Inside the O'Briens

A Novel

By: Lisa Genova

Narrated by: Skipp Sudduth

From 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 fifty 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” (San Francisco Chronicle), Lisa Genova has once again delivered a novel as powerful and unforgettable as the human insights at its core.

Learned A Lot

Even though it can be sad it was uplifting and informative
I absolutely recommend it

Educational and entertaining

The characters are all fully developed and interesting. They're people I can relate to. Many points in the story that brought tears and many that made me laugh out loud.
Highly recommended.

pretty good overall...but

The indecision of one character was maddening, and I didn't agree with the ethical decisions by some of the characters.
Overall, it was engaging, though, just a few hiccups through the indecision phase. The ending wasn't awesome (or at least according to me, some might like it, apparently the author did).

Great but then left questioning

I enjoyed this book and completely gave you a better at clinical understanding of Huntington's disease but I do not like how the author ended the book and anticipation for what's next I don't know if Katie has it or if she didn't I would like to know more

Lisa Genova heartbreaker

Every book she writes educates you, but it also makes you more human when confronted with or by anyone who is going through this. However, since this one covers multiple generations, it was a real tearjerker for me.