"The Condition" by Jennifer Haigh ***

• Arts & Lecture author May 2012
• Originally published 2009
• Epigraphs:
• "In nature, all is useful, all is beautiful." - Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Art"
• "To regret deeply is to live afresh." - Henry David Thoreau, "Journals"

• Reminiscent setting and feel to Douglas Lake, for me and for Bob

• p. 5..."....famous line from Thoreau:  Cape Cod is the bared and bended arm of Massachusetts.  The shoulder is at Buzzard's Bay; the elbow at Cape Mallebarre; the wrist at Truro; and the sandy fist at Provincetown."

• Review:   This was a story about the human condition as told through the vehicle of a New England family and their individual struggles to find their way in life.  One child has a medical condition, but it becomes clear that her condition is no more or less difficult to live with than making bad choices, being lonely, being a closeted gay man, or being perpetually detached from life.  The characters and their lives are resoundingly real, but the plot was too predictable for my taste.