... 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.

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.

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.

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." (!!)

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!

Jennifer Haigh's novel opens in the last days of a family's innocence as they begin a vacation at the Drew family home on Cape Cod. While all is not well in Paulette Drew McKotch's life, she has managed to ignore simmering tensions: her workaholic husband Frank's detachment from the family, her teenage son Billy's discomfort with himself, her rambunctious son Scott's inability to sit still, and, most of all, her twelve year old daughter Gwen's lagging physical development. Even when faced with Gwen's younger cousin's blossoming female body, Paulette dismisses it - unless Frank articulates his fear that something may be gravely wrong with their daughter. This acknowledgement of one problem leads to exposure of others, eventually dissolving family life as they knew it.

The Condition begins in an unassuming, almost too-familiar set-up, as though this will be yet another novel about a disillusioned housewife finding herself. Instead, Haigh takes us into the minds - and lives - of each McKotch to give a detailed, intimate portrayal of individuals who long to be together but who have grown apart over the ensuing decades. Just as Paulette did on the cusp on their collapse, each lives in denial, unable to face the truth about who they are and what they truly want. The title, of course, refers literally to Gwen's diagnosis of Turner's Syndrome, although the genetic condition figures only marginally into the story. Instead, the true "condition" is the dysfunction of the family members and their yearning to be loved. To make this premise engaging, the writing and observations need to be excellent, and Haigh accomplishes this with aplomb; her style makes for an effortless read. Except for Paulette, who lacks the necessary depth of characterization to elevate her beyond type, the characters are believable and memorable, and they linger beyond the pages of the book itself.

In the tradition of Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections: A Novel (even the title is reminiscent), this novel follows the spidering fault lines that define a family within the context of their times. Haigh can be forgiven for the somewhat forced insertion of 9/11 in the final pages since almost everything that precedes it is pitch-perfect. Recommended for readers of literary and women's fiction, book clubs, and for those who enjoy quieter, character-centric stories over high-octane, plot-driven novels.

This book surprised me on many levels. For one, I thought the focus would be on Gwen, the daughter of a well to do family who is afflicted with Turners Syndrome, a condition that confines the body to a childlike state. Although the reader may feel compelled by the injustice of her fate and her subsequent solitary existence, the book is really about family dynamics and the "human condition."

As much as I enjoyed myriad interludes with the varying players, I couldn't help thinking that the book was gratuitous in nature. It was hard to sympathize with the characters whose choices in life were based narcissism and foolishness. I was also surprised by the stereotyping of the underachiever/overachiever/self-loather/ and a mother in perpetual denial--all a little over the top.

That said, there are beautiful passages interwoven throughout the book. Some of the more poignant passages include Paulette's (the mother) own reflections on aging, her regret and the transition that one may experience as life and circumstances change. She clings fiercely to tradition only to find that her personal hopes and ideals have faded with time. And as the illusions she has built for herself begin to peel away, she must face all the imperfections that make up her life. The book appears to be well researched, providing a depth and authenticity that made it an enjoyable journey. However, author Haigh sometimes stretched things a bit too far without providing adequate resolution. There were also aspects, though entertaining, that were downright farfetched; such as Paulette's impetuous choice to buy a practical stranger a pickup truck while her own struggling son nurses a VW Golf on its last legs. Daughter Gwen is the most endearing character in the book--witty, astute and independent. I yearned to see her break away from her self-imposed rut and when she does, I applauded her triumph. But the circumstances and the manner in which she executes a big life change seemed highly unrealistic and a bit paltry. She abandons her mother's concerns/desires and chooses to remain incommunicado until the events of 9/11 initiate phone calls of concern. Surprisingly, the book falls apart at the end with the "prognosis" -- something that should have been left out entirely. I found it a bit tacky to use 9/11 as a summation device; indicative of a book that simply had too many loose ends and was unable to end gracefully.

Overall, The Condition was full of interesting insights and creative metaphors making it a worthwhile read. It would especially appeal to those who enjoy books about family dynamics, human imperfections and the tenuous nature of our lives. A strong 4 stars.

I'm a fan of all three of Jennifer Haigh's novels now, and I have to say she's taken us the deepest into family dynamics and character development in this latest installment, The Condition. She's moving around more between characters and so I felt I got a better sense of them all by the end. And I actually kind of fell in love with their quirks, issues, deficiencies. Even Frank, the flawed scientist father, came to feel like a friend to me as I read this novel. The brilliance here really comes down to the way we realize all of the family members have their own lives with their own individual problems. The title doesn't just refer to Gwen's Turner's Syndrome, but the fact that all of the family members (and really all of us) have their own individual "issue" that defines their lives. They/we all have a "condition."
It's a joy to see Gwen come out of this book in some ways the least troubled of her family and also to see the progress that these characters make over the course of the novel. A major pleasure to read! BUY THIS BOOK!

In this piquant mix of interlocking worlds, Haigh presents her inter-generational story with considerable panache and much psychological insight. The novel operates on many levels, but most effective is how the author surgically dissects the private inner lives of each member of McKotch family as they try to maneuver around their petty insecurities, their selfish mistakes and the assumptions they've made about each other over the years.

The novel begins in 1976 as the seeds of distrust are sown in Frank and Paulette's marriage, with Frank's career as a scientist taking precedence over Paulette's emotional needs and the needs of their three children, Billy, Gwen and Scotty. Indeed, this family seem to be beset by the greatest obstacle of all, that of dealing with Gwen's "condition," and her ultimate diagnosis of Turner's syndrome, a chromosomal irregularity that gives her the powerful build of an Olympic child gymnast but also prevents her from maturing into a fully-fledged woman.

While Frank is of the opinion that Gwen's condition is something that should be objectively and scientifically analyzed, maybe even cured with drugs and hormone treatments just like one of his lab experiments, Paulette holds fast to a type of willing self denial, refusing to hear the news and unwilling to alter the delicate structure of her current life with its summer rituals and illusions of permanence. It is clear however that the issue of Gwyn is complicated at best, her condition only adding tension to the other issues at hand. Gwen seems to take the news of her abnormality in her stride, creating a free and independent life for herself, free from her mother's obsessive and compulsive meddling.

