Scar Tissue (novel)

Scar Tissue has received substantial acclaim. It was described as: “powerful Alzheimer's novel [that is] searing and autobiographical” by Marsha Lederman.^[2] She adds that the book is: “intense, unblinking and beautifully written, the novel was written in a three-month burst” in the early 1990s, as Ignatieff struggled with his mother’s Alzheimer's (she was still alive when he wrote it) and the death, in 1989, of his father.” According to Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, “Ignatieff has written a fierce novel about loss.”^[3]

Kirkus Reviews wrote: “Disease not as a metaphor but as a prescription for living in a book that confronts our worst fears with bracing insight and finely tuned emotion. A tough read but worth it.”^[4] A review in Literature Annotations pointed out: “A hauntingly beautiful narrative, written on several levels from flashback, to pop-scientific journalism (including allusions to the writings of Oliver Sacks), to academic speeches and essays on the nature of death, composed by the protagonist for his students, public, and publishers.”^[5]

The Sunday Telegraph said that Scar Tissue was “moving and intellectually challenging. The New Statesman claimed that “no recent British novel has traversed the world of reason and emotion, the human presence and its annihilation, so effectively and directly.” According to Connor Taylor, “this novel seems to exhibit his impressive fiction-writing skills.” He added: “Though at times the novel seemed almost overly dramatic, Scar Tissue’s emotional depth and intellectually stimulating content result in a stunning success for Ignatieff’s second foray into fiction.”^[6]

Scar Tissue was adapted for theatre and shown at the Arts Club Theatre Company's Revue Stage in Vancouver.^[7]