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books2pineapples's review against another edition
4.0
Although the story of January's life and struggles was intriguing, I couldn't get past how irritated I was with Michael and his behavior.
After reading this book, I did some more research on January and her family online. I was definitely surprised to see that Michael and Susan are still married and living together. I also must agree with another reviewer and say that the Schofields are pimping out their kids to the media to make a quick buck.
I hope that January continues to receive the help she so desperately needs, and can life a full and happy life.
After reading this book, I did some more research on January and her family online. I was definitely surprised to see that Michael and Susan are still married and living together. I also must agree with another reviewer and say that the Schofields are pimping out their kids to the media to make a quick buck.
I hope that January continues to receive the help she so desperately needs, and can life a full and happy life.
coffeecakesandbooks's review against another edition
4.0
This book is very intense. When it comes to mental-illnesses, such like schizophrenia, we all hope that there will be a kind of recovery. But schizophrenia is incurable. This book tells the story of family trying to find out why there daughter January is acting different from other kids. She has imaginary friends - loads of them - changes her own name and wants to kill her baby-brother, although she loves him. Januarys behaviour and her mental-illness prooves the family hard. Never can Jani be let alone with her brother and only one parent. There has to be found new ways to organise their family lives. This books shows the journey of the family trying to figure out Jani's disorder. In the beginning none of the doctors and psychologists think that theres such a huge disorder like the later diagnosed schizophrenia.
The author publices his story to raise awareness to mental-illness and that not only adults are confronted with schizophrenia. He shows how difficult it is to do the right thing for your child - dealing with doctors who can't believe that his child is actually mentally ill.
The author publices his story to raise awareness to mental-illness and that not only adults are confronted with schizophrenia. He shows how difficult it is to do the right thing for your child - dealing with doctors who can't believe that his child is actually mentally ill.
tarynhens's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
caresays's review against another edition
3.0
I don't know what to really say about this book. A lot of it made me intensely uncomfortable because Schofield was extremely candid. However, there is that part of me that is suspicious of overt honesty in these things. I don't doubt that parts of this were exaggerated. What I do know is that he is parenting a severely mentally-ill child. That, in fact, they may have two mentally-ill children. That is not something I would wish on anyone. Schofield is clearly also super fucked up from this whole situation, and the book is pretty narcissistic, but. He's doing the best he can, I guess, so. I hope Jani is happy and healthy, and I hope Schofield and his family are well.
hobbes4626's review against another edition
4.0
Good read, read it in two days. Michael Schofield gives an account of his family's fight with Schizophrenia. The story is told through his eyes, his perception. Very interesting.
shelleyrae's review against another edition
4.0
Sometime last year I watched a television documentary about a child called January who had been diagnosed with child onset Schizophrenia. I was fascinated, horrified and heartbroken in equal measure witnessing January's daily struggles with her disease and her parent's desperate attempts to provide the best care possible for their precious daughter. Written by Janni's father, January First shares the family's harrowing journey during the first 9 years of January's life. As a newborn January barely slept, by eighteen months she could talk in complete sentences and grasp abstract concepts, at 4 she was assessed with an IQ of 146 and scored off the charts with her verbal, spatial and numerical skills. Dreaming of his gifted daughter's bright future, Michael ignored her more unusual behaviours - the violent outbursts, her inability to relate to other children and her frequent escape into her imaginary world of Calalini - until their son's birth raised the stakes for all of them.
January First is told from Michael's point of view, in the present tense, with brutal honesty about his fight for his daughter's well being. It's easy, with emotional distance and hindsight, to judge Michael and Susan's actions in parenting Janni. They made mistakes, of that I think there is little doubt, but exhausted, isolated and powerless to get the support they desperately needed they tried and kept trying, despite being overwhelmed, to do the best by their daughter. I think it is extraordinarily brave of Michael to share the less palatable details of his relationship with Janni in his attempts to "fix" his daughter. He is also honest about the strained relationship with his wife who bore the brunt of his frustration, anger and fear. That their marriage survived is an incredible achievement. Michael also confesses the truth of his own mental health issues, something that wasn't mentioned in the documentary but provides insight into his own reaction to Janni's challenges.
January First also reveals the inadequacy of mental health support services in the Unites States. The system fails January and her family repeatedly, exacerbated by the business of managed health care insurance whose eye is on the bottom line rather than the well being of those that need medical assistance. To be fair, the Schofields' were not an easy family to deal with in their search for a diagnosis for January - resisting medical advice and reluctant to comply with treatment options at times - yet easy and early access to quality care could have made a huge difference in all of their lives.
