Inside the O'Briens: A Novel, by Lisa Genova
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Inside the O'Briens: A Novel, by Lisa Genova
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A Library Journal Best Books of 2015 Pick A St. Louis Post-Dispatch Best Books of 2015 Pick A GoodReads Top Ten Fiction Book of 2015 A People Magazine Great Read From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist Lisa Genova comes a “heartbreaking…very human novel” (Matthew Thomas, author of We Are Not Ourselves) that does for Huntington’s disease what her debut novel Still Alice did for Alzheimer’s.Joe O’Brien is a forty-three-year-old police officer from the Irish Catholic neighborhood of Charlestown, Massachusetts. A devoted husband, proud father of four children in their twenties, and respected officer, Joe begins experiencing bouts of disorganized thinking, uncharacteristic temper outbursts, and strange, involuntary movements. He initially attributes these episodes to the stress of his job, but as these symptoms worsen, he agrees to see a neurologist and is handed a diagnosis that will change his and his family’s lives forever: Huntington’s disease. Huntington’s is a lethal neurodegenerative disease with no treatment and no cure, and each of Joe’s four children has a 50 percent chance of inheriting their father’s disease. While watching her potential future in her father’s escalating symptoms, twenty-one-year-old daughter Katie struggles with the questions this test imposes on her young adult life. As Joe’s symptoms worsen and he’s eventually stripped of his badge and more, Joe struggles to maintain hope and a sense of purpose, while Katie and her siblings must find the courage to either live a life “at risk” or learn their fate. Praised for writing that “explores the resilience of the human spirit” (The San Francisco Chronicle), Lisa Genova has once again delivered a novel as powerful and unforgettable as the human insights at its core.
Inside the O'Briens: A Novel, by Lisa Genova - Amazon Sales Rank: #10241 in eBooks
- Published on: 2015-04-07
- Released on: 2015-04-07
- Format: Kindle eBook
Inside the O'Briens: A Novel, by Lisa Genova Review "This heartbreaking book tells the whole story of how a major illness affects a family. Genova’s gift is to show that things do work out, in a sense. Her very human novel teaches us to keep living, to lean on each other and be there to be leaned on.” (Matthew Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of WE ARE NOT OURSELVES ) "This novel of siblings rocked by their father's Huntington's disease is a total tearjerker, but ultimately it's a tribute to family love." (Glamour) "An intimate, heartbreaking look at life with Huntington's disease." (Marie Claire) "Genova...compassionately details how an illness—this time Huntington's disease—can destroy not only the afflicted, but those who love them as well." (People Magazine) “An unsparing, heart-piercing portrait…compelling.” (The Washington Post) "A moving drama." (US Weekly) "A gut-wrenching and memorable read." (Library Journal, Starred Review) "Compelling and masterful." (NYJOURNALOFBOOKS.com) "Inside the O'Briens is...about resilience and hope." (Bookreporter.com) “Genova’s book will move readers as well as demystify a condition sometimes called ‘the cruelest disease known to man.’” (Publishers Weekly) "Sympathetic, absorbing, multifaceted characters compel the reader's compassion. While Genova's background in neuroscience allows her to portray medical issues accurately, the heart of the O'Briens' story is human....Poignant and painful, warm and redemptive, Inside the O'Briens displays Genova's established strengths in bringing neuroscience to the lay reader, and portraying the power of love." (Shelf Awareness) “The family’s resilience makes this a story about living, not dying.” (The Michigan Daily) "[Genova's] compassionate storytelling is full of human emotion, all the way from boiling rage to love and gratitude, to despair." (The Vancouver Sun) “For a book that could be bleak and depressing, Genova turns it into a story that is strong and uplifting. The disease will continue its inexorable march, but the O’Briens’ response tells much about character when faced with crisis.” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) "Inside the O'Briens . . . promises to do for Huntington's disease, what Still Alice did for Alzheimer's." (Huffington Post) "Lisa Genova’s deep empathy for her characters shines through this poignant and uplifting story about family, grief and the resilience of the human spirit. Kudos to this amazing writer for showing us—once again—the transformative powers of even the most devastating events. Do not miss this fabulous novel." (Barbara Shapiro, author of THE MURALIST and THE ART FORGER ) "For the characters in a Lisa Genova novel, there is no way out, for genetic destiny has sealed their fate. And yet, for us as readers, there also is no way out, for we have no desire to look away. In his fear and courage, Joe O’Brien is an American hero. Huntington’s disease will claim his life, but not his capacity to love. This is Genova’s genius. A bold, skillful writer at the height of her narrative powers, she makes us long to hope for the hopeless and comfort the condemned. In their hard journeys, we find the small shining promise of every single ordinary day." (Jacquelyn Mitchard, author THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN and TWO IF BY SEA ) "Lisa Genova’s subtle, finely tuned prose gains momentum until you don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or give thanks. Like all of her work, Inside the O’Briens is brimming with candor, pathos, and deeply human characters. I didn't want the book to end!" (Vanessa Diffenbaugh, author of THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS and WE NEVER ASKED FOR WINGS )
