Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family

This was really interesting, though I often had trouble keeping track of the brothers because there was so many of them. I believe I've seen Margaret Galvin Johnson's art before, which I wasn't expecting when I started reading the book. Some of the research being done seems to be almost a positive spin on previous methods that had been used by the eugenics movement. This is very interesting take on reflecting on both the impact of mental illness and its treatments, and the human side of living through and coming out on the other side of trauma.

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flowchelle's review

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challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced

4.0

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nothingforpomegranted's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

Mimi and Don Galvin married and moved to Colorado after World War II, giving birth to twelve children in a twenty-year span and watching their lives unravel as six of those children were diagnosed with schizophrenia. Alternating between a family portrait and interviews with the family's youngest daughter, Mary, this book was impossible to put down and felt like the craziest dinner party story of all time. The Galvin family history is tragic and horrifying but utterly fascinating. Kolker perfectly balanced the interviews and recollections of the family as they grew up and grew apart with the tremendous medical research and development that has taken place over the decades that the family has been experiencing the horrors of schizophrenia.

This book was phenomenal. I loved every aspect of the story and was equal parts horrified and intrigued by this entire family.

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freethefrican's review

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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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nicolebliss's review

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challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

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dianna_reads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

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