Book review: Inside the O'Briens

Title: Inside the O'Briens

Author: Lisa Genova

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Summary: The O'Briens are born-and-bred Irish Catholics who live in Charlestown.  Patriarch Joe is a 44-year-old cop married to Rosie and a father of four.  When Joe is diagnosed with Huntington's Disease, his world and his family's world is changed forever.  As his family witnesses his deterioration as a result of his disease, his children grapple with whether they should get a genetic test that will identify if they carry the gene that will lead to their own Huntington's diagnosis later in life. Two of his kids want to know and have to deal with their test results.  Two others struggle with whether they want to know, and the not knowing leads to its own stresses.  In the meantime, Huntington's continues to take away Joe's ability to be a cop, husband and dad.

Review: I initially gave this book three stars, but the more I think about it, the more I like it.  As somebody that has potentially passed on the BRCA gene to her daughters, I am sympathetic to the guilt that Joe felt passing the gene for this disease on to his children.  Additionally, as somebody that inherited the BRCA gene from my mom, I am also sympathetic to not blaming a parent for passing something like this on.  However, let me state that passing along the Huntington's disease gene is far worse than passing on the BRCA gene.  Genova did a great job describing this disease (or at least I was convinced).

As somebody that wasn't born and bred within certain towns in Massachusetts (translation: "blue-collar", non-wealthy towns?  I'm trying not to insult friends that are born and bred in Massachusetts here), I'll never be a townie.  As a result, I don't think I'll ever truly understand townies.  I don't think the author is a townie.  As a result, I'd argue that she didn't really capture what it's like to be a townie.  I could be wrong--she could have nailed it.  But something about the way she created these characters seemed oversimplified.  That said, I liked the kids a lot.  I think it was more her depiction of Joe and his wife Rosie that sort of bugged and led to four stars over five. However, I LOVED the ending.

Time to write:  9:10

Book review: Astonish Me

Title: Astonish Me

Author: Maggie Shipstead

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Summary: Joan is a ballet dancer who helps an acclaimed Russian ballet dancer defect many years ago.  Joan retires from ballet when she becomes pregnant and subsequently moves to California with her husband and young son.  When Joan's son is revealed to be an very talented dancer himself, secrets from the past are revealed.

Review:   While I've never danced and I hesitate to push my girls into dancing, I can't help but be fascinated by ballet dancers and the world in which they live.    I admit, I didn't see where this book was going initially.  One of the advantages and disadvantages of writing a review a few weeks after I finish a book is my perspective changes on it.  Sometimes this perspective changes for the positive, other times for the negative.  In this case, I think it's positive.  But I loved the insight into the world of ballet.  I have no idea if it was accurate or not, but it was still interesting.