| In Association With... |  |
|
|
|
The Condition: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Jennifer Haigh
Publisher: Harper
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $14.15
You Save: $11.80 (45%)
New (41) Collectible (3) from $14.15
Avg. Customer Rating:  54 reviews
Sales Rank: 2717
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.8 x 1.7
ISBN: 0060755784
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780060755782
ASIN: 0060755784
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Absolutely Brand New & In Stock. 100% 30-Day Money Back. Direct from our warehouse. Ships by USPS. 1+ million customers served-In business since 1986. Happy Customers is Our #1 Goal. Toll Free Support
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Condition tells the story of the McKotches, a proper New England family that comes apart during one fateful summer. The year is 1976, and the family, Frank McKotch, an eminent scientist; his pedigreed wife, Paulette; and their three beautiful children has embarked on its annual vacation at the Captain's House, the grand old family retreat on Cape Cod. One day on the beach, Frank is struck by an image he cannot forget: his thirteen-year-old daughter, Gwen, strangely infantile in her child-sized bikini, standing a full head shorter than her younger cousin Charlotte. At that moment he knows a truth that he can never again unknown something is terribly wrong with his only daughter. The McKotch family will never be the same. Twenty years after Gwen's diagnosis with Turner's syndrome, a genetic condition that has prevented her from maturing, trapping her forever in the body of a child, all five family members are still dealing with the fallout. Each believes himself crippled by some secret pathology; each feels responsible for the family's demise. Frank and Paulette are acrimoniously divorced. Billy, the eldest son, is dutiful but distant, a handsome Manhattan cardiologist with a life built on compromise. His brother, Scott, awakens from a pot-addled adolescence to a soul-killing job, a regrettable marriage, and a vinyl-sided tract house in the suburbs. And Gwen is silent and emotionally aloof, a bright, accomplished woman who spurns any interaction with those around her. She makes peace with the hermetic life she's constructed until, well into her thirties, she falls in love for the first time. And suddenly, once again, the family's world is tilted on its axis. Compassionate yet unflinchingly honest, witty and almost painfully astute, The Condition explores the power of family mythologies, the self-delusions, denials, and inescapable truths that forever bind fathers and mothers and siblings.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 49 more reviews...
All happy families are alike... August 20, 2008
... but, unsurprisingly, the unhappy ones make for better novels. The Condition follows a family with familiar characters--the absent husband, the brittle, save-the-appearances wife, the rapscallion younger brother--and yet manages to skate the line between caricature and insight (most of the time, anyhow) with grace. Although the marketing material focuses on the child with "the condition," Turner syndrome, the book really isn't about her and her condition, but rather about the interactions, missteps, and allowances that all families make interacting with each other.
I suspect that choosing one's most sympathetic characters will be something of a Rorschach test for the reader's own personality... any one of them could be described as obnoxious or endearing, depending on your affinity for their point of view. Think Anne Tyler, minus the clownishness, perhaps. All in all, not a masterpiece to be savored again and again, but an enjoyable read nonetheless.
 A Great Read August 17, 2008
I stayed up late several nights reading this book which was hard to put down as well as thought provoking. One of the most compelling modern novels I've read in a long time. I had read MRS. KIMBLE but liked this much better, it was more complex and the plot felt less contrived. There was a lot of drama but I certainly did not find it a soap opera - the character development was too well done for that - each member of the family was clearly differentiated and fully human. The problems this family had were unique to the McKotch's, yes, but similar to problems in most families - the ideal versus reality, the pressure to conform to a parent's expectations versus finding your own way, the generation gap and more - not new themes but they are freshly realized in this novel. For a young author, Haigh has an unerring insight into the feelings of the aging parents, Paulette and Frank. I am ready to read this again and savor it, since I raced through it the first time to see what was going to happen next. One or two of the plot's twists and turns seemed to require a modest suspension of disbelief (would Scott really give away $20,000?) but this is a small cavil in an overall very worthwhile read.