When the story races forwards to 1997, we discover that Frank and Paulette have divorced and all that three children have gone their separate ways, Billy to New York and a life as a successful businessman, Scott into a mediocre career in teaching, while marrying hastily and disastrously to Penny a free spirited dope smoker, and Gwyn to a shy and diffident life working in the anthropology department at a Museum in Pittsburg.

The family makes attempts to keep in touch, but since the divorce they haven't been together for a while and in spite of their considerable reservations, the children have to managed to attend the occasional Christmas and New Year with Paulette. It is at one of these gatherings that much to everyone's surprise, Gwen announces that she will be going on a diving holiday in Saint Raphael. This revelation is not in itself not shocking, but when Gwen has an affair with Rico, a handsome dive instructor, various dramas ensue, especially regarding Paulette's over-reaction to her delicate and diffident daughter's compulsive life change. Overprotective to the point of being deceitful, Gwen's incipient independence far from the bonds of family is almost too much for her poor mother to bear.

In the midst of all of this, Haigh delves deep into the heart and minds of her characters, exploring the elemental, but also sometimes fleeting connections of blood and marriage where time becomes the enemy and where love and the possibility of it seems forever lost.

With each passing year Paulette becomes more aware of time's momentum and the destruction it has wrought and she`s constantly haunted by Roy's self-importance, and selfishness. The sexual investigator and the relatively unsuccessful breadwinner, Scott descends into black funk, a rich and unsatisfying blend of outrage and self-pity that threatens to overtake him and his marriage completely; Billy, when it comes to his family, opts for privacy with only Gwen knowing about Srikanth, his handsome and debonair boyfriend; and Frank is finally thrust into a competitive scientific field, but he realizes with a sense of panic that he's nearing the end of his productive years with the big genome discovery now somehow eluding him.

Dissecting her characters with scientific precision, Haigh presents all of their flaws and strengths in kaleidoscopic detail, getting right the heart of their inner lives and their loves. Although at times McKotchs are not particularly warm or appealing and they do make some selfish decisions, they remain totally fascinating in their inability to communicate with each other, with the cold reality of their condition affecting their bonds throughout much of their lives. Certainly this family's journey is one of acceptance, of themselves and of each other. All are sufferers and recipients of their own self-absorption even as they continue to be trapped between loyalty and affection. Mike Leonard August 08.

I actually feel bad because the last like 3 books I've reviewed on here have been terrible. I am going through a book slump where nothing has been striking me.

This book was well-written but so darn dull. At first it's good but after reading so many chapters of this it became repetitive. I didn't care about each person's "condition" or situation. I just wanted something to pop out and happen!

At the beginning of this book, we meet a fairly normal-looking family starting their summer vacation at the family house on Cape Cod. At the end of the prologue, we get the inkling that something bad is going to happen to this family, and that very soon the summer house will be sold and the parents divorce.

The story then jumps about 20 years, to a time when the children are adults, and whatever happened after that summer is old news. This is a perfectly good technique if the writer is more interested in showing the long term effects of something than the immediate impact.

And it would have worked just fine in this case, except that the prologue was so short I wasn't able to develop any sympathy with the characters. Instead of getting the continuation of a story I was already invested in, I got a stub that wasn't enough to carry me though the rest of the book. But I persevered, and throughout the rest of the book, Haigh gives enough of the backstory for me to start to feel a little bit of sympathy, or at least to be a little bit interested in what happens to them.

Overall, the writing is quite fine, but the story itself winds up being a bit disappointing.

It's been a while since I picked up a character-driven novel like this one. It was a welcome change, and such a perfect entry in that category that it was a nice re-introduction to this form of novel.

These characters are real. Not entirely dysfunctional, because the issues such as ADD, sexual identity, dealing with a birth defect, divorce, and both underachievement and overachievement at work are practically commonplace.

Because of the universality of experience, this book will make you think. It will make you ponder your own current situations, or those of your loved ones.

If you're lucky you will realize, as does one of the characters, "I am changing."

Jennifer Haigh's novel "The Condition" is a wonderful story novel about the Drew-McKotch family and the various stages of the human condition that different family members find themselves in. Although each family member presents one front to the world, each has an inner self that plagues them, giving each family member a particular "condition" in most cases much more serious than the Turner's Syndrome that plagues the central character Gwen. Each member of the family comes to terms with their condition over the course of the novel, making for fascinating character development and excellent reading.

Haigh is superb at capturing all of her characters, even though they are all very different people. She also manages to convince you that even though these are all people at very different places in life they are all from a central place, a single family, a single type of upbringing. Her use of each character as a narrator for sections of the book helps the reader to get inside each character's head and understand his/her actions.

I will admit that the end of the novel does have a too perfect ending where all of the loose ends are very neatly tied up and all is mended. But, that being excused, the Condition is an excellent book. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a deep, well written, emotional novel this summer.

This book was very well written. The author has an amazing gift for description and a vocabulary that excels what is offered by most current novels. That said --

I did not like this book. It was melodramatic and depressing. A slight redemption was offered toward the end, but I'm still questioning: what was the point? Is it about the dangers of unspoken rules (present in every family) or that our fates our determined while we're still children? Is it about growing old with your mistakes? The importance of communication? The value of forgiveness and trust? I really have no idea. All of these themes were present but so subtle I'm left melancholy, thinking of all the other books I could have read instead.

I continue to be impressed by Jennifer Haigh's ability to create fully formed, fully realized characters, moving about with such ease through her fictional world that it is almost hard to believe that The Condition is a creation of Jennifer Haigh's fertile imagination. This novel is not simply about a young woman's medical condition, Turner syndrome, and the way her family copes, or fails to cope with it. The Condition is really a compelling study of the human condition, about how the members of the McKotch family desire and fail and love and want, in the end realizing that there is no place like home.

There are (at least) two kinds of long-form fiction: the 'what if' variety, in which the story is driven by a single, clearly identifiable situation around which characters develop; and the character study variety, where the plot is as diffuse as life itself and the focus is on following the course of people's lives throughout a certain period of time. Many people can be competent at the former, but it takes a truly talented writer to excel at the latter.

Jennifer Haigh is such a writer. Her "Condition" is a meticulously crafted, absorbing character study of the highest order. The novel traces the lives of the McKotch-Drew family after the only daughter, Gwen, is diagnosed with Turner's syndrome and is compelled to live out her life in the body of a child of around 12. But this event is really the tip of the iceberg in a seething ocean of problems and insecurities whose roots reach way back. Frank, the father, is a hopeless womanizer, needing female company like 'oxygen', which strains his fidelity to the breaking point. Paulette, the mother, is an old-fashioned girl who wants nothing more than to raise a proper family in accordance with the order of nature (so it is ironic that she is the one most in denial about Gwen's condition). Eldest son Billy is handsome and ambitious, but he carries the burden of being gay in a very traditional family, a burden which causes him intense guilt and alienates him from his family. Scotty is an underachiever, wandering from place to place and finally ending up at a dead-end job in a third-rate prep school. As for Gwen herself, all she wants to do is find love (though she doesn't find that out until later in the book).

Books like this can't be easily summarized, so suffice it to say that all of these foibles and more almost completely shatter the once-happy family, until something happens to Gwen which brings them all unexpectedly back together. Will they be able to forgive each other for the wrongs of neglect and self-preoccupation and become a family again, or do the wounds run too deep?

Though the novel's title takes its cue from science and medicine, Haigh uses her sprawling family story plot to explore a wide variety of issues facing the 'everyman': the prospect of missing one's dream and waking up one morning to realize that all the doors are closed behind you; the inevitability of aging and the problem of increased hunger for affection at a time when one is least likely to get it; the ways in which we treat other people as a foil for our own selfishness and need for attention. Above all of these, however, the question of fate (in the form of scientific knowledge of the human condition) looms: can we help being the way we are? Should we want to change? Is it possible for someone with Turner's syndrome to find true love, a washed-out school teacher to find work which is truly fulfilling, an aging scientist who devoted his whole life to his career to learn to focus more on the little blessings of life?

Haigh explores all these themes and more with a style that is evocative and gently ironic. She sets up situations with great economy, saving her words for fascinating dissections of her characters' minds and souls. These characters are fully human and we sympathize with them even if we wouldn't like to have them as neighbors of friends.

The book does have its faults, mostly because it's an open-ended story. Readers are bound to differ over which separate plot strands they wanted to see developed, and gripe about ones which were cut short. That's the risk of writing this kind of fiction. Sometimes the character analysis does get a bit too detailed, and I usually prefer to discover character through action and dialogue. But that too perhaps ia a matter of opinion. The book cannot be faulted for thematic development, style, vocabulary, readability or any other benchmark of good literature.

Read this book if you have the patience for long, thoughtful character study and an appetite for gorgeous images and fresh, original metaphors. I recommend it enthusiastically.

Jennifer Haigh has quickly become one of my favorite authors. I loved her previous two books, primarily MRS. KIMBLE and was eagerly anticipating her third outing. She did not disappoint me with THE CONDITION.

I find it amazing that Haigh can write her characters so vividly that they really do come to life. All of the characters were clearly defined and there was something about each one that I could identify with. While some readers might find Paulette the least sympathetic, I found her the most interesting. This is a woman who was brought up a certain way and had clear expectations of how her life was supposed to turn out. She tries desperately to cling to those ideals, even though she has been divorced for years, and her children are distant and cold with her.

The story itself is not so much about Gwen's condition (Turner's Syndrome), but about the condition of a broken family, how they come and go out of each other's lives and how they try to get through their daily lives, with all it's struggles, hopes and regrets. This truly is a story about the human condition.

I've recommended Ms. Haigh's books to others and will certainly recommend this to them as well.

In its subject matter, this book is a bit of a cross between Sue Miller and Jonathan Franzen, but with a higher quality of prose and reflection than either. It is essentially about the many betrayals that occur in a family of five after the daughter is diagnosed with Turner's syndrome. The narrative follows events from the perspective of each of the five family members, and jumps around a bit, so you definitely have to pay attention--the book is not mere entertainment but ponders the problems of love and loss and betrayal within a family system, showing a multifaceted picture of each family member's relationships with the others and the reasons for the decisions they made. Something that I thought was interesting about the author's choices was that the four family members whose feelings we are given insight into are not especially sympathetic. The fifth family member, the one the narrative makes us most likely to symmpathize with, has Turner's syndrome and we are told this means that she is less aware of high level social interactions and feelings--so we are also prevented a bit from entering into her psyche sympathetically, thus we get a very balanced portrait of the family. In the end it seems like the family survives despite all of the problems, although the conclusion of the book is somewhat open ended--it is definitely not a story for someone who wants a happy end.

More than beach reading but less than literature in the end, the book is probably too complicated for a beach read but it is basically enjoyable and worth reading.

Oh, how I wish I had this book on that boring flight to Seattle and back...This interesting story focuses on the dynamics of a family of 5. The book starts out when the 3 children, 2 boys and a girl, are young; however, almost all of the book revolves around the 3 children and their adult lives, as well as the parents' lives. Every one of the characters has a "condition," some more subtle than others and fun to discover. Like the characters in the book, we all have our own conditions, conditions placed on us, and conditions we place on others. As the family's lives unfolded I found myself not wanting to put this book down and when I finished the book I was sad that it was over. I really didn't want this story to end, as I felt connected to each and every one of the characters, Billy, the handsome first born who becomes a doctor; Gwen, introverted and plain who finally finds her passion; and Scott, the forgotton third child who has no real direction in life and an affinity for pot. They all had become a part of my family early in the story and I found myself emotional about what was going on in their lives.
Anyone who is part of a family can relate to this family's idiosychrosies because the author's talented writing style brings you in and truly makes you a part of this family, a part of "every family." Also, we are all part of the "human condition" and that is yet another level on which to relate to this story.
Without giving the story's plot away, I would like to mention the universal themes that occur throughout the story, themes we can all relate to: jealousy, love, determination, disappointment, feeling awkward, not fitting in, being drunk or high, making mistakes, forgiveness...The list is long, yet it is what makes us all a part of this wonderful novel.
This dramatic and humorous story of Paulette, Frank, Billy, Gwen and Scott is the story of us all. I am so thankful this novel fell into my hands and I highly recommend it. And, I will be seeking out other novels by its author, Jennifer Haigh.

I highly recommend this wonderful novel, which reminded me--in sensitivity, insight, and captivating story-telling--of the work of Anne Tyler, Alice Hoffman and Louise Erdrich, yet was wholly unique in voice and approach. The author tells the individual and intertwined stories of five family members--and this reader was immediately involved in their lives, and couldn't put the book down. The author is a truth-teller, and I felt as if she was allowing me to see hidden aspects of myself through the prism of many different personalities; I was given--along with many entertaining hours of reading--new perspectives into my own foibles and limitations, strengths and resources. I intend to read Ms. Haigh's other two novels, and I'm sure the experience will be equally pleasurable and pertinent. Though some reviewers have been disappointed, I think most readers will be enchanted and enthralled. Don't deprive yourself of the delight of readung this remarkable new book!

I am a woman with TS so knew I had to read this book when I discovered that one of the main characters, Gwen, has Turners.

From the very beginning I found myself amazed at how accurately Gwen is drawn. TS brings with it certain physical characteristics, but there are emotional complexities that come along with it as well. All of these are explored beautifully and it is a bonus that Gwen's story ends up as it does.

However, the book turned out to be much more than I expected. It is to Jennifer Haigh's credit that I cared about the rest of the family as much as I cared about Gwen.

Highly recommended and big thank you to Jennifer Haigh from all of us TS women.

This is one of the most captivating novels that I have ever read. I just could not put this book down, reading 300 of the 390 pages at one sitting.

The story deals with a bit of family history and focuses on Frank and Paulette McKotch and their children Billy, Gwen, and Scotty. The author masterfully develops each 21st century character from childhood to mid-life and weaves in other characters that impact their lives. A central setting in the story is a vacation home in Cape Code, but also takes the reader to California, New York, Pittsburg, and Saint Raphael off the coast of Miami.

Frank, a scientist is consumed with his work while his children are growing up. Paulette comes from a wealthy background and is a bit overbearing, jealous, and overprotective. Billy the handsome bright athletic eldest child grows up to be a Medical Doctor and carries a secret life revealed later in the story. Gwen is the second oldest sibling and her condition is the one the title of the book refers to. She has a medical condition called Turner's syndrome. She was born with a partially damaged sex chromosome that keeps her body in a childlike state. She becomes an anthropologist and is the central character in the book. Scotty is the youngest son and the least likely to succeed. He becomes a teacher, a pothead, and the father two children and is married to a strange woman. An underachiever, he is not interested in his chosen career; however develops into a surprisingly interesting character.

The story deals with family interactions, disappointment, love, anger, divorce and a variety of surprises that will appeal to a wide variety of readers. The author's writing skill and style held my interest through the entire book. Undoubtedly it will resonate with most people. I am so glad I read it and recommend it to men and women of all ages. I believe "The Condition" will be a best seller and will probably be made into a movie or television series.

Although I do not normally read fiction novels, I loved this one and can hardly wait to read the authors other books.

Some novels are merely entertaining, others teach you about other places and other times, and some very special ones teach you deeply about yourself. Jennifer Haigh's "The Condition" is one of those. I've encountered novels of penetrating vision into the life and deepest psychological mindset of a character a handful of times - and they have been transformative moments in my life (like the time when, deeply depressed, I found myself recognizing Anna Karenina's suicidal anguish with an almost physical shock. Like encounter therapy, Tolstoy's deep insight into human suffering taught me that I was not alone in my anguish and that knowledge may have saved my life.) I had several such encounters with vital human wisdom in ways that have moved and transformed me in reading "The Condition". If I could give this novel six stars I certainly would.

It's almost impossible to discuss the plotting of this novel without spoilers because Haigh throws curves and surprises at you - vital things about the characters that then become ground zero for subsequent action. I don't want to give away a thing so I'm going to use a broad brush. Suffice it to say that this is a book about a family that falls apart. The fact that a daughter has a medical condition is but one of an array of everyday challenges. It's a mistake to think that this is a medical drama in any way. The "condition" of Gwen is hardly the most debilitating affliction going on here.

"The Condition" initially is structured with several long sections that each feel like freestanding brilliant short stories - separate but related because the characters are all in the same family. Each section centers on a character and consists mainly of character exposition, rather than narrative movement. Haigh writes in a guileless, almost artifice free way - but her content is utterly astounding in the way she perfectly captures the interior and exterior world of real, normal, middle class American white people. She delves deeply into each character, and her ability to lead us to inhabit each very different life is so brilliant that I actually resented it when, towards the middle of the book, the narrative flow began to take over from character exposition as the the primary trust of the novel. Characters grow and change over time. They make mistakes, have triumphs, and then live with the consequences. They grow up and grow emotionally away from one another in a way anyone in a family will recognize and understand. Rapidly, the narrative complications become beautiful, complicated, and interlocking in a mesmerizing way. The way the details of the plot unfold and the different narrative lines align and move towards each other relentlessly is extraordinarily crafted. The sense of verisimilitude never wavers. It always feels utterly real even as the complications pile up. The chapters still feel like they could stand alone as short stories - each has their own gut sucking ending, but they build and build.

In the last few dozen pages towards the end the revelations and growth that transform each and every character take on an aching emotional quality that qualifies this as a tear jerker. But while other great tear jerkers like "Terms of Endearment" are about death and grief, this one is about life and love. You don't cry because of loss - but because of what is gained. These characters that you've come to know and care about and whose mistakes you've witnessed and whose bad choices you've suffered through finally come to a place of some honesty and love and it's deeply gratifying. If you know some broken people, some dysfunctional families or some people who run from pain in their lives this book has something to teach you. Highest recommendation.

p.s. Reading over the previous reviews I can see that many people are annoyed by the mother, Paulette. She is, certainly, the least sympathetic character in the book and I wonder if part of the reason why I loved this so much is that I related to the sons or the husband and not the mother. As a man - this books depiction of various problematic marriages was instructive because it allowed me to see the woman's side of those scenes so clearly. If I were an older mother I might identify with Paulette instead - and I could see how that might be insulting. I wouldn't dock too many points from this book for this reason. While this book might feel like a mirror, at times - it isn't. Some others seem to feel that there are too many broken characters in one family to be realistic. I guess they are just lucky. Some question and others praise the depiction of Turner's syndrome. I guess that's important to some people who want Gwen to be a flag bearer for a real condition. I just viewed Gwen's condition as another one of those life challenges to be dealt with - and didn't worry about how accurately the syndrome was being represented (and couldn't say as I don't know). I just went with it and LOVED this book.

It is too bad that the author took a condition such as Turner Syndrome and exploited it for use in her book -- especially since she did it in an inaccurate way. Even at the time this novel was set there were effective treatments for Turner Syndrome such as growth hormone and estrogen replacement so young women could develop normally. What a disappointment -- in this day and age you'd think the publisher would have higher standards. For those who ever receive this diagnosis, don't believe the stereotypes put forth in this book!

It's been a while since I enjoyed reading a book as much as I enjoyed "The Condition," a novel that tells the story of The McKotches from the viewpoint of each member of the immediate family. The stories are told in narrative form rather than from the first person, but Jennifer Haigh is able to step into the skin of each of the characters, bringing them to life as flawed but abundantly human beings, doing the best they can with their lots in life. The title is both specific and general, referring to Gwen, the daughter, having a medical condition known as Turner's Syndrome. The irony is that all of the members of the McKotch clan have a variety of "conditions," not the least of which is the "human" condition. The book often reminded me of one of my favorite novels, Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections," although it isn't nearly as funny - or intended to be. While each of the characters commits transgressions that hurt or at least bother the others, it is never out of spite, and there are no "bad guys." Haigh is able to explain why each character is the way he or she is, and by the end of the book, each is in a better place emotionally, if not necessarily within the confines of the family. Love plays a very big part in the plot, but not just romantic love or family love - there is also a love of career, of tradition, of life itself. The intertwining lives have many twists and turns, and none of the characters know the full story of any of the others - much like life. Incorrect assumptions are made by everyone, often with disastrous results, but that's what makes the book such a delight to read - and so true to life. If you enjoy character-driven novels with a lot of heart, give this one a try.

The operative word in my title is "almost." When I started reading this book, having read Jennifer Haigh's previous books, I was impressed with her story line and characters. She (similar to Tyler and Oates), describes what we initially believe are unusual characters and drives them through life with ordinary circumstances, typical of the lives we lead. The characters of the these three novelists are usually introduced as odd or special, but then they are thrown into the same traumas and dysfunctions of many families.

The McKotch family consists fo five people with five different personalities, goals and defeats. The father is a scientist, who is dedicated to his profession and represents the driven academic who cannot really relate to his wife and children. His wife, Paulette, annoyed me. She represented the typical New England woman whose goal is to maintain tradition and appearance. She suffers from the opening page. The three children are a handsome cardiologist, a rebelious guilt-driven son and everyone's probable favorite: the daughter afflicted with Turner's Syndrome. The parents' response to her illness is miles apart in terms of treatment and how they treat her.

Ms. Haigh's point of view of each character was refreshing and played significant roles in her strong plot. I understood each character and she did not play favorites in terms of evaluating their motives. Her minor characters were also interesting and indicated a sharp divide between the McKotch family and those on the outside of it.

Unfortunately, the book fell apart for me at the end. The last scene, which evoked an American tragedy, was too much of a gimmick. I believe this last scene ruined all the chapters preceding it.

Picked up this book because a friend of mine has a daughter with Turner's Syndrome, and was hoping this book would give me some insight into it. Turns out the book is more about the condition of the whole family, and seems Gwen's the most "normal" whatever that is.

Mrs. Kimble was Jennifer Haigh's first novel, and it was also one of the first books I desperately wanted to read and could not get my hands on. Our library in Opelika had about zero selection of newer books (other than EVERY new James Patterson, John Grishm, Mary Higgins Clark, etc...). I even went to the Auburn library with no luck. Then we moved to Tallassee and THAT library was even worse (though I loved it for it's physical attributes and friendly librarian). Finally, we landed in MS and we have a wonderful library system here. So, I was able to read Mrs. Kimble. I enjoyed it greatly and moved onto Jennifer's second book, Baker Towers, which had come out in the time it took me to get my hands on her first. I liked that one even better. It was a family life saga, spanning multiple generations. I LOVE those. I love seeing how decisions effect the future for people you may never even meet.

So, as you can imagine, I was thrilled to get an email from an editor at Harper Collins, offering me Jennifer Haigh's newest book, The Condition. I waited impatiently for it to arrive and dove right in. This is rare for me. Most books sit in my To Read stack for months before I crack the cover. The Condition, however, did not disappoint. Another dramatic family saga. A little more modern, but with plenty of story from the past few decades, as well. I instantly fell in love with Frank McKotch, though many will dislike him, initially. He reminded me a little of my own father, also named Frank. Too intelligent for his own good. *wink*

The condition this book centers around seems to be Turners Syndrome, which I had never heard of and was intrigued by. I'll let you google it for more info, but basically it keeps a girl from ever going through puberty. As thrilling as that sounds to those of us who had a rough adolescence, it doesn't just excuse you from the bad parts. It means your body never matures into full womanhood. There will be no babies in your future, unless you adopt. There will be no budding breasts or, um, other important body changes that can effect your, er, sexual fulfillment, later in life. I enjoyed learning more about this, about the treatments and how a person lives with the condition.

This condition seems to be what alters everyone's life. I found the book to be more about other conditions however, conditions more common to our lives. The Human Condition is what it made me ponder. Our tendencies toward distrust, bitterness, unreliability... We are, so often, basically selfish creatures. We look at other people's lives through our own warped lenses and don't understand why they don't act according to our convictions. We let this condition alter everything.

As always, Jennifer Haigh has written a very compelling story with real characters. Some of them are likeable and some are not. Some we want to prosper and some just confuse us. Like I said, they are real. It is hard to give higher praise than that, for me, at least.

After reading BAKER'S TOWERS a few years ago and hearing such wonderful things about MRS KIMBLE, I couldn't wait for the latest release from Jennifer Haigh. The story sounded promising and I was anxious to dig my teeth into it. Sadly, the story never really seemed to grab me until nearly the end, and then it was too late -- the book/story ended. If the first 3/4 of the book had captured my attention as much as the last 1/4 did, I would have called this a success, but sadly it just didn't do it for me.

I wanted to love these characters, especially Gwen, but there was something that left me feeling detached. Like the walls they had built in their lives carried into the story leaving readers feeling left out. It was if the characters didn't WANT you to get to know them or cheer them on. It was hard to feel anything about any of them.

It is beautifully written, but at times I felt like the chapters/pages were never-ending. I found myself skimming the pages, looking for highlights, just to get to the next chapter. I don't do that too often -- a story has to move pretty slow for me to do this, and unfortunately, that's how I found THE CONDITION.

I liked the various meanings of the title -- It could really apply to any of the main characters, altho readers (and members of the McKotch family) are led to believe that the "condition" refers to Gwen's Turner's Syndrome, when in reality, each member of the family has his or her own "condition" to deal with.

I really liked Baker's Towers and maybe I was expecting a similarly told story, but for some reason I never connected with the McKotch family. I thought the last few chapters were GREAT and wish that some of these things had been told near the beginning of the book, with flashbacks telling the story. Perhaps that would have moved along at a better pace, knowing how it all turns out. I just found the journey of the McKotch family to be boring and didn't really care about it. I also found the family's resolve near the end of the book a little too rushed and disbelieving -- it seemed to happen to easily, like they all woke up one day and decided to accept one another. Not exactly how it happens in real life.

Sorry -- not one of my favorites, altho I would like to read more from Jennifer Haigh as she is truly a talented writer.

The Condition is a great read, a compelling page-turner about a dysfunctional family. The titular condition is ostensibly the Turner's Syndrome that besets Gwen, one of the McKotch children. She has a genetic disorder that prevents physical maturation, but she and the rest of her family suffer from the unnamed human condition, the one that prevents emotional maturation. The novel opens with a brief look at the early family life, when scientist father Frank figures out that there is something wrong with Gwen. The rest of the novel takes place over twenty years hence, in the late 1990s. The children are grown fully into their own personal dysfunctions and the family tries nobly to work out the problems and ignore them at the same time. I have to say that generally, dysfunctional family stories do not interest me, but this one really is a compelling read. Jennifer Haigh has created terrific characters, likeable, but not perfect and her story moves forward at the perfect pace. This novel is a great, satisfying read, one that will be difficult to put down. Enjoy.

I really wanted to love this book....but just couldn't. Yes, Jennifer Haigh is a renowned author, but this book lacks the sheer readability that I was looking for. It's as if she was trying to impersonate Hemmingway, but doesn't equal his sense of flow.

Her paragraphs are filled with obtuse observations and statements that keep pulling me out of the human aspect of the story. I find that quite annoying. She has a lot going on in the story (as other reviewers note)and I found that aspect unbelievable which limits my ability to relate or even like the characters.

what a disappointment.

Better than I was expecting!

Gwen has "Turner's Syndrome." This genetic disorder (some may argue with the term "disorder". It really has the crucial genes in a "different order") results, in short, in Gwen remaining "girlish" her entire life, in size and stature. Her two brothers, and her parents, live lives influenced in part by this discovery.

Author Jennifer Haigh starts off The Condition with a scene from a summer family holiday in 1976, just prior to Gwen's diagnosis. Haigh then takes the reader to 1997: Billy is very successful but in the closet (as far as his parents are concerned), Scott is trapped (through his own choices) in a disappointing marriage and job, father Frank continues his drive for scientific recognition, and mother Paulette continues to dream and live as a blue-blood.

It is Gwen who probably lives her dreams without guile, and without shame.

Haigh alternates chapters in the minds of these characters. She has done an admirable job in capturing the unique perspectives of these five characters. The reader will emphasize with all of them part of the time, and none of them all of the time.

That is Haigh's magic in this story.

Is Frank a lecherous, conniving, uncaring father? Is Paulette blind to the needs of her children? Can Scott rebuild his life? Will Billy ever run the Boston Marathon? Will Gwen reunite with Rico?

You won't know, can't know, until the very end of The Condition.

Recommended.

I expected a lot of this book that was PEN/Hemingway Award winner. The story is one of the truly american family. It opens up with an extended family vacation near Boston in late seventies and carries on twenty years later with its protagonists aged. Family matron Paulette is from well off family born into privilege and money. Beautiful and naive, she falls in love while still in college and marries a young PhD student Frank whose social background is humble. They have three children: Billy, Gwen and Scott but that is not enought to sustain them as a family. In spite of her beauty, Paulette is jealous and insecure wife and the fact that her daughter has Turner syndrom is alienating her relationship with her husband. In carefully drafted book, we learn about each protagonist's internal life, life outside their nuclear family and choices they make that are both personal and professional. What makes book weak is the happy ending. Decades of denial, secrecy and reservation under pretense of keeping peace amongst each other turns into hapily ever after. And we all know very well, that life is just not that simple. Interesting book, but do not expect family saga in the form of Evelyn Waugn or Thomas Mann. Good fiction work, well researched, but I would not exactly call "Condition" a remarkable piece of literature in spite of it's reward(s).

I like this book. I normally have no interest in topics such as divorce, health issues, homosexuality, underachieving, infidelity, neurosis....a nightmare of a family that we all dread. I actually thought it was some what of a medical book due to the title. The 'condition' is actually not specifically about Turner's syndrome. To me it tells a very interesting story of a very dysfunctional family...each member have their own 'condition' that they must overcome. A very well written book that just draws you in. Definitely worth reading.

