Traitor.
His third novel was to be another thriller, but after he was more than halfway through, he put it aside and penned An Absent Mind—a novel he knew he had to write, having been through eight years with his father’s Alzheimer’s. His goal was not only to write good fiction, but to provide readers with a true picture of this dreaded disease that afflicts more than 35 million people worldwide.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Lisa Jones for Readers' Favorite

An Absent Mind by Eric Rill is a moving story about a man diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Saul was in his early seventies when this terrible illness struck. It was obvious that throughout his life he had been a larger than life kind of character and suddenly that would all change. His struggle through the middle stages to the end are written in this very moving novel. The story also examines the family and their relationships with each other.

Eric Rill has delivered a very powerful yet touching novel. It centers on Alzheimer's and the way in which the disease progresses. Having had some personal experience with this, the author then felt the need to write about it and I am so glad he did. He told his story in a unique way. Throughout the story, the point of view changes between people. Sometimes it was the patient Saul's point of view, then it would be from his wife's perspective. Other times it was from the son or daughter's point of view. There were a couple of references to the doctor's view, which I found important as it gave a more clinical outlook. The whole story from start to finish touched my heart and at the same time I found out a great deal about the disease that I did not know. I learned how the body begins to shut down completely and in the end something as simple as swallowing would not be possible.

Eric Rill explains at the end of his novel how he worked closely with a clinical doctor so that he could give the most honest opinion of the different stages of the disease. This was very helpful to me as a reader and I am sure it will be helpful to other readers. My eyes have truly been opened as I never fully comprehended what actually happens. I have the utmost respect for the author for writing this beautiful book and I am glad he did. What a moving story that has truly touched my heart.

Lit Amri

An Absent Mind by Eric Rill is about 71-year-old Saul Reimer, whose sanity is affected by his difficult struggle with Alzheimer's. It is also a story about his relationships with his loved ones and their journey. Saul used to be a man in control before the disease overpowers his mind. We follow and share his thoughts as Alzheimer's is slowly taking over his life. We also share the thoughts of his wife Monique, his daughter Florence, and his son Joey in dealing with this challenge as a family.

The start of the novel sees Saul getting into trouble due to his dementia – ”I was always considered a bit peculiar, so no one probably suspected anything until a dreary October afternoon when I removed my gray flannel trousers, opened the front door of my house, and ambled down the street." An Absent Mind clearly gives us a great and personal insight into Alzheimer's. Author Eric Rill also gives a voice to Dr. Tremblay, Saul's Alzheimer's specialist, so readers can understand the facts about this disease more deeply from an expert’s perspective. Though it is poignant and an emotional roller coaster, this novel is undeniably triumphant in giving readers valuable knowledge.

I felt a great connection to the characters and their emotional struggle. All in all, this is an amazing novel that pulls the heartstrings of every reader. Not only does it portrays Alzheimer's disease in depth, but it also shows the little things that most of us take for granted in life.

Faridah Nassozi

An Absent Mind by Eric Rill is a fiction story about a man's struggle with Alzheimer’s and how the challenges of living with this disease affected his family. At age 71, Saul Nathaniel Reimer was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s after his behavior had become more odd than usual, including walking down the street with no trousers. The following seven years would be the hardest on his family as they struggled to help him cope with a disease that took his memory, reducing his lucid moments to hours and then to mere minutes, until the father and husband they had once known completely disappeared. Monique, Saul's wife and primary caregiver, had the roughest time of them all as she watched her husband change from the man she once knew to a confused, depressed, frustrated and sometimes physically violent Alzheimer’s patient. This book tells not just Saul's story, but the story of his wife and their children, too, as they tried to deal with sadness, frustration, guilt, resentment and all other sorts of emotional chaos as they lived through this nightmare from the beginning to the very end.

An Absent Mind by Eric Rill reads like a true-life story, evoking deep sympathy for a man and his family as they lived through the most dreadful years of their lives during which Alzheimer’s reduced a grown man to a baby and then to nothing. My deepest sympathy went to Monique who gave her all, including countless sleepless nights and enduring physical abuse, to provide the best care to her husband, bottling in her own stress and frustration. It was an emotional journey as each member of the family tried to cope the best way they could. An Absent Mind gave me a clear insight into the emotional turmoil that Alzheimer’s patients endure and how all this affects those near and dear to them. Above all, I was deeply touched and inspired by the family's undying love and devotion.