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What are readers saying about The Condition: A Novel?
| Reviews of The Condition: A Novel - Page 1 of 3 |
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-04-18 11:41:20.
(Language: English)
  
This was the most satisfying novel I have read in a long time. Each character was so likeable although not in obvious ways. Haigh has a way of showing all of our human failings in a way that makes us glad to be human. I did think that the novel wrapped up a little too neatly although it was still the ending I had hoped for. Read it now!
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-08 07:52:05.
(Language: English)
Good book about family dynamics and dysfunction. Revolves around the daughter who has a rare "condition".
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-02-27 06:31:18.
(Language: English)
good book after all. not what i thought originally but a nice quick read.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-11-21 02:04:52.
(Language: English)
Boring...couldn't finish it.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-09-25 06:25:50.
(Language: English)
Never quite delivers. I am not sure I would have finished if I hadn't read the first 100 pages.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-12-12 07:20:30.
(Language: English)
I enjoyed the family dynamics, the different points of view and the writing.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-19 09:54:41.
(Language: English)
I really enjoyed her depiction of this family. I learn something when I read Jennifer Haigh, she is so insightful. I emailed her and asked her to please write more books, now!
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-02-19 07:35:31.
(Language: English)
Interesting, especially because it brings attention to a relatively rare disorder without dehumanizing the character who has it.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-23 09:10:50.
(Language: English)
Rather disappointing..good idea but never really got attached/involved with the characters.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-26 07:07:53.
(Language: English)
Not what I expected but thoroughly enjoyed how she intertwined the lives of a clearly disfunctional family
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-30 08:23:56.
(Language: English)
a poignant tale of a family and it’s disintegration a dysfunctional new england family repeats it’s ritual of enjoying a summer on the coast when a grim reality is realized…that the daughter has a genetic condition, turner syndrome the parents separate blaming the daughter’s condition, the youngest son lives a lack luster life and blames it on the condition that led to the divorce, the oldest son lives two lives keeping secrets from so many, and the daughter is condemned to thinking she’s an outcast in this world the years unfold and we are shown the complexities of a family trying to overcome boundaries each other creates the father’s story and the daughter’s self awareness carry the book and make it refreshingly original i really appreciated how haigh finishes a chapter and the portrayal of new england
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-10 11:20:25.
(Language: English)
This was absolutely fabulous. Someone gave me the book and I just read it because I ran out of reading material - but was gripped within the first two pages. The characters came so much alive! I laughed and cried and suffered with them on many levels. Have just started a few days ago, but thoroughly into the lives and dramas of the family. Wonderful book so far!
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-12-21 12:29:00.
(Language: English)
I read this over the course of two snowy afternoons. I was pulled in by the familiar geography (Truro, Concord, Cambridge- though it's strange that the Connecticut towns are fictional ones), and was compelled to keep reading because of the McKotch family. All of the characters are both reprehensible and admirable, and it is impossible to choose sides- you find yourself rooting for everyone (except maybe Penny). Things were maybe a bit too neatly tied up, but the conflicts and struggles between the characters is what drove the book. A good character study, but probably not for fans of plot-heavy novels.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-11-26 06:32:57.
(Language: English)
Slow in places and a lazy ending. It's as if the writer got tired of writing and just stopped. Fails to wrap anything up. Also, the books title is misleading. It's not really about Gwen and her condition. It's more about her family and their billions of problems. slow in places and an unsatisfying/lazy ending. As if the author just got tired of writing and didn't know how to wrap it up. BAD!
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-11-21 12:30:56.
(Language: English)
Excellent look at an interesting family dynamic. Loved it!
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-31 06:22:43.
(Language: English)
Not what I expected got throught it because I thought it would get better. Like the disfunctional family story .
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Brandi posted a review at 2010-06-27 07:54:06.
(Language: English)
This book is so amazing! I am so glad I read it! It is definitely my new favorite book.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-08 09:25:43.
(Language: English)
TOO many details in this lengthy book. someone in our book club said, most accurately, "the editor forgot to delete the deleted scenes."
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-09-27 12:57:05.
(Language: English)
As a women with the same "condition" that the daughter has, I was concerned about how this would be portrayed. I am, however, pleased to report that Ms. Haigh seems to have done her homework. Kudos to her for fully fleshing out the character of Gwen and making her much more than just a diagnoses!
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Barbara posted a review at 2009-03-28 06:27:46.
(Language: English)
I'm not sure what exactly to think of this book. It was sad, but compelling - especially the second half. The characters were specifically flawed, but regardless grow and redem themselves and the quality of the book.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-12-22 08:31:17.
(Language: English)
A well-crafted family saga and an interesting look at Turner's Syndrome (the condition referred to in the title). Wrapped up a little too perfunctorily at the end, though.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-02-13 03:37:27.
(Language: English)
Much more than a book about someone with Turner's Syndrome. I enjoyed all the family dynamics.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-30 01:18:44.
(Language: English)
In some ways, this reminded me of Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections." Bleak, but ultimately redeeming. Odd, that. But I liked it!
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-08-16 06:13:07.
(Language: English)
I tried ... I cannot get through it.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-10-14 09:07:24.
(Language: English)
The basic story of this book is a woman with Turner's Syndrome and how her family relates to her - which is very telling in the way they relate in their own lives. (Turner's is a condition in which the person never goes through puberty - thus eventhough they age, they still look 10 or 12 years old.) Gwen, who has Turner's, is stuck in a very uptight family who summer's on Cape Cod. They are all together lost in their own little lives. Dad is a scientist in search of a Nobel Prize; Mom is an aging beauty who is prim and proper to the 10th degree; Billy is a closeted heart surgeon who can't commit to his Indian lover; Scott is a druggie in a nowhere life married to an airhead; and Gwen is working in the basement of a museum. Lacking social skills and grace, she toils away for years until going on a dive vacation and meeting the man of her dreams. Basically, Gwen, like everyone else in the family, keeps her life private. She barely talks - and why should she? Nobody listens. Mom glosses over "unpleasantries"; the brothers don't think much of her beyond being THERE; and Dad is more interested in her condition than the human. The story moves along as you see little slices of life through each person's eyes. This gives you an insight into how and why they react as they do. This book hit so hard for me. It was like reading my own life story. Because I'm legally blind, my family has certain preconceived notions about what they THINK I want or what I SHOULD WANT. They never ask me aboutmy life; or why I might be upset when a 20 years younger relative goes on vacation with their boy/girlfriend and I can't even get someone to take me out for coffee. My family, like Gwen's, thinks of me as being "there". not much more beyond that. Do I have hopes or fears or dreams or goals? They'll never ask and the few times I've tried to be vocal, they don't respond or acknowledge. So why bother? Gwen's story has a happy ending. I hope mine will as well.
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| Reviews of The Condition: A Novel - Page 1 of 3 |
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