About the Author Lisa Genova is the New York Times bestselling author of Inside the O'Briens, Love Anthony, Left Neglected, and Still Alice. Her first novel, Still Alice, has been adapted into a film starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, and Kristen Stewart. Lisa graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in biopsychology and holds a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard University. She travels worldwide speaking about Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury, and autism. She has appeared on Dr. Oz, The Diane Rehm Show, CNN, Chronicle, Fox News, and Canada AM and is featured in the Emmy Award–winning documentary film To Not Fade Away. She lives with her family in Massachusetts.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Inside the O'Briens CHAPTER 1 Damn woman is always moving his things. He can’t kick off his boots in the living room or set his sunglasses down on the coffee table without her relocating them to “where they belong.” Who made her God in this house? If he wants to leave a stinking pile of his own shit right in the middle of the kitchen table, then that’s where it should stay until he moves it. Where the fuck is my gun? “Rosie!” Joe hollers from the bedroom. He looks at the time: 7:05 a.m. He’s going to be late for roll call if he doesn’t get the hell out of here pronto, but he can’t go anywhere without his gun. Think. It’s so hard to think lately when he’s in a hurry. Plus it’s a thousand degrees hotter than hell in here. It’s been sweltering for June, in the high eighties all week, and barely cools down at night. Terrible sleeping weather. The air in the house is a thick swamp, today’s heat and humidity already elbowing in on what was trapped inside yesterday. The windows are open, but that doesn’t help a lick. His white Hanes T-shirt is sticking to his back beneath his vest, pissing him off. He just showered and could already use another. Think. He took a shower and got dressed—pants, T-shirt, Kevlar vest, socks, boots, gun belt. Then he took his gun out of the safe, released the trigger lock, and then what? He looks down at his right hip. It’s not there. He can feel the missing weight of it without even looking. He’s got his magazine pouch, handcuffs, Mace, radio, and service baton, but no gun. It’s not in the safe, not on his dresser, not in the top drawer of his dresser, not on the unmade bed. He looks over at Rosie’s bureau. Nothing but the Virgin Mary centered on an ivory doily. She sure ain’t going to help him. St. Anthony, where the fuck is it? He’s tired. He worked traffic detail last night over at the Garden. Friggin’ Justin Timberlake concert got out late. So he’s tired. So what? He’s been tired for years. He can’t imagine being so tired that he would be careless enough to misplace his loaded gun. A lot of guys with as many years on the force as Joe grow complacent about their service weapon, but he never has. He stomps down the hall, passes the two other bedrooms, and pokes his head into their only bathroom. Nothing. He storms into the kitchen with his hands on his hips, the heel of his right hand searching for the top of his gun out of habit. His four not-yet-showered, bed-headed, sleepy teenagers are up and seated around the tiny kitchen table for breakfast—plates of undercooked bacon, runny scrambled eggs, and burnt white toast. The usual. Joe scans the room and spots his gun, his loaded gun, on the mustard-yellow Formica counter next to the sink. “Mornin’, Dad,” offers Katie, his youngest, smiling but shy about it, sensing that something is off. He ignores Katie. He picks up his Glock, secures it in its holster, and then aims the crosshairs of his wrath at Rosie. “Whaddaya doin’ with my gun there?” “What are you talking about?” says Rosie, who is standing by the stove in a pink tank top and no bra, shorts, and bare feet. “You’re always movin’ my shit around,” says Joe. “I never touch your gun,” says Rosie, standing up to him. Rosie is petite at five feet nothing and a hundred pounds soaking wet. Joe’s no giant either. He’s five feet nine with his patrol boots on, but everyone thinks of him as being taller than he is, probably because he’s barrel-chested and has muscular arms and a deep, husky voice. At thirty-six, he’s got a bit of a gut, but not bad for his age or considering how much of his life he spends sitting in a cruiser. He’s normally playful and