Inside the O’Brien’s is an interesting and personal portrayal of a close-knit family’s experience with Huntington’s disease. Genova successfully merges the informative near-textbook descriptions of this fatal disease with a compelling narrative about Joe and his family. I felt that I was learning a lot about this condition, while also reading fiction. It helped me to understand the realities of the disease and how it impacts individuals and families over time.

As Huntington’s disease is hereditary, it was important for the story to include a family. Although we are witnessing the physical difficulties through the father’s character, Joe, Genova also exposes the mental challenges faced by the whole family. Joe’s conflict is with his self-image. Once an admired police officer his movements are now erratic and uncontrolled and cause people to stare. His children face the possibility of inheriting the condition and debate whether or not there is benefit in testing and the advance knowledge that they too may have Huntington’s disease. Joe’s wife, in turn, has the role of supporting her family and we see how much Joe’s changing nature impacts on her life and well-being.

This was a truly informative book, made even more so by the inclusion of a strong and relatable cast of characters.

As a disability support worker, who looks after people with Huntingtons Disease, i found this book very, very well written, handled with honesty and compassion, it could well be any of the people i've looked after in the last 13 years,Lisa Genova truely has a gift for words, i sincerely hope that this book raises awareness about HD and what this disease does to individuals and thier families, i highly recommend people read it.

‘Inside the O’Briens’ by Lisa Genova was a really insightful and enjoyable read. I thought it might be just another sappy and predictable story about illness, but this was not the case at all. The book is fairly fast-paced and I finished it quite quickly. The first half is about Joe coming to grips with the fact that he has Huntington’s Disease, the second half focuses on his daughter Katie, who is in turmoil about having a 50% chance of also inheriting the disease. ‘Inside the O’Briens’ really makes you think about what you would do in that situation: would you choose to take a simple test, which definitively tells you your genetic status? How would that affect the way you live your life? It is interesting to see which paths Joe’s four children choose. I didn’t love the open ending, and Katie’s indecisiveness began to get on my nerves, but overall I really enjoyed Lisa Genova’s novel and would definitely recommend it.