An American Family with a Few Issues

The Condition by Jennifer Haigh

The “condition” of this title is, ostensibly, Turner Syndrome, a gene deficiency that causes the McKoch family’s daughter Gwen not to go through puberty, basically leaving her with the body of a little girl into adulthood. But as we read further, we find that each member of this family has their own condition that leaves all of them deficient; prim mother Paulette, driven detached father Frank, closeted gay golden boy son Billy, loser blacksheep son Scotty and, of course, the physically and emotionally stunted Gwen.

We meet the family in the summer of 1978, glossy on the outside, but ready to disintegrate on the inside. Twenty years later, we revisit their lives, all grown up and still falling apart. Though they aren’t all totally healed of their condition by the end of the novel, I found a certain amount of satisfaction in their journey. Haigh is an insightful and graceful writer who goes deep into each character extracting the ways people can become so involved in their own conditions that they cannot connect with others. I wasn’t sure I was going to like this book, I’m not normally one for family drama type novels, but I found this one was different and I enjoyed it very much.

To find this book in the Library, go to our website at www.newberglibrary.org

Reviewed by Lori M.