easygoing, a pussycat really, but even when he’s smiling and there’s that twinkle in his blue eyes, everyone knows he’s old-school tough. No one messes with Joe. No one but Rosie. She’s right. She never touches his gun. Even after all these years of his being on the force, she’s never grown comfortable with having a firearm in the house, even though it’s always in the safe or in his top dresser drawer, where it’s trigger-locked, or on his right hip. Until today. “Then how the fuck did it get there?” he asks, pointing to the space next to the sink. “Watch your mouth,” she says. He looks over at his four kids, who have all stopped eating to witness the show. He narrows in on Patrick. God love him, but he’s sixteen going on stupid. This would be just the kind of knucklehead move he would pull, even after all the lectures these kids have endured about the gun. “So which one of you did this?” They all stare and say nothing. The Charlestown code of silence, eh? “Who picked up my gun and left it by the sink?” he demands, his voice booming. Silence will not be an option. “Wasn’t me, Dad,” says Meghan. “Me either,” says Katie. “Not me,” says JJ. “I didn’t do it,” says Patrick. What every criminal he’s ever arrested says. Everyone’s a fuckin’ saint. They all look up at him, blinking and waiting. Patrick shoves a rubbery slice of bacon into his mouth and chews. “Have some breakfast before you go, Joe,” says Rosie. He’s too late to have breakfast. He’s too late because he’s been looking for his goddamn gun that someone took and then left on the kitchen counter. He’s late and feeling out of control, and he’s hot, too hot. The air in this cramped room is too soupy to breathe, and it feels as if the heat from the stove and six bodies and the weather is stoking something already threatening to boil over inside him. He’s going to be late for roll call, and Sergeant Rick McDonough, five years younger than Joe, is going to have a word with him again or maybe even write him up. He can’t stomach the humiliating thought of it, and something inside him explodes. He grabs the cast-iron skillet on the stove by the handle and sidearms it across the room. It smashes a sizable hole in the drywall not far from Katie’s head, then lands with a resounding BANG on the linoleum floor. Rusty brown bacon grease drips down the daisy-patterned wallpaper like blood oozing from a wound. The kids are wide-eyed and silent. Rosie says nothing and doesn’t move. Joe storms out of the kitchen, down the narrow hallway, and steps into the bathroom. His heart is racing, and his head is hot, too hot. He splashes cold water over his hair and face and wipes himself dry with a hand towel. He needs to leave now, right now, but something in his reflection snags him and won’t let go. His eyes. His pupils are dilated, black and wide with adrenaline, like shark eyes, but that’s not it. It’s the expression in his eyes that has him arrested. Wild, unfocused, full of rage. His mother. It’s the same unbalanced gaze that used to terrify him as a young boy. He’s looking in the mirror, late for roll call, glued to the wretched eyes of his mother, who used to stare at him just like this when she could do nothing else but lie in her bed in the psych ward at the state hospital, mute, emaciated, and possessed, waiting to die. The devil in his mother’s eyes, dead for twenty-five years, is now staring at him in the bathroom mirror.
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56 of 60 people found the following review helpful. " I'm actually relieved with this diagnosis because I finally have answers as to why I'm like I am By William Brown As hard as it is to believe, I was just diagnosed with Huntington's a few weeks ago. July 23rd, 2015. I went to the HDSA website to figure out the full ramifications of what that meant. They had an article about Lisa's novel. I immediately ordered it and it is an accurate description of my life. I'm 63 and had been showing some signs of chorea and some memory problems for about 4 years. 2 years ago I was diagnosed by my PCP and neurologist after getting an MRI in Florida as having "a chorea" but definitely not Parkinson's. They were both baffled and never mentioned HD. I moved to California last year and my new neurologist eventually said I might have Huntington's and I got a DNA blood test. (41 CAG repeats in HD language.) I knew nothing about "prodone" until I read Lisa's book. It explained a lot about my entire adult life and gave me an invaluable new perspective on my mother's "mental illness's." I'm actually relieved with this diagnosis because I finally have answers as to why I'm like I am. I have found a great local support group and am also getting on a list for any future clinical trials. I live by myself with my dog. I can still take care of myself and am able to drive. I figure I have at least 5 to 10 years minimum and totally optimistic that there will be drugs developed in my lifetime that will slow or halt the progression of this awful disease. And maybe even a cure. I am so grateful to Lisa Genova for writing this book and the serendipitous way it appeared the week I needed it most.
