The Condition: A Novel

By Jennifer Haigh

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060755784
• ISBN13: 9780060755782
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.4" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

Tonight, when I told my three sons good night, i thought of how...

I thought of how much my sons' childhood differs from mine. I thought back to a time and then came back to this time. That emotion, that knowing that comes from surveying the life of a person and of a family--that is what Ms. Haigh does with much skill in this tale of a family. Little Gwen has a "condition" called Turner's Syndrome and as a physician I was impressed by the accuracy of the facts presented and the skill of their weaving, but you can have that from any medical book (the facts about Turner's). What came more skillfully and with more value while reading is Haigh's ability to flash forward and flash backward to show the condition of each person, of the family, and of the plight of walking around on this planet. I knew I would see a mature and fresh view when I read these two paragraph's early in the book: Anne lit another cigarett, "it's awful. I have this beautiful daughter, and my whole body is sagging by the minute, I feel like a shriveled old hag." (Years later Paulete would marvel at the memory: how old they'd felt at thirty-five, how finished and depleted. "We were still young and beautiful," she would realize far too late.) Somewhere, an ancient scripture teaches to count our days for we are like a puff of smoke here today and gone tomorrow. Though a saga that shouts our days are not infinite may feel heavy--such a saga gave me a reminder to close the book and get up and live my life. I fellow could gather much less from a novel. Having worked as an ER physician and witnessed hundreds of deaths, I have an appreciation for the brevity of life that keeps me focused on the value of a day. I'm not sure where Ms. Haigh learned that lesson but she teaches it with skill in this story of pain and beauty, sickness and health, love and betrayal. This excellent read will make you want to kiss your wife, hug your child, and walk out side and inhale as much air as your lungs will hold.

Simply wonderful.

What an opportunity to review Jennifer Haigh's third novel as a part of the Vine program. I have reviewed Haigh's breakout novel, "Mrs. Kimble" and rejoiced in finding it to be conceptually compelling, and beautifully crafted. In her sophomore effort, Baker Towers, her timeframe and geographical research was flawed, harming a story that, once again, was based on three women, similar to Mrs. Kimble. In "The Condition", Haigh returns to fine writer's form in an unsentimental tale of a troubled family, and how the passage of time heals their differences. Frank and Paulette McKotch, a golden couple with three children come together and then come apart after their family vacation on Cape Cod in 1976. The communication issues of this small family are rooted not in the things they say, but the things they don't say. Haigh propels the family forward by 20 years and the reader can examine the schisms that have arisen from the 1976 faultlines. The book was a compelling read of character study, dialogue and simple revelation. I was swept up in it. Near the end of the story, one character realizes a simple truth that is the foundation of the family... and in one compelling sentence, Haigh has made me a big fan, again. The character, the son Billy, realizes, in one sentence: "His father was kind". You can read a dozen books that purport to tell the story of a family's healing, but you will not be able to match the tale that leads up to that single sentence. Truly a wonderful read.

I loved this book!

Ultimately any story told is only as good as the voice telling it. Jennifer Haigh's voice is pure gold. I loved this book because of Jennifer's ability to mine the depths of her character's minds and hearts and convey it with wit, charm, intelligence and humanity. She weaves the tale of these all too human people into a compelling story that truly moved me. I feel lucky to have found my way to The Condition and I will run not walk to the book store to buy her next book. Matthew deGarmo

Three cheers for Gwen!

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.

The author gets TS right

As a woman with turner syndrome and as a librarian, I found this book to be extremely well written and researched. The author gets the details about turner syndrome right without failing to make the character Gwen fully human. She is neither overly sympathetically portrayed, or used as a foil for the other characters. Some curious readers may find themselves running to Wikipedia to find out more details about the biology referenced in the story (phenotype, knockout mice?) but this doesn't distract from the main story and adds interest. This isn't a book about turner syndrome; it's about the Human Condition (as the jacket blurb says) that we all have. I would heartily recommend "The Condition" to anyone interested in an engaging, realistic read.