Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker

160 reviews

dustghosts's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Gaslighting

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail

efredericks's review against another edition

4.25

challenging informative sad medium-paced

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Not just a look at the Galvan family, but also a historical overview of our understanding of schizophrenia and how it's been treated over time, overlaid onto the family's story since their 40+ years of grappling with the disease means they've seen a lot come and go in that time. You have to accept a lack of closure at the end, too, which is appropriate to a narrative like this one where there is no cure in sight (get ready to feel mad at Big Pharma ok very that, in part). 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide

citrinuke's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol

joanna's review against another edition

5.0

dark informative reflective medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment

Minor: Grief

joanasimao's review against another edition

4.25

emotional informative medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Murder

freethefrican's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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As someone who is just getting into non-fiction, it’s a little difficult for me to be overly critical as I am just learning what I’m looking for and what I want from the genre. That being said, I don't have a lot of criticism for this book. I enjoyed it. I thought the writing style was pretty good in how it read like non-fiction and I liked that a lot of effort was put into crafting a cohesive story from such a painful experience.

Schizophrenia is not one of the more talked about mental illnesses and I'm glad a book like this exists, not only to inform and mildly educate about the recent research into the disease’s treatment but to also show what it's like to live with a person or people who suffer from rather extreme forms of it. 

Growing up and living around people with a disease at a time when not enough was known about it from cause to treatment to long-term management, meant that a lot of mistakes were made. The enormity of this family’s affliction is something I don't think many of the readers of this book—including me—will be able to truly appreciate. One family member with a chronic illness is difficult enough. Now imagine 6 family members with a chronic, debilitating, and socially-ostracising illness. It's almost too painful to fathom. 

My first criticism is about the language of blame used. After making some effort to condemn the earlier beliefs by psychiatrists that mothers were largely responsible for the development of mental illness in their children, the author went on to craft a narrative (maybe as a result of his assessment of the situation or maybe it was him directly affirming the biases of his informants) that pointed a big arrow at the mother. 

Then there was this: “It is possible, maybe even likely, that the genetic flaw that caused schizophrenia in the Galvin boys might not be Mimi’s fault or Don’s fault, but both of their faults together—an entirely original cocktail, powerful enough to change all of their lives.”  This rubbed me off the wrong way. Was this necessary? Unfounded speculation (SHANK2 mutation be damned) that needed to point fingers at people who had been dealt terrible cards and who had their lives swallowed by this illness.

The second is how the transition from the family’s story to the scientific discussions was rather abrupt a lot of the time. As someone in the medical field, they weren’t too difficult to follow but I could see how those parts would feel a little tedious and sometimes dragged out to other people. But I did appreciate the author’s effort to simplify and directly correlate the different researches to the family’s timeline. 

This story is not for the faint of heart. It is difficult and sometimes full of despair. But I am glad that the Galvins have been able to find some semblance of sanity in the middle of their turmoil and continue to support each other. I hope the rest of them who are still with us can heal and live happy lives. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt

velarin's review against another edition

4.0

informative sad slow-paced

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It’s a sad and tragic story full of abuse and neglect. The scientific background on the research of schizophrenia is truly intriguing though at the end you’re left with the feeling that over the course of the book not that much has truly changed in the area. It also feels a bit shallow when it comes to characterization of the family members but it’s not surprising considering the existence of 14 protagonists. 

It was still a great read, even if quite depressing one. And if I had to have a takeaway from this story it would be something along the lines of: don’t birth twelve children if you clearly don’t have the capacity to raise them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Suicide

pkledgrape's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Incest, Suicide, Violence, Murder

Minor: Abandonment

iamnita's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

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This book is heavy in the science of schizophrenia/ science generally. It’s broken down really nicely (especially for someone as arts-oriented as I am). I knocked off a star only because the beginning had me breaking out of the story often to confirm who was and wasn’t effected (I kept a cheat sheet nearby when reading) and also confirming what happened before and after other events. Once the chapters got largely chronological I appreciated the family names, highlighted to delineate who was being discussed. A real solid read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder

Minor: Abandonment

avno13's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced

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This is a long-haul; you have to be willing and interested to confront the troubled and misunderstood history of schizophrenia. Underlying the biographical narratives of 1) research into the disease and 2) the Galvin's as a case-study are the commentaries on forgiveness, acceptance, and destigmatization of an unrelenting grip the disease has on its victims. I really enjoyed the varying perspectives, lack of judgment from the author, and truthful but sensitive retelling of the Galvin's history.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder