The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions by Jonathan Rosen

3.96 AVERAGE

ssteffens20's review against another edition

2.0
The middle 50% was especially difficult to get through, but I enjoyed how Rosen tied together severe mental illness, long-term care, and law in the final chapters.

bookish_scientist's review against another edition

4.0
dark emotional sad slow-paced

carolinedlc's review against another edition

4.0
I learned a lot from this book. This was a long read for me (500+ pages!), some of the more technical parts dragged for me but I'm so glad I finished it (and in way less time than I thought it would take me!).

I haven't given 5 stars because, despite the length of the book, I wanted to know more about Caroline (Carrie) and her life before and with Michael. The author acknowledges this limitation though and, despite never meeting her, does a good job giving us a glimpse at the person she was- so much so that I'm sad I dont know more about her. Even when you search her name online Michael is what comes up.

Overall, I'm glad I read this.
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toolizzforyou's review against another edition

4.0
emotional informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced
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mcepedamekosh's review against another edition

3.75
challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced
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cjamison0151's review against another edition

4.0
challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced
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rebeccahuval's review against another edition

5.0
challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

twalton1's review against another edition

5.0
informative medium-paced
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little_beanlet's review against another edition

3.0
dark informative sad slow-paced

jacjeanne's review against another edition

5.0
challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced
This is one of the best books that I have ever read!  Such an interesting look at care for mental illness, its widespread effects and some of the assumptions we make.  Not an easy read but soooo worth it!  I will be keeping this one on my bookshelf to read again later!