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lisaeirene 's review for:
Inside the O'Briens
by Lisa Genova
The book is about an Irish Catholic family living in Boston. Joe is the patriarch of the family, he’s a Boston cop and with his wife they have four kids. He starts noticing some things are “off.” His wife suggests he goes to a doctor, who referred him to a “movement specialist.” That’s where he finds out that he has Huntington’s Disease.
HD is not a well-known disease. Most people don’t know what it is. I know what it is because it runs in my family. When I try to describe it to people I end up just saying “it’s like Parkinson’s” and leave it at that. The scary part about this disease is that it’s genetic. If your parent has it, you have a 50-50 chance of getting the disease. I don’t talk about it much. But it was something that overshadowed my childhood in a big, big way. Like I said, it runs in my family on my dad’s side. I pretty much cried during this entire book. I could relate to SO much of what the O’Brien family was going through. Even though I was really young when my two aunts went through this, it left a huge impression on me. They both passed away when I was in my teens.
As I was reading the story my first thought was “he shouldn’t be a cop anymore.” The change that happens is scary. The symptoms of shaky, jerky movements and losing motor control are scary enough, add a gun to that? It made me cringe. Which I’m sure is what the author was going for. I felt like that part of the book was unrealistic–I think someone would have noticed sooner, or his family should have stepped in and made him retire or surrender his firearm.
The story is about the whole family, not just Joe. His oldest son is married and him and his wife have been trying to get pregnant for a long time. They are finally pregnant, 10 weeks along, when they get the news that Joe has HD. What does that mean for them? What does that mean for their baby? One of the daughters is a ballet dancer. This would be a career-ender if she developed HD. The other daughter, Katie, is a yoga instructor. Same with her–if she gets HD she can’t do her career either.
The four siblings get together and discuss whether or not they are going to get genetic testing. What does it accomplish? Getting a death sentence with a positive test–but your death sentence is 10-20 years from now? Does that IMPROVE your quality of life because you try and live each moment to it’s fullest and strive to accomplish all your goals before the disease takes hold? Or does it just become a giant black cloud hanging over your head and in the end ruin what little life you have left? It’s a hard decision. Myself? I don’t know how I would have reacted to that situation. I’m lucky that I no longer have to deal with that possible scenario, but still…? What road would I have taken?
I have to admit, there were a lot of times in the book where it was almost too difficult to read. But I kept at it because I felt invested in the story and the characters. I feel like the author wrote the progression of Joe’s illness very well and it felt accurate from my point of view. After I finished the book I realized the author has a PhD in Neuroscience from Harvard. She’s also the author of “Still Alice” (about Alzheimers disease). She clearly knows what she’s talking about and was able to bring a tough subject to life. She created characters that you enjoyed and felt invested in–all while informing the reading about this lesser known disease. It never felt preachy or like you were being talked down to.
I read the book in one day. I had to take a break here and there because emotionally it was gut-wrenching but at the same time I didn’t want to put it down. I don’t know that this book is for everyone. Maybe someone reading it without any knowledge of Huntington’s wouldn’t feel as emotional as I did reading it…despite the dark, emotional topic, I think the book was really well written.
HD is not a well-known disease. Most people don’t know what it is. I know what it is because it runs in my family. When I try to describe it to people I end up just saying “it’s like Parkinson’s” and leave it at that. The scary part about this disease is that it’s genetic. If your parent has it, you have a 50-50 chance of getting the disease. I don’t talk about it much. But it was something that overshadowed my childhood in a big, big way. Like I said, it runs in my family on my dad’s side. I pretty much cried during this entire book. I could relate to SO much of what the O’Brien family was going through. Even though I was really young when my two aunts went through this, it left a huge impression on me. They both passed away when I was in my teens.
As I was reading the story my first thought was “he shouldn’t be a cop anymore.” The change that happens is scary. The symptoms of shaky, jerky movements and losing motor control are scary enough, add a gun to that? It made me cringe. Which I’m sure is what the author was going for. I felt like that part of the book was unrealistic–I think someone would have noticed sooner, or his family should have stepped in and made him retire or surrender his firearm.
The story is about the whole family, not just Joe. His oldest son is married and him and his wife have been trying to get pregnant for a long time. They are finally pregnant, 10 weeks along, when they get the news that Joe has HD. What does that mean for them? What does that mean for their baby? One of the daughters is a ballet dancer. This would be a career-ender if she developed HD. The other daughter, Katie, is a yoga instructor. Same with her–if she gets HD she can’t do her career either.
The four siblings get together and discuss whether or not they are going to get genetic testing. What does it accomplish? Getting a death sentence with a positive test–but your death sentence is 10-20 years from now? Does that IMPROVE your quality of life because you try and live each moment to it’s fullest and strive to accomplish all your goals before the disease takes hold? Or does it just become a giant black cloud hanging over your head and in the end ruin what little life you have left? It’s a hard decision. Myself? I don’t know how I would have reacted to that situation. I’m lucky that I no longer have to deal with that possible scenario, but still…? What road would I have taken?
I have to admit, there were a lot of times in the book where it was almost too difficult to read. But I kept at it because I felt invested in the story and the characters. I feel like the author wrote the progression of Joe’s illness very well and it felt accurate from my point of view. After I finished the book I realized the author has a PhD in Neuroscience from Harvard. She’s also the author of “Still Alice” (about Alzheimers disease). She clearly knows what she’s talking about and was able to bring a tough subject to life. She created characters that you enjoyed and felt invested in–all while informing the reading about this lesser known disease. It never felt preachy or like you were being talked down to.
I read the book in one day. I had to take a break here and there because emotionally it was gut-wrenching but at the same time I didn’t want to put it down. I don’t know that this book is for everyone. Maybe someone reading it without any knowledge of Huntington’s wouldn’t feel as emotional as I did reading it…despite the dark, emotional topic, I think the book was really well written.