Inside the O'Briens
2 journalers for this copy...
(BCID recycled on 9/12/18)
"Joe O’Brien is a forty-four-year-old police officer from the Irish Catholic neighborhood of Charlestown, Massachusetts. A devoted husband, proud father of four children in their twenties, and respected officer, Joe begins experiencing bouts of disorganized thinking, uncharacteristic temper outbursts, and strange, involuntary movements. He initially attributes these episodes to the stress of his job, but as these symptoms worsen, he agrees to see a neurologist and is handed a diagnosis that will change his and his family’s lives forever: Huntington’s Disease.
Huntington’s is a lethal neurodegenerative disease with no treatment and no cure. Each of Joe’s four children has a 50 percent chance of inheriting their father’s disease, and a simple blood test can reveal their genetic fate. While watching her potential future in her father’s escalating symptoms, twenty-one-year-old daughter Katie struggles with the questions this test imposes on her young adult life. Does she want to know? What if she’s gene positive? Can she live with the constant anxiety of not knowing?
As Joe’s symptoms worsen and he’s eventually stripped of his badge and more, Joe struggles to maintain hope and a sense of purpose, while Katie and her siblings must find the courage to either live a life “at risk” or learn their fate. "
Acquired via PaperBackSwap. (Unabridged on 9 CDs; read by Skipp Sudduth)
"Joe O’Brien is a forty-four-year-old police officer from the Irish Catholic neighborhood of Charlestown, Massachusetts. A devoted husband, proud father of four children in their twenties, and respected officer, Joe begins experiencing bouts of disorganized thinking, uncharacteristic temper outbursts, and strange, involuntary movements. He initially attributes these episodes to the stress of his job, but as these symptoms worsen, he agrees to see a neurologist and is handed a diagnosis that will change his and his family’s lives forever: Huntington’s Disease.
Huntington’s is a lethal neurodegenerative disease with no treatment and no cure. Each of Joe’s four children has a 50 percent chance of inheriting their father’s disease, and a simple blood test can reveal their genetic fate. While watching her potential future in her father’s escalating symptoms, twenty-one-year-old daughter Katie struggles with the questions this test imposes on her young adult life. Does she want to know? What if she’s gene positive? Can she live with the constant anxiety of not knowing?
As Joe’s symptoms worsen and he’s eventually stripped of his badge and more, Joe struggles to maintain hope and a sense of purpose, while Katie and her siblings must find the courage to either live a life “at risk” or learn their fate. "
Acquired via PaperBackSwap. (Unabridged on 9 CDs; read by Skipp Sudduth)
Inside the O'Briens tells the story of an Irish Catholic family in present-day Boston. The O'Briens consist of parents Joe and Rosie, and of their four young adult children: JJ, Patrick, Meghan, and Katie. When Joe starts exhibiting odd neurological symptoms and is eventually diagnosed with Huntington's Disease (HD), it takes a toll on the entire family, especially when they learn that each offspring of an individual with HD has a 50% chance of inheriting the disease themselves. While Joe must deal with the increasing symptoms of HD himself, his children also have to come to terms with the possibility that they, too, may have the HD-positive gene, and thus, must decide whether they want to pursue genetic testing or continue to live life not knowing.
Lisa Genova has become known for her novels that center around an individual with a specific neurological diagnosis. This is the third novel of hers that I've read, and I've enjoyed them all. She has a talent for creating a story with realistic family dynamics, blended with a strong medical undercurrent. And though her stories can be heartbreaking and sad, they are educational and enjoyable, rather than dry and depressing. This particular novel alternates points of view between Joe, the father with HD, and his youngest daughter, Katie, who struggles throughout the book in trying to decide whether or not to have the genetic testing. Which is worse: finding out definitively that you're HD-positive, or not knowing and living with the constant stress of that uncertainty?
I enjoyed reading about Joe's point of view more than Katie's. While both perspectives were helpful in developing the story line, the tedium of Katie's back-and-forth did start to get old after a while and made me enjoy her character less. And while the other three siblings and their decisions were addressed in the novel, we didn't get to see things in depth from their point of view, which might have been more fulfilling for the reader. Still, I did enjoy this book a lot, just as I have the others, and I would probably rank Genova up there as one of my favorite authors.
Lisa Genova has become known for her novels that center around an individual with a specific neurological diagnosis. This is the third novel of hers that I've read, and I've enjoyed them all. She has a talent for creating a story with realistic family dynamics, blended with a strong medical undercurrent. And though her stories can be heartbreaking and sad, they are educational and enjoyable, rather than dry and depressing. This particular novel alternates points of view between Joe, the father with HD, and his youngest daughter, Katie, who struggles throughout the book in trying to decide whether or not to have the genetic testing. Which is worse: finding out definitively that you're HD-positive, or not knowing and living with the constant stress of that uncertainty?
I enjoyed reading about Joe's point of view more than Katie's. While both perspectives were helpful in developing the story line, the tedium of Katie's back-and-forth did start to get old after a while and made me enjoy her character less. And while the other three siblings and their decisions were addressed in the novel, we didn't get to see things in depth from their point of view, which might have been more fulfilling for the reader. Still, I did enjoy this book a lot, just as I have the others, and I would probably rank Genova up there as one of my favorite authors.
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