Excellent family saga in a quick read August 16, 2008
This epic story of a New England family takes place in 1997, the year each member of the McKotch family finally begins to become the person he or she is meant to be by facing, and learning from, the past. But the book begins with with a brief 30-page introduction to the McKotches in 1976 as they vacation on Cape Cod, blissfully unaware that their family is about to fall apart.
In 1976, Paulette has just celebrated her 35th birthday. She dropped out of college at age 20 to marry Frank, an athletic handsome boy from a poor Pennsylvania coal-mining family, in contrast to Paulette's prominent old New England family. Frank is now a dedicated scientist and professor who spends more time in his lab than with his wife and three children, who are ages 14, 12 and 9 in 1976.
Frank seldom made an appearance at the cottage where his family spent each summer, but it was during a rare visit in the summer of 1976 that his scientist's eye suddenly revealed to him that something was seriously wrong with his very small 12-year-old daughter Gwen, whose toddler-like body made her so different from other girls her age. He instinctively and correctly diagnosed Gwen as having Turner's syndrome, which meant she would never fully mature physically.
From that date, Frank appeared to see his daughter as her disease, as he researched, obtained the most up-to-date medical care and carefully monitored Gwen's progress. Paulette went to the other extreme and lived in denial that her daughter could not be molded into a typical teenage girl dressed in the latest fashions and enjoying the attention of teenage boys. She has told Gwen and her brothers that they are not to speak to anyone, including extended family members, about Gwen's condition.
By the time the family's story begins in 1997, Frank and Paulette have been divorced for 20 years; both realize they're aging and facing a future alone while they examine the past with regret. Each of the now 30-something adult children also realizes life has not turned out as planned, and they place much of the blame on their parents divorce, which they in turn blame on Gwen's condition.
Gwen's condition is a metaphor for the human condition, and every reader should be able to relate to the McKotches. They could be any family that focuses all its energy (and subsequent blame for everyone's problems) on one family member's condition, be it the alcoholic father, the mentally ill mother or the hyperactive child. The McKotch family has Gwen and Turner's syndrome for its focus. As everyone must eventually learn, the McKotches learn that we can either feel victimized by life or we can take responsibility for our own decisions, our actions, and our reactions to what life hands us, and that we all have missed opportunities and made bad decisions. The McKotches are also classic examples of lack of communication fostering misunderstandings.
The author has done an excellent job of character development and brought each member of the McKotch family fully to life for me. I also appreciate that she didn't dwell unnecessarily on Gwen's Turner's syndrome, but gives just enough well-researched information on this actual medical condition to help the reader understand Gwen's struggles and to move the story along.
I highly recommend this novel. I plan to also recommend it to my book group, because I think everyone could relate to it in some way and the topics for discussion would be nearly endless.
Enjoyable! August 14, 2008
I enjoyed this book as much as I did 'Mrs Kimble'.
With dynamic characters, intriguing plot and an interesting way of crafting this multigenerational story the author hit a home run.
'The condition' is not only about Gwen who suffers from Turner's syndrome but about her siblings Billy and Scot as well as the parents Paulette and Frank McKotch.
The characters in this story are true to life and the author's descriptions, nuances and humour were right on.
I was educated regarding Turner's syndrome and yes - I also learnt some new vocabulary. I was awed by the author's "perspicacity." (!!)
 NOT About "The Condition" August 12, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I got this book from the library, expecting to read a dramatic, fictional story about "the condition". Well, this book isn't about the condition.
The story, for the first few chapters, starts out in 1976. It then jumps 21 years to 1997!! The author goes into grave detail with every single character, important or not, from past to present. The book is so incredibly boring and annoying as the story goes back and forth from current to past to present. Nothing interesting is happening.
"The Condition" is vaguely touched on. Gwen, the girl with the condition, has little to do with the story.
I hated this book. The writing style is terrible. The story lacked quality. It was nothing like the book jacket described it, nor any previous reviews I read.
This is one to SKIP!
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
