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A review by larabobara
The Condition by Jennifer Haigh
5.0
This book involves a young girl (and her family) who is diagnosed with a condition called Turner’s Syndrome, which prevents her body from ever maturing into or beyond puberty. When I started reading this, I did so with the notion that girl with Turner’s was the center of the book, and that the rest of the story focused on how her family dealt with (or failed to deal with) her condition.
In some ways, I was right. In actuality, though, the book is not really about the condition of Turner’s Syndrome so much as it is about a condition that afflicts us all: the human condition. Some of the characters’ flaws and/or mistaken actions made me wince with discomfort, and their sense of regret went against my basic philosophy of life (which is pretty similar to Mike Damone’s advice in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, if you take out the “act like” part: “..Wherever you are, that’s the place to be. Isn’t this great?”). At the same time, though, these same flaws/mistaken actions/regrets were almost comforting in a weird way.
Haigh gives each character such depth that I truly felt like I knew them all by the time I finished reading, and although the book was laced with melancholy, it left me feeling warm and wishing there was more of it to read. I suppose I’ll have to settle for reading her previous books instead.
In some ways, I was right. In actuality, though, the book is not really about the condition of Turner’s Syndrome so much as it is about a condition that afflicts us all: the human condition. Some of the characters’ flaws and/or mistaken actions made me wince with discomfort, and their sense of regret went against my basic philosophy of life (which is pretty similar to Mike Damone’s advice in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, if you take out the “act like” part: “..Wherever you are, that’s the place to be. Isn’t this great?”). At the same time, though, these same flaws/mistaken actions/regrets were almost comforting in a weird way.
Haigh gives each character such depth that I truly felt like I knew them all by the time I finished reading, and although the book was laced with melancholy, it left me feeling warm and wishing there was more of it to read. I suppose I’ll have to settle for reading her previous books instead.