40. The Condition

I fell in love with this quirky New England family. The author took me to the home of any family, with all of the faults, limitations, love, expectations, disappointments and discontent found within the human condition. While the story centers on the family struggle with Paulette, who has Turner's Disease - a condition which causes a halt to normal physical maturity, each of the family members struggles with their own "conditions" which range from sexual choices, drugs, ADHD, fearfulness, and distrust. As the family gathers for one last time in their previously owned cottage on the shore, I found myself cheering for all of them - please take the time to explore and embrace your own conditions - accept one another. I was quite sad when I turned the last page and it was over.

One of my favortie passages ends like this:
That like a grave illness, adulthood had befallen all three of them. That fortuitously or not, their courses in life had been set, the only lives they were going to get. p. 312-313

This reminds me of what I always tell my four grown children: To be happy in this life, find something you love to do and then do it! It took me forty years to find something I loved to do and I am grateful to come to work every single day!

TITLE: The Condition
AUTHOR: Jennifer Haigh
COPYRIGHT: 2008
PAGES: 320
TYPE: fiction,
RECOMMEND: I really loved this book.

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