47 of 50 people found the following review helpful. A parent's worst nightmare... By Cheryl Stout Author and neuroscientist Genova has come up with another book that educates and still reads like a best-selling novel, this time about the terrible impacts of Huntington's disease - both on the individual but more tragically, I think, on the family.Joe O'Brien is a Boston cop and has been for 24 years. He is married to Rosie and they have four grown children. For seven years Joe has had neurological symptoms that he tries to brush off until finally Rosie gets him in to see a neurologist and he finds out he has Huntington's disease. But terribly, Huntington's is inheritable and each of his children have a 50/50 chance of having the disease too.This book not only gives us Joe's story about battling this terrible disease but it gives us the side stories of his children, trying to decide whether they want to be tested and find out whether Huntington's is in their personal futures.There are so many avenues explored in this book and all of them are heart wrenching tempered with a healthy dose of hope.I read LOTS of books...lots. But I can still remember finishing author Genova's first book STILL ALICE with tears running down my face. That is a powerful book about the destructive power of Alzheimer's disease. It impacted me so much because many family members and friends have fallen victim to this dreadful disease.Both books are hard to read but are important works of fiction based on true life tragic circumstances. Genova explains the science behind the diseases in a clear, concise manner that doesn't read like textbooks but more like diaries.NOTE: I received a copy of this book from Gallery Books through Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful. Moving and heartbreaking By Cynthia Parten I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.This book grabs you by the heart and just doesn't let go until the last page. The book starts with a brief description of Huntington's and the early symptoms. This section was really helpful. At first, I was slightly annoyed because it seemed as if the pacing for the book was really slow. But then I read that beginning section again. And I started to realize what Lisa Genova was subtly doing. She was showing just how gradual this awful disease is. Joe is a cop going about his daily routine. He is gruff, but is devoted to protecting his city as a cop and loves his four children. His job and his family mean everything to him. When he first starts showing symptoms, they are ones that can be easily explained: forgetfulness, clumsiness, quick temper. Considering his profession as a cop, it is easy to understand why he passed those off as stress. Despite the fact that I knew what was coming, even I kept trying to write off his symptoms and I was in as much denial as Joe.The only reason Joe goes to the doctor is because his wife, Rosie, convinces him that something is wrong. Joe hates doctors and is fully prepared for the doctor to tell him all the clumsiness and twitches are due to a bad knee. But his life and his family's life is changed forever when he gets the diagnosis of Huntington's disease. There was so much emotion in these pages. Joe goes through so many phases dealing with his disease; he's angry, in denial and he's even stoic at times trying to make sure his wife and kids are taken care of while he is gone. My heart broke for Rosie as she dealt with the thought of not only losing her husband, but the thought that her kids may die before her as well. The oldest son, JJ, had been trying to have a baby with his wife for a while. Their world is crushed when they realize they are pregnant just a few weeks before they realize their child has a 50/50 chance of inheriting this awful disease. Meghan is a professional dancer with the Boston Ballet and hates the thought of anything that could derail her dreams. Patrick is young and impulsive and still refuses to settle down. None of it is fair and this family showed way more faith and courage than I would have. Even with Joe dying, he still believed in God and still prayed on a regular basis. I do admire that.The author also writes from the point of view of one of the daughters, Katie. She is young and just starting out in a new relationship. She is in love with Felix, but isn't sure if she wants to saddle him with someone who has this disease. Katie is the youngest and the one who struggles the hardest with the decision on whether to take this genetic test. JJ and Meghan make their decision about their test pretty early on (no spoilers!) and their result is made clear. Katie goes back and forth about what she wants to do. Her chapters made me feel just as confused as she was. Honestly, when I first read the premise for this book I was sure that if it were me, I would not want to know. Unlike the breast cancer gene, there is nothing a person can do if they have the Huntington's gene. I am not sure I could live ten years or more, just waiting for symptoms to appear. But the more I read of Katie, the more unsure I became about that decision. This book will make you question what you would do in the same position. I do believe this is one of the most emotional books I have read in a long time. It has been a while since a book made me cry this much. But this isn't just a book about a man dying. No, this is about a man learning to enjoy the time he has left, being a role model for his children in showing them how to handle this disease, and also hope. Joe has hope that his children don't have the disease. He has hope that if they do, there will be a cure before they start showing symptoms. Lisa Genova just blew me away with this book.
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Inside the O'Briens: A Novel, by Lisa Genova
