Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

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

27 reviews

jennifer_bush_73's review

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Alcohol

nickbrown9's review

challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

“Our relationships can destroy us, but they can change us, too, and restore us, and without us ever seeing it happen, they define us. We are human because the people around us make us human.”

Account of the unfathomable experience of the Galvin family, with 6 of 12 children having severe mental illness that developed schizophrenia and other difficulties from high school through their late 20s. The book masterfully weaves the family’s story into an exploration of the history of schizophrenia research since the early 20th century. Moral of the story: normalize therapy, preventative care can work, and most things exist on a spectrum. Definitely worth reading!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Violence

hillarycopsey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.0

The science and family history Kolker is writing about is fascinating and mostly well told. (He gets a little meandering, though by the end, I understood the purpose in most of the tangents.) Everyone who recommended this book -- and there were MANY -- raved about how this is nonfiction that reads like fiction! Yes, that's true. 

But I wish I had known going in how much of the story was about the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of the kids, particularly the two daughters. This was a lot to spend time with, especially given that by the end of the book, there's not a lot of resolution. This isn't the fault of the author. Science takes a long time, families are complicated, etc. But knowing about the abuse, I wouldn't have picked this up. I could have gotten the gist of the science from book reviews and magazine articles. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Murder

amelew's review against another edition

emotional informative tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Murder

usedtotheweather's review

dark informative medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Medical trauma

froge's review against another edition

challenging informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Child death, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

havala's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.75

Excellent storytelling intermixed with good scientific research. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma