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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Fascinating. Thorough and well done but could have used an editor.
This is the story of a family with 12 children. Five of them are diagnosed with schizophrenia and one as bipolar. These diagnoses take place across the 1960's and 70's before therapy was considered socially acceptable and before little was known about the treatment of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. The book details the story of the family as well as of research on schizophrenia that has taken place. The author has done an incredible job of researching and compiling the information in an engaging format. The story is sad and shows how complex the issue is and how little is still known about what may trigger the beginning of schizophrenia in some. There are no easy answers!
Good balance of story and research, both disturbing and hopeful at various points.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
Starting the year off with what turned out to be a very difficult read for me. I could only digest this in small increments partially because some parts were a little dry and also because the subject matter was emotionally draining at times. Overall, a fascinating look at the private tragedy of a real family and how it helped shape what we know about schizophrenia today.
This was a vacation read of books I had purchased.
I had heard so much about this book. It was another book devoured in two days. Robert Kolker does a marvelous job of bringing this family to life, combining narrative history and medical information is a very readable book that manifests the reality of schizophrenia. As I read, I thought about people I have encountered over my life time and wonder how many of these troubled souls were undiagnosed. Kolker shares that one out of every 100 people are afflicted by schizophrenia! It is a compassionate, heart-rending story.
I had heard so much about this book. It was another book devoured in two days. Robert Kolker does a marvelous job of bringing this family to life, combining narrative history and medical information is a very readable book that manifests the reality of schizophrenia. As I read, I thought about people I have encountered over my life time and wonder how many of these troubled souls were undiagnosed. Kolker shares that one out of every 100 people are afflicted by schizophrenia! It is a compassionate, heart-rending story.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
50-state challenge: Colorado
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence
Moderate: Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder