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bitterindigo's review
5.0
I'm finding it a little bit difficult to accurately pinpoint why I love this book so much. The moment I saw it and picked it up I wanted desperately to read it, but I'm assuming there's something more to it than "it's green" (although the cover is gorgeous, right?).
I love Paulette's passionate attachments to places and houses. I love how all the characters serve perfectly as foils for the behaviour of others, and yet they are so much more than just types or devices. I love how the characters do change, but realistically, in small and glacially slow ways. I love the small moments of connection and disruption and redemption. The writing is perfectly suited to the story -- it doesn't get in its own way.
It's easy to see why families are such a popular and rich subject for novels. This is an outstanding example, in my opinion.
I love Paulette's passionate attachments to places and houses. I love how all the characters serve perfectly as foils for the behaviour of others, and yet they are so much more than just types or devices. I love how the characters do change, but realistically, in small and glacially slow ways. I love the small moments of connection and disruption and redemption. The writing is perfectly suited to the story -- it doesn't get in its own way.
It's easy to see why families are such a popular and rich subject for novels. This is an outstanding example, in my opinion.
mscalls's review against another edition
4.0
This was a great book!!!! At first you think it's mostly going to be about Gwen's condition, but then you realize that all of the other family members have various conditions of their own, and it makes it really easy to empathize and identify emotionally with the characters. This was a rare book that actually made me stay up quite late reading it, and I'm so glad I did. This was tough to put down, and well-worth the read!!
afterwhat's review against another edition
2.0
I don't know. I'm not a big fan of literary fiction, really, and when it's that specific type of literary fiction where nothing happens except like, ordinary people living ordinary lives, I'm even less of a fan. I like character development and all, but I do need some plot, The Condition didn't have much of it. I liked the setting, and I was fairly invested in Billy's story, pretty unsurprisingly, but I didn't much care about the parents, and I really didn't care about Gwen, who I thought when I added the book to my TBR list, that the book was going to be mostly about.
It was okay. I dug the--there was something sort of We Were the Mulvaneys about it, the way that it took one thing about one family member and looked at how that one thing changed the course of the lives of the entire family. But in this book, it was just that the family blamed the one thing for the ways they screwed themselves over, whereas in Oates' book, the incident had more of a genuine effect. Also, We Were the Mulvaneys is freaking awesome and just wrecked me emotionally, and this book didn't even come close. But I guess I liked what it tried to do?
It was okay.
It was okay. I dug the--there was something sort of We Were the Mulvaneys about it, the way that it took one thing about one family member and looked at how that one thing changed the course of the lives of the entire family. But in this book, it was just that the family blamed the one thing for the ways they screwed themselves over, whereas in Oates' book, the incident had more of a genuine effect. Also, We Were the Mulvaneys is freaking awesome and just wrecked me emotionally, and this book didn't even come close. But I guess I liked what it tried to do?
It was okay.
hollowbook's review against another edition
3.0
I guess the worst thing about this book was that the passage of time was difficult to discern, and many of the characters' actions were, at times, flat and random. But much of the characterization was good and compelling, and each person's history was interesting, though they appeared to be unlinked to each other and nearly could have stood alone.
canadianbookworm's review
4.0
The books takes a look at a family in the late 70s at a family vacation home on Cape Cod. It then jumps to 20 years later looking at the same family.
The parents have divorced. The older son is a successful doctor living a good life in Boston, but keeping his real life separate from his family. The younger son has been running away from expectations and his own wants most of his life and only now is forced to look at his life and what he really wants. The middle child, a daughter has been living the last two decades with her genetic condition which she has let limit her life. When she is finally offered a chance to really enjoy life, her family baggage might get in the way.
The parents have their own issues too.
This look at a single family and how the lack of real communication has affected every member is an interesting vignette. Wonderfully written with characters that feel real, this book is a great choice for a summer read.
The parents have divorced. The older son is a successful doctor living a good life in Boston, but keeping his real life separate from his family. The younger son has been running away from expectations and his own wants most of his life and only now is forced to look at his life and what he really wants. The middle child, a daughter has been living the last two decades with her genetic condition which she has let limit her life. When she is finally offered a chance to really enjoy life, her family baggage might get in the way.
The parents have their own issues too.
This look at a single family and how the lack of real communication has affected every member is an interesting vignette. Wonderfully written with characters that feel real, this book is a great choice for a summer read.
badcushion's review
2.0
Two stars for being pretty well written. No stars for being predictable and mostly tedious.
lisagray68's review
3.0
A book about a girl with Turner's syndrome and what it does to their family. A horrible marriage, a gay brother, a loser brother - we've got it all here, folks!! I never considered not finishing it, it wasn't that. An engaging story and the writing was well done. It's not a book I'll think about long after, though. In fact, I had to go back and read the reviews on Amazon to remember what it was about, and I just read it a month ago!
gotogrrl's review
4.0
Liked this a lot. Gorgeous writing, loved the insight into each characters mind. Artful dismantling of a family in crisis. Ending...not so hot. Kinda tamped my love into like overall.
justacatandabook's review
3.0
I was a bit disappointed by this novel, having thoroughly enjoyed Haigh's Mrs. Kimble. I just couldn't empathize with the characters and things seemed to drag on. Redeemed itself a bit at the end, but still, not as good or as captivating as I'd hoped.