This book is about a family, one that is both extraordinary and yet very ordinary. Frank is the father and Paulette is the mother, with two boys Billy and Scott and a daughter Gwen. Frank is a biologist whose life and passion is his work; in that realm he is passionate, energetic and driven to succeed. However, outside that arena, he lacks much of what it takes to be a good father and husband. In the matrimonial arena, he is not so bad that his marriage to another woman could not have worked. Paulette is prone to dramatic displays of emotion, denial, a need to control the children in the guise of protecting them and paranoia.
Billy is the successful one, getting a medical degree and having a successful practice in New York City. Billy is also gay, a fact that he has kept from all members of his family. Scott is a consistent failure, his life is smoking weed and his lack of ambition has kept him from accomplishing much of anything. He is married to Penny, they have difficult children and he teaches at a school for rich teens where the teacher's are secondary to the students. Gwen had Turner's syndrome, she has only one-half of one chromosome so she is under five feet and sterile, with little in the way of breasts. When Gwen was diagnosed, Frank studied the disease in detail while Paulette went into denial. This diametrically opposed management tactic cut the remaining binds of their marriage and they divorced.
The story describes their lives, moving from one person to another as they try to cope with the changes and with their relationships with each other. Gwen tries to overcome her condition and move on to having a normal life but her family tries hard to break up her serious relationship. Frank has a very talented postdoc working on what could be groundbreaking research that could be his last chance to be elected to the Academy of Sciences. However, his student fails him spectacularly and Frank is forced to deal with his oldest and best male friend, dragging up old rivalries and animosities that have been buried for decades.
While the central characters of the core family are strong and quirky, the supporting characters make significant contributions as well. In many ways, they are what make the story such an engaging one. If it were confined to the core family, it would get dull, but when you throw in friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, wives and other assorted people, your level of interest increases. Each has a trait that plays well with the associated member of the core family and the combination makes a dynamite story.

By the title and book jacket summary, I thought the focus of this book was on Turner's syndrome, a genetic defect that one of the characters is diagnosed with as the book opens. I was pleasantly surprised that, although living with the non-fatal condition was an interesting part of the story, the book is really about relationships. Dysfunctional families, confused romantic attachments, and mistaken priorities combine to make a very interesting read.

The book started out slowly for me. The characters were introduced in a way that reminded me of a youthful first novel or the introduction to a play: kind of a "this is M. She looks like this and acts like this..... But later, when delving into what the characters are really about, the author described them with many "take away" phrases that I read and re-read, thinking about how well her descriptions captured not only her characters, but people I know in the non-fiction world. Such as:

"Jane Frayne had been his first love, though he understood this only later. This was, he saw now, a hallmark of his character: the failure to see what anything meant until it was gone forever."

Excellent.

This book is not chick lit or a laugh-a-minute comedy about a dysfunctional family. It is about the ups and downs of seeing people as they are and not as you want them to be (including really seeing yourself). I enjoyed and highly recommend it.

The Condition explores the relationships, the doubts, failures and dashed hopes of a modern American post-nuclear family with such attention to detail, and richly drawn characters I felt, after only a few pages, as though I knew these people. Intimately. This was my first reading of Ms. Haigh's writing and her style is richly prosaic, and easy to delve into with great staying power. Clearly she cares for these characters and paints a portrait of a family that may disturb some readers with what may incorrectly viewed as bleak.

While there are particular issues addressed in "The Condition" that may seem foreign, or off putting to some readers, (specifically Gwen's unusual medical condition which drives the tale), at its core this is a novel that I believe every one who's ever experienced family (and that's most of us) if honest with themselves, should be able to relate to. Haigh goes beyond the obvious issues surrounding Gwen's condition and the family's reactions, coping with and moving on to reveal each member - warts and all - with such depth of character and believability that I want a sequel. Highly recommended and I look forward to reading much more of this author.

I had never heard of Turner Syndrome before. Before I read the book, I was curious and wikipedia'ed it, I'm amazed to find out that in reality 1 in about 2600 women have some degree of this condition affecting them. How had I never heard about this before? Anyway, it was an interesting vehicle to motivate the plot.

I had not read a book by this author before and was pleased with her story. The charachters are believable, lovable and loathable all at the same time -- very much as all family is. The Condition is about how families lay and accept blame for the imperfections of their brood and how relationships eb and flow as we react to things that happen to us.

I don't want to give anything away, so I will simply recommend that you pick this book up for an entartainng read on your not so run-of-the-mill family drama. Enjoy!

There are a million little things wrong with this book. Still, it's to Haigh's credit that "The Condition" remains an enjoyable, eminently readable book nonetheless. Like its characters, the novel rises above its limitations to a point where you must admit your affection for it, even as you deplore its weaknesses.

The book is the story of the dysfunctional McKotch family: father Frank, a semi-successful scientist consumed with envy for anyone he thinks has it easier; mother Paulette, a classic old New England grande dame whose hysteria, jealousy, and prudery eventually end their marriage; eldest son Billy, a closeted cardiologist; daughter Gwen, who despite her genetic "condition" is probably the least messed up passenger in this train wreck; and Scott, the underachieving baby of the family. After a long (long, long) set up, during which we're introduced to these characters, something finally happens when Gwen falls in love on vacation. Her family's reaction to this event - Gwen has Turner's, which means she never went through puberty and has never had a boyfriend before - sets in motion what passes for the plot here. Meanwhile, the boys are wrestling with their own demons, Frank faces a career crisis, and Paulette sits at home and moans that no one loves her.

Paulette is definitely the weakest link. She's a cliché of a stereotype of a caricature, more unbelievable than she is annoying. Not to say there aren't plenty of Paulettes out there - I live in New England, and I've met them - but she manages to take every single one of their... Less appealing characteristics, shall we say, with not a single redeeming feature. Sure, the rest of the family consists of archetypes, too - the distant father, the overcompensating son, etc. But at least they all feel real. We come to care about Frank, even though he can be a bit of a jerk. We have sympathy for Billy, even as we want to smack him upside the head. We resist the urge to tsk-tsk at Scott when his befuddled self wonders what the heck happened to his life. (Scott has one of the funniest scenes in the book, when he's trying to figure out if his son has ADHD but can't concentrate long enough to read the list of symptoms. It's an all-too-brief moment of levity and I only wish Haigh had managed to spread the satire throughout the rest of the book as well.)

