Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Condition
    The Condition
    The Condition
    Audiobook14 hours

    The Condition

    Written by Jennifer Haigh

    Narrated by Jennifer Van Dyck

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    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 has embarked on their annual vacation to Cape Cod. One day, Frank is struck by his thirteen-year-old daughter, Gwen, standing a full head shorter than her younger cousin. At that moment he knows something is terribly wrong with his only daughter.

    Twenty years after Gwen's diagnosis with Turner's Syndrome—a genetic condition that traps her forever in the body of a child—all five family members are still dealing with the fallout. Frank and Paulette are acrimoniously divorced. Billy is dutiful but distant. His brother, Scott, awakens from a pot-addled adolescence to a soul-killing job and a regrettable marriage. And Gwen is silent and emotionally aloof, until 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJul 1, 2008
    ISBN9780061724787
    The Condition
    Author

    Jennifer Haigh

    Jennifer Haigh is the author of the short-story collection News from Heaven and six bestselling and critically acclaimed novels, including Mrs. Kimble, Faith and Heat and Light, which was named a Best Book of 2016 by the New York Times, The Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and NPR. Her books have won the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Massachusetts Book Award and the PEN New England Award in Fiction, and have been translated widely. She lives in New England.

    More audiobooks from Jennifer Haigh

    Related to The Condition

    Related audiobooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Crimes of the Heart

      Nov 5, 2016

      Like many of his novels, Spanish author Javier Marías’ new book, Thus Bad Begins, isn’t exactly a mystery, though it is mysterious. Here, the 65-year-old perennial Nobel favorite tells the story of Juan de Vere, a young man working for a film directo

      1 min read

    • Article

      Crash Course

      Jun 30, 2019

      Crash Course
      6 min read

    • Article

      Samantha Irby On Oversharing And The Art Of Confessional Writing

      May 9, 2018

      Samantha Irby is not shy about her shortcomings. The blogger and author of the essay collections "We Are Never Meeting in Real Life" and "Meaty" writes both openly and hilariously about dealing with Crohn's disease, awkward dating experiences and bad

      4 min read

    • Article

      Greedy Gold En Girls

      Mar 25, 2021

      Greedy Gold En Girls
      3 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Steph Opitz

      Dec 17, 2018

      I put down a lot of books that didn’t do it for me, and shuffled and reshuffled my to-be-read pile to my heart’s content. It’s been liberating. The post A Year in Reading: Steph Opitz appeared first on The Millions.

      6 min read

    • Article

      Birnam Wood By Eleanor Catton Review – The Root Of All Evil

      Feb 26, 2023

      In his great critical work The Sense of an Ending, Frank Kermode wrote about the end-directedness of fiction, the way that novels rehearse and forestall their endings – a process he called peripeteia. One thing he doesn’t discuss in that book is what

      3 min read

    • Article

      Celeste Ng’s Hard Truths

      Sep 17, 2022

      Celeste Ng’s Hard Truths
      6 min read

    • Article

      Romantic Entanglements Bring Humor And Heartache To Small Town

      Jun 21, 2021

      Katherine Heiny’s novel transplants readers to Boyne City, Michigan, through the keen eyes of the town’s new schoolteacher.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Art After Sexual Assault

      Apr 21, 2019

      Art After Sexual Assault
      6 min read

    • Article

      'The Heart's Invisible Furies' Is the Funny, Touching Story of an Irish Everyman

      Sep 1, 2017

      Boyne's new novel follows its protagonist throughout the decades, from birth in 1945 to age 70, and the story encompasses a great deal of history.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Beetlemania

      Oct 9, 2020

      Beetlemania
      4 min read

    • Article

      Fiction To Look Out For In 2023

      Jan 1, 2023

      During the lockdown years, I kept reading articles by novelists saying how unproductive they were feeling, how virus narratives had colonised their subconscious minds, destroying the creative impulse. 2023’s novels – or at least those of them I’ve re

      3 min read

    • Article

      Victoria Mas On The Mad Women’s Ball: ‘My Book Is A Fiction... But Terrible Things Really Happened To Women In Paris 200 Years Ago’

      Jun 18, 2021

      In the opening pages of Victoria Mas’s debut novel, The Mad Women’s Ball, a 16-year-old girl is hypnotised by a 65-year-old man. “Shoulders back, bosom forward, head held high,” the girl walks proudly into a lecture theatre at the Pitié-Salpêtrière h

      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Condition

    3.5/5

    401 ratings53 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      The book jacket will tell you that this is the story of a young woman with Turner syndrome. True enough, but this novel goes well beyond your typical Girl Overcomes Adversity plot. Gwen is but one member of the spectacularly uncommunicative McKotch family. Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      the condition of one family member effects the whole family and tears some of them apart. in actuallity, each family member suffers from their own conditions and failures. in the end, they all seem to come back together and accept their conditions/failures for what they really are. story is told from each characters point of view, which gives the reader insight to each and every one of them.
    • 5/5
      Another wonderful novel by Jennifer Haigh. About a girl with Turner's Syndrome, but also essentially about a family and about forgiveness and change.
    • 5/5
      So well-written. This is an interesting tale of relatively normal lives. Daughter has a syndrome; family goes on, grows up. All the characters get to know themselves and each other better. No cliches or shallowness.
    • 3/5
      The McKotch family is Dysfunctional, with a capital D. Frank is a brilliant but jealous and intensely competitive scientist, who neglects his family while worrying constantly about being named to the National Academy. Paulette is an overbearing mother, apparently unable to love her three children on their own terms. When the book opens, the children are not yet teenagers, and the family is taking their annual vacation on Cape Cod. During their trip, the couple notices that something is wrong with their daughter, Gwen, who, they realize, is much smaller and less developed than her cousin of the same age. She is diagnosed with Turner?s syndrome, and as a result will never go through puberty or physically develop. Paulette and Frank soon divorce, and the book jumps forward 20 years. Frank is still brilliant but overly competitive, and his difficulties are compounded by an infatuation he has with a female post-doc, which nearly ruins his career. Paulette is dealing with an infatuation of her own, involving a young laborer to whom she lends a sum of money, which he uses to leave town with his girlfriend. Gwen has buried herself in an entry-level job doing archiving in a archeological museum, staying on much longer than her peers. Her older brother Billy is a successful doctor who alienates his Indian lover because he?s unwilling to tell his family that he?s gay. And the younger McKotch son Scott, something of a loser who diagnoses himself as ADHD, is in a troubled marriage to a woman who ends up having an affair with her step-brother. Eventually Gwen goes on vacation to the Carribean, where she falls in love with a scuba-diving tour operator while on vacation, who may or may not be a drug dealer and who may or may not be using her to get a U.S. passport.Well, you get the idea. While the book is an easy and enjoyable red, it?s much too much of a soap opera for my tastes. I can?t understand how it got the strongly positive reviews that it did, e.g., from Janet Maslin in the NYT.
    • 3/5
      This book was a time filler that did not need too much attention. Most of the characters were 2-dimensional and devised to present a point. There was some growth of the characters, but not as much as frequently happens. And each character was unbelievably constantly concerned with the meaning of their life. The Condition referred to the aspect of family secrets and also to life with Turners syndrome.
    • 4/5
      I am glad the book ended the way it ended. My biggest problem is the circular feminist structure, which worked, but which also was obvious.

      The characters were great. I really appreciated how the author showed how much of Gwen's true nature had been eclipsed by her condition and, more importantly, her family's reaction to her condition. I think it also explained her older brother's reticence to show his true self to his family after seeing what his sister went through. And poor Scotty, the baby who got left behind, how many of us know of children who became lost because their family had no time or energy left for them. The dynamics between husband and wife, father and mother, work and love and sex, competition and envy were also played out well between Frank and Paulette.

      A great read--not quite heavy literature, not light chick lit either. Just a good solid book.

    • 5/5
      This is a family with more problems than just Gwen's "condition" and we are twisted and turned through all of them as the story works toward the growing up and apart and back together again of this family.
    • 4/5
      Family drama. How a medical condition in one of the children, and a divorce, shape the history of a family. Well, and then there is the secretive nature of two of the children, and the uncommunicative nature of the father, and the mother's inability to face reality, and altogether, a compelling story with a happy and somewhat surprising ending. Perhaps the familiar setting accounts for my 4 stars. I do like it when I can actually visualize the places in the story--Concord, Truro, Kendall Square, The Harvest restaurant in Harvard Square, all places I've spent time.
    • 3/5
      I expected the title to refer to Turner's Syndrome which is the condition suffered by one of the characters and which is ostensibly the issue which drives the book. But I really felt like it more aptly applied to the condition of the family, which defines "dysfunctional." There is not a character in this book that is not battling their own issue, and battling it independently of the rest of the family. After an opening part which shows the family on the cusp of falling apart, the book skips forward 20 years but then looks back on those 20 years from the point of view of each of the five family members. I found it difficult to really connect with any of the characters because of this and because of the constantly jumping time frame. There is a lot to discuss in this book for book clubs. I was happy to see the Haigh showed growth in each of the characters and didn't try to wrap up all of the endings in a happily ever after fashion.
    • 4/5
      I read The Condition in short spurts on the cardio machine, which is a difficult way to read a novel, but Ms. Haigh's story pulled me so that I almost forgot I was working out.