Much of what is revealed in January First has already been shared in the family's contact with various media including the hour long Discovery documentary, a guest story on Oprah and other television appearances and interviews. It's Michael's perspective that has dominated all media contact so I was somewhat disappointed that Susan has no voice in this book.
January is about to celebrate her 10th birthday at the time of this book's publication. Caring for and protecting their daughter, and son Bodhi, continues to be a struggle for the Schofields', and it is one with no end in sight. Confronting, heartbreaking and achingly raw, January First is not an easy read but highlights the spirit of one extraordinary child and her loving parents doing the best they can.
poppincandy's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting, interesting book. I've spent time thinking about how to review this and I'm still not quite sure, but I'll mention a few things. I found the author (who is the child's father) to be someone with whom I could both feel empathy for and at the same time be wholly frustrated with at times. I bounced back and forth between completely understanding his motives and actions, and wanting to yell at him through the book to stop being so unhelpful. I suppose that's what makes this book so realistic, in a way: it's not all roses, and not every moment is perfect, it's the story of a family going through a horrible situation that thankfully most of us will never have to face.
I believe this book succeeds most in its honesty, and that's a credit to it without question.
And I'd just like to add, I feel terrible for the son and I do wonder what his life has/will be like.
I believe this book succeeds most in its honesty, and that's a credit to it without question.
And I'd just like to add, I feel terrible for the son and I do wonder what his life has/will be like.
mmichellemoore's review against another edition
4.0
A hard read about a father who lives with his young daughter's experience with child onset schizophrenia. I can't imagine what it is like to go through something that torments your child, while to the outside world it just looks like tantrums. Heartbreaking but with a hopeful ending.
lzimmeade's review against another edition
5.0
Really an amazing book from start to finish. A quick and heartbreaking read that will open up your mind to the world of mental illnesses. Very well done!
hyattsarah's review against another edition
1.0
I read this book in one sitting, because it was fascinating, but it wasn't really enjoyable. I was struck by a few things: first, that way the father describes Jani's behavior is familiar. I've known a handful of children who acted exactly like Jani - I don't say this to normalize it, because nothing about these children's behavior was normal. I also don't say it to indicate that Jani isn't schizophrenic, or that on the other hand, these children were. But the violence, the hitting, the lack of remorse, the "switch" where something that seems like not the child, the apparently genuine confusion about "what did I do?" - I have known children like this. Maybe I'm jaded, but I expected more from "the worst case doctors had ever seen."
With those children, it was 8 out of 12 in a small suburban daycare classroom. Two-thirds. (Yes, those are high numbers. Yes, that's ridiculous). I don't believe all those children (if any) had schizophrenia. They may have had a handful of behavioral disorders mixed with inconsistent parenting.
This book, similarly, leads more to the side of awful parenting. Something is NOT RIGHT here. And would somebody just send me Honey? Honey, you want to live life as a dog should? Come over. You're welcome. I will love you.
Reading this book was less about discovering what Jani's life and world was like and more about watching the bad life choices made by her father. It made it difficult to have sympathy, because he continued to act heinously throughout the book, and described this honestly but with no apparent remorse. It was an adventure in bad dog ownership, bad teaching, bad parenting, and marriage problems. To the point where these problems and issues eclipsed anything that was going on with Jani. There is something not quite right in the parents that stands out as needing help and intervention more than anything Jani does in this book.
With those children, it was 8 out of 12 in a small suburban daycare classroom. Two-thirds. (Yes, those are high numbers. Yes, that's ridiculous). I don't believe all those children (if any) had schizophrenia. They may have had a handful of behavioral disorders mixed with inconsistent parenting.
This book, similarly, leads more to the side of awful parenting. Something is NOT RIGHT here. And would somebody just send me Honey? Honey, you want to live life as a dog should? Come over. You're welcome. I will love you.
Reading this book was less about discovering what Jani's life and world was like and more about watching the bad life choices made by her father. It made it difficult to have sympathy, because he continued to act heinously throughout the book, and described this honestly but with no apparent remorse. It was an adventure in bad dog ownership, bad teaching, bad parenting, and marriage problems. To the point where these problems and issues eclipsed anything that was going on with Jani. There is something not quite right in the parents that stands out as needing help and intervention more than anything Jani does in this book.