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    The Family Gene: A Mission to Turn My Deadly Inheritance Into a Hopeful Future
    The Family Gene: A Mission to Turn My Deadly Inheritance Into a Hopeful Future
    The Family Gene: A Mission to Turn My Deadly Inheritance Into a Hopeful Future
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Family Gene: A Mission to Turn My Deadly Inheritance Into a Hopeful Future

    Written by Joselin Linder

    Narrated by Khristine Hvam

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    When Joselin Linder was in her twenties, her legs started to swell. She thought little of it, until her health problems started to compound in ways that baffled her doctors. Diagnosed with extreme liver blockage and dangerous levels of lymph fluid, Joselin turned to the most similar case she could think of—her father’s.

    Joselin compared the medical chart of her father—who had died of an undiagnosed disease, ten years prior—-with that of an uncle who had died under similarly strange circumstances. Delving further into the past, she discovered her that her great grandmother had symptoms like hers, and she recognized that she was dealing with something more than a fluke. Whatever had killed her father, uncle, and great-grandmother was likely genetic, and the clock was ticking for the family members of her own generation.

    Setting out to build a more complete picture of the disease that haunted her family, she approached Dr. Christine “Kricket” Seidman, the head of a group of world-class genetic researchers at Harvard Medical School and a colleague of her late father’s, for help. Dr. Seidman has been attempting the map the faulty gene for seventeen years and has confirmed not only that Joselin’s symptoms are genetic, but that Joselin’s family is this disease’s founder population—a group of people experiencing the baffling symptoms of a brand new mutation. Here, Joselin she tells the story of their gene: the lives it claimed and the future of genetics it foretells.

    Digging into family records and medical history, interviews with family and friends and her own experiences with Harvard doctors, Joselin pieces together the story of a deadly gene to write a gripping and unforgettable exploration of family, history, love, and mortality. A compelling story of survival and perseverance, THE FAMILY GENE is an important story of a young woman reckoning with her father’s death, her own mortality, and her ethical obligations to herself, family, and society.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMar 14, 2017
    ISBN9780062565013
    Author

    Joselin Linder

    Joselin Linder is a regular contributor to the NEW YORK POST, whose work has also been featured on THIS AMERICAN LIFE, MORNING EDITION and LIFE OF THE LAW. She spoke at the TEDX GOWANUS event in Brooklyn in 2014, presenting for the first time on the subject of her family gene and the deadly illness to which it leads. Exclusive to just fourteen people, the story of the gene will be told in Linder’s new book, THE FAMILY GENE, coming out in 2017. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two dogs.

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    Reviews for The Family Gene

    3.5/5

    17 ratings3 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Fascinating book by author who inherited fatal gene causing death in the past 3 generations, including her father. Linder's father's illness (for which there was no diagnosis) caught the attention of a genetic researcher at Harvard. Dr. Seidman subsequently spent 20 years (and still counting) and finally discovered a private mutation that some family members inherit while others do not. Joselin Linder is very frank about the difficult challenges, including whether to have children or not (and pass the gene to another generation). She confronts this with more optimism and zest then I can imagine doing in the same situation.
    • 3/5
      “You should fight to live long and well, you should experience meaningfulness as often as you can, and the rest of the time you should just ignore death completely.” – Joselin Linder, The Family Gene
      Non-fiction memoir about a family with a genetic variant. Joselin Linder inherited a unique gene from her father, which causes a currently unnamed disease that has resulted in the deaths of five family members. In this memoir, the author documents her family’s pain and suffering, the genetic research involved in tracing the source, and the medical analysis involved in discovering a treatment. She talks about what it is like living with a potentially fatal condition.

      This book covers a good amount of medical science in a manner easily understood by a layperson. It shows how this family turns tragedy into an opportunity to work in partnership with doctors and scientists to understand and reduce the impact of this unique disease. The author intersperses information about the history and recent advances in genetics into her personal story. The writing style is colloquial, with humor sprinkled throughout, as a respite from the weighty topics. Linder only touches the surface of the genetic engineering debate, instead offering her personal insight from a perspective of someone with a significant stake in the outcome.

      Recommended to those interested in medically-oriented memoirs, hereditary diseases, and genetic research. I think fans of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Brain on Fire, or Lab Girl may also appreciate it.
    • 3/5
      fascinating theme, a family with a new genetic disease but very poorly written