      It's the story of a family that already has cracks beneath the surface before Gwen's condition (Turner's syndrome) determines the course of their lives. In a true dysfunctional manner, everyone develops behavior in response to her condition, each reacting off the others' behavior.

      The story follows each of the children into adulthood and circles back to follow the parents, Frank and Paulette.

      I felt the struggle of each person to find her/his place in the world and to come to terms with the wounds and misunderstandings of the past.

      Ms. Haigh's prose is fluid, and captivating in every way and her characters come to life so that I closed the book feeling as if they were part of my family.
    • 3/5
      When I am in the mood for a light, easy read, I often turn to Laurie Colwin. She's one of my very favorite authors, both for her fiction (Happy All the Time/u>), and her nonfiction (Home Cooking). I like Beth Gutcheonfor the same reason. Her books, like Laurie Colwin's, don't require too much concentration, but neither do they make you embarrassed to tell your friends what you're reading. The Condition is a similar piece of work: a quick read (about a morning, for me), with a happy ending, and nothing too strenuous to think about. A great beach book, and not just because the beginning & ending take place at the Cape. Three-&-a-half stars.
    • 3/5
      The opening chapter pulled me in, but there were several times I almost put it aside. However, there was enough smatterings of wit and really good writing to keep me interested.These people were just so unlikeable and incapable and/or unwilling to communicate with each other on the simplest of terms almost as if it was their goal to purposely stay out of each other's lives. I felt there was some kind of underlying air of superiority in characters who felt that detachment from their families, and in some cases their friends, was desirable.I knew nothing about Turner Syndrome but did feel the author handled it with respect and insight. That certainly wasn't the only "condition" in the book -- of course, I guess that's the point of the book.
    • 3/5
      An extraordinarily well written family story.
    • 2/5
      I might have given this book three stars, but I am developing an aversion to books that invoke 9/11 a cheap emotional trigger.

    • 4/5
      3.99 on my nook!