But it's Gwen who we cheer for. Gwen, despite her child's body, has a sharp mind and a ready wit. She sees all her family's flaws, but can't see how they're ruining her own life; she's so used to being the weakest member of the family that it never occurs to her that she's actually the strongest. Haigh should have ditched the rest of the characters and just let Gwen shine; the book is at its best when it's focused on her. She's the only truly original and completely believable person here, and injects a breath of fresh air wherever she appears. This is not to say that Gwen is some sort of cheerful victim - hardly. She's anti-social and occasionally bristly and defensive. She's awesome, the kind of person you want watching your back even as you desperately want to protect her from the poison of her mother.

As I said, there are a lot of little things Haigh gets wrong. (Among the most egregious was the final scene, which shamelessly exploits 9/11 for the sake of maudlin pathos. I actually groaned when I read it, and had I not already been finished with the book, I probably would have abandoned it in disgust at such a cheap trick.) Nevertheless, I enjoyed "The Condition" overall. This story of a deeply flawed family and the ways in which they alternately hurt and save one another will get under your skin, in a good way. Don't be surprised if you're unable to put it down.

LOVED this book! it's one of those books that you can't wait to finish because you want to find out what happens to the characters, and yet, you DO NOT want to finish because you don't want it to end!!! the story and the characters are unique and unforgettable. some really great insights into being a mom and a daughter...about parenting, in general.

In my estimation, "The Condition" is Jennifer Haigh's best novel yet. I was immediately "grabbed" by this plot revolving around the strange-and-yet-normal, Drew/McKotch family of Massachusetts. Haigh allows just the right amount of mystery to surround each character thus keeping the reader engaged and eager to turn the next page. They aren't THAT different from the usual dysfunctional families in literature, really...just enough to be educational...the most obvious example is that daughter Gwen, has Turner's Syndrome.

Haigh, while herself a young woman, convincingly portrays what it's like to be a middle-aged woman in a declining body (believe me) as well as a 30 year old, hyper active and unhappy, husband and father. Her characters are not only totally believable, they are compelling. The book is broken into three sections: "The Condition", "The Cure" and "The Prognosis" and each reader can decide what "the condition" is...I say it's simply "life".

"The Condition" is a satisfying summer read.

THE CONDITION is one of the best books I have read in awhile. Spanning the time between the bicentennial summer of 1976 and the tragedy of September 11, 2001 author Jennifer Haigh fully introduces us to the members of the Drew-McKotch family. Mother Paulette Drew McKotch is from a family of once wealthy New Englanders and still holds on to the customs and ideals of the privileged. Her former husband Frank comes from quite a different background and used his football playing skills and intelligence to escape the Pennsylvania coal mining town where he was born for success as a research scientist at a prestigious university. The oldest son Billy grows up to be a handsome NYC cardiologist with a central secret that is foreshadowed early in the book. The only daughter Gwen is diagnosed with the "condition" Turner Syndrome (a chromosome disorder where only one X is present, the woman does not go through puberty, usually remains short in stature and often exhibits a variety of other specific physical and cognitive characteristics) causing her to be overprotected by her parents. The third child and the most interesting to me is Scott who actually shows the most change and dawning self-awareness of himself and his family in the novel. All the characters are so realistically well developed and easy to identify with I couldn't put the book down in my eagerness to find out what happened next to each of them. Ms. Haigh's previous novels MRS. KIMBLE and BAKER TOWERS are well rendered as well but THE CONDITION is her best to date.

I got this book through the VINE program. Read the book in two sittings. The characters are past believable... they are PAINFULLY believable!!! I imagine anyone with extended family dynamics will find someone aptly described in this novel. Ms. Haigh intricately describes each characters weaknesses and foibles, yet keeps them endearing - a hard task indeed, but essential to keep our interest up until the end.

I was content that all the story lines I cared about were tied up and I was even happy with how she ended them. I though the balance between plot and character development was excellent.

If possible, I would avoid reading reviews with spoilers on this one - this story flows well and it would be a shame to waste such good writing by already knowing what was coming...

I wholeheartedly recommend this book - just make sure you have some time free when you start reading it - you're not going to want to put it down!

All the best,

Jay

I have read Jennifer Haigh's earlier novels and found them to be quite good. However, this one knocks it out of the park. I must admit when I read the cover I was hesitant to purchase - thinking that a young girl with Turners syndrome might be a bit depressing, but it was entirely the opposite.
Jennifer Haigh introduces a new story line... not the same old same old --affair, breakups, etc... sure some of those are in it, but there are no cliched storylines. It was rich with life, family, friendship and left you with a smile at the last page... and of course wanting more. Even with 2 children under 2 1/2 I managed to finish this in 2 nights. I already can't wait for her next novel.

This is a very complex book about families and relationships. The main character is a Girl named Gwen. she Has Turners Syndrome which causes her to stop developing just before puberty. There are many people in the book besides her, all of which have excellent character development and depth of feelings and circumstances. If you love the depth of emotions that we as humans experience they are all shown here. How her mother deals with the daughters condition and how the father does are so differnet. Her siblings are also very unique. Just about every human emotion you can imagine is portrayed in this book in a real true believable way. My favorite person is of course Gwen and how she deals with her condition.(or not at times) You really get drawn into her feelings. She does some very surprising things, you laugh with her and you weep for her.I'm not going to spoil the book for you but it does have some surprising unique twists.(I hate it when the review tells how things turn out) I read it in 3 days some nights much too late.

This author will now be on my favorites list. I cannot say I had realized what Turners was. I can relate to Gwens feelings since I am the opposite and very tall for a woman so I understand how size makes a difference.


Sometimes the language could have been a bit cleaner for me but it was not to the point of stopping from enjoying the book very much. I highly recommend giving this book a try. It is a classic take it on vacation book. You get so drawn into the lives of the peolpe you have to keep turning page after page. I feel as if I know these people and want to call them up and chat. That is a good book to me when I continue to think of the people and wonder how they are doing.

Well done Jennifer Haigh~I'm your latest new fan.