Inside the O'Briens

A Novel

By: Lisa Genova

Narrated by: Skipp Sudduth

A New York Times bestseller ? A Library Journal and St. Louis Post-Dispatch Best Book of the Year ? A GoodReads Top Ten Fiction Book of the Year ? A People Magazine Great Read

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

Good but

I really liked the book. However, I did not approve of the author's ending.

I thought it needed to carry the individual stories further along.

Amazing!

Another amazing book by Genova! love the medical combination with a great story! very well written!

Engaging story, fabulous performance

Loved the performance, it bought a surprising warmth and immediacy to Lisa Genova s fascinating tale of how different family members deal with learning about their hereditary and fatal condition

Couldn't stop listening

Great story, loved the narrator. Wish it had gone on longer, since I got so attached to the characters.

An unforgettable education about Huntingtons

A powerful look at how this disease wreaks havoc on a family. But more importantly, a story of a family's love and spirit in the face of unimaginable fear of a future with Huntingtons. Sad but uplifting and Worth the read!