      I love how Haigh writes her characters. She gives them such rich personalities. This is really a story about a family that learns about all of their own conditions, not just Gwen. She may have the medical condition, but the rest have their own conditions that keep them from being able to be happy and live their lives well. I loved mrs Kimble and I really liked this one. I look forward to more by her.
    • 3/5
      This was a story about the human condition as told through the vehicle of a New England family and their individual struggles to find their way in life. One child has a medical condition, but it becomes clear that her condition is no more or less difficult to live with than making bad choices, being lonely, being a closeted gay man, or being perpetually detached from life. The characters and their lives are resoundingly real, but the plot was too predictable for my taste.
    • 5/5
      This book is an excellent portrayal of a dysfunctional New England family. With a daughter suffering from Turner's Disease, a gay son, a son who can't seem to stay with any one thing for any length of time, a husband obsessed with his work in the lab, and the wife who is always striving for something more, this book offers wonderful insights into the lives of its characters.You feel with the daughter, Gwen, who, with her condition, will always have the body of a twelve-year old girl. You sympathize with Billy, the gay son, who is in his 30s before he tells his parents the truth about his love life.And there's Scott, the son needing to find his place in the world.You will be moved as you follow along with the family as years later they are finally able to understand one another and accept one another for all their quirks and faults.Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      The McKotch family is Dysfunctional, with a capital D. Frank is a brilliant but jealous and intensely competitive scientist, who neglects his family while worrying constantly about being named to the National Academy. Paulette is an overbearing mother, apparently unable to love her three children on their own terms. When the book opens, the children are not yet teenagers, and the family is taking their annual vacation on Cape Cod. During their trip, the couple notices that something is wrong with their daughter, Gwen, who, they realize, is much smaller and less developed than her cousin of the same age. She is diagnosed with Turner’s syndrome, and as a result will never go through puberty or physically develop. Paulette and Frank soon divorce, and the book jumps forward 20 years. Frank is still brilliant but overly competitive, and his difficulties are compounded by an infatuation he has with a female post-doc, which nearly ruins his career. Paulette is dealing with an infatuation of her own, involving a young laborer to whom she lends a sum of money, which he uses to leave town with his girlfriend. Gwen has buried herself in an entry-level job doing archiving in a archeological museum, staying on much longer than her peers. Her older brother Billy is a successful doctor who alienates his Indian lover because he’s unwilling to tell his family that he’s gay. And the younger McKotch son Scott, something of a loser who diagnoses himself as ADHD, is in a troubled marriage to a woman who ends up having an affair with her step-brother. Eventually Gwen goes on vacation to the Carribean, where she falls in love with a scuba-diving tour operator while on vacation, who may or may not be a drug dealer and who may or may not be using her to get a U.S. passport.Well, you get the idea. While the book is an easy and enjoyable red, it’s much too much of a soap opera for my tastes. I can’t understand how it got the strongly positive reviews that it did, e.g., from Janet Maslin in the NYT.
    • 3/5
      An okay book, although it was worth the dollar I paid for it. The author did a great job at describing the emotions that would go with a family member's disease. Would only recommend to lovers of this particular genre.
    • 4/5
      Gwen McKotch is diagnosed as a teen-ager with Turner's Syndrome, a condition that will forever leave her trapped in a child's body. This is the final straw for what has been an increasingly dysfunctional family, and her parents divorce soon after the diagnosis. In many ways Gwen is the most well-adjusted member of the family, and Jennifer Haigh explores with a sure voice the ways in which a family that was seemingly fragmented by a wrenching diagnosis can in some ways be resurrected when Gwen refuses to live her life in the ways that each family member has come to see as her role. A nicely told story with a conclusion that illuminates the power of the spirit over the weakness of the flesh.
    • 3/5
      I expected this novel to focus on the impact of Turner Syndrome on the family. But it was really about the various struggles in each person's life; everyone has their own "condition" to deal with. It's a decent read about family dynamics, but it didn't have the "hook" I'd hoped for.
    • 4/5
      I'm so glad this book ended the way it did! Beautifully written and great characters with lots of dimension. This would be a good book club book as I'm positive it would provoke lots of discussion.
    • 4/5
      The Condition is a sweet, easy to love story. It takes you to familiar problems you, me might have. The gay son, a daughter with a "condition." And my favorite the normal-pot head son. The crazy-mother Paulette, and the enchanting father, Frank. All these characters we already know, in some way or another. The beauty is in how uncensored they speak and what relieve it brings to us when we hear it.
    • 4/5
      A family of five, each with their problems, but all lacking communication skills. The Turner's diagnosis was not worse thing going on in the family as indicated in the front cover jacket of the book. I hated the mother's family and the mother which clouded how I felt about the book. The repressive, formerly rich family of the mother was beyond stereotypical in their view of the world beyond their family. The condition that tore this family apart was not the diagnosis of Turner, it was the desperation that each member of this family experienced since none of them had a good family experience to save them from themselves or their poor decisions.
    • 2/5
      Well, I gave up on this one after about 75 pages; it's just not my kind of book. The McKotches are a snobbish family that is dysfunctional in all of the most stereotypical ways: sexually repressed mother from an "old money" family, father with a roving eye who worked his way out of the wrong side of town, handsome but obviously gay teenaged son, hyperactive nine-year old son (acting out in response to family problems, of course). The exception is 12-year old Gwen; although she is the one who has "the condition" that keeps her from physically maturing, she's the sanest of the lot. When Gwen is diagnosed, the family falls apart--although it is clear that it has barely held together for years. Truth to tell, I just didn't care about any of these people. Haigh's writing is good enough, but this is a story that felt like I had read it a hundred times before. Maybe it gets better . . . but I skimmed the last few chapters, so I'm pretty sure I haven't missed much by putting this book on the swapping block.
    • 5/5
      The privileged McKotch family watches their world fall apart when their young daughter is diagnosed with Turner's Syndrome. As fascinating as the diagnosis aspect of this novel is, watching Gwen as an adult grappling with her disease is really the heart of this novel. Gwen is much more than a woman with Turner's; she is a fully rounded character with her own desires and a will strong enough to withstand her family's many intrusions.I badly wanted to read this book when I first read the reviews, but I loved it much more than I ever expected to. This is an absolutely perfect novel about "the condition" of one girl, one family, and all of us. Jennifer Haigh will amaze.
    • 4/5
      This is kind of a family saga, but very introspective. One of the family members--a daughter--has a condition that keeps her in a perpetual state of girlhood--she never goes through puberty. Shortly after she is diagnosed the family falls apart--well the parents divorce, the children only speak to each other occasionally. But life may just give them all second chances.This is a slow paced novel that is trying to get you into the emotions of the people involved. Which it does well, save it for when you have some time to think and savor what you are reading, if you like books about family dynamics and the human 'condition'.
    • 5/5
      So well-written. This is an interesting tale of relatively normal lives. Daughter has a syndrome; family goes on, grows up. All the characters get to know themselves and each other better. No cliches or shallowness.