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Reviews tagging 'Murder'
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
105 reviews
amberjackonski's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Mental illness and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder
haileyeh's review
3.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, and Infidelity
Minor: Abortion
jgracekle's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
sierrah_2101's review
4.25
For me, this book was a fairly slow start as Kolker first sets up the history between Mimi and Don, where we can already see cracks forming in their partnership. But, once Donald - their first son - was born, things quickly spiraled from there. My main appreciation for this book was Kolker's writing. Whether it comes to complicated family interactions or translating complex technical and medical discoveries for the layman. It very rarely dragged, and at times, it almost felt like time was moving too fast through the pages. I never felt lost or overwhelmed until the
As for the downsides, there were only two major ones. One of which other reviewers have also brought up multiple times, but I wish that there was more discussion of the personal thoughts, feelings, and perspectives of other family members other than the two youngest daughters, which are Kolker's focuses throughout the story. I understand the difficulty in interviewing people with schizophrenia, especially people with as severe cases as some of the Galvin sons had, but it almost felt like half the story was missing without their opinions and ideas presented really at all.
The other is that, despite the many decades of devoted scientific work it feels as though... Not much happened? Again, I can't blame this on Kolker at all, I went into this book understanding it wasn't going to "crack the case on schizophrenia" at all, but there sadly wasn't much more than,
Overall, this is a fascinating and very digestible read that will leave you just as hopeful as upset with everything these parents and twelve children went through. An enlightening and humble book, I would highly recommend Kolker's work to anyone interested in the history of mental illnesses and the monumental cultural and scientific changes that America has seen in the past 60 years. 4.25/5 stars.
Graphic: Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Minor: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, and War
lindsii's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Incest, Pedophilia, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Drug use, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
alexstartsthings's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Mental illness and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Animal cruelty and War
texashuneyb's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
ajpb's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Drug use, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
abbier_14's review against another edition
3.0
This book did take me ages to finish and put me in a multiple month long reading slump. I think this is because it tells the families story in chronological order so it started with the parents who i found less interesting. It did eventually get better and started getting into the facinating parts of this family's life but it did take some time.
I think that is one of the critcisms i have for this book is that it does spend a lot of time talking about the non sick members of the family. I do appreciate that it is the non sick members who were the ones that mostly participated in interviews and gave accounts of their life, and this was their opportunity to tell the story of what it was like to live in such a family. But it just felt like there was a lot of random details that did not really add anything in understanding the Galvins or the illness, I of course am probably wrong as if its included its probably important to them but often times it did just feel like filler, even if it was useful to compare the sick to the non sick children to try and understand why this disease only effected 6/12 of them. So i guess this is more of a readability criticism rather than it actually being unnecessay in the story.
However what this book really does well is speak about the nature vs nurture debate. It speaks about a lot of research, sometimes in the book i wished that it would go more in depth on the research side rather than speak about the Galvins but obviously this is their book to tell their story rather than just a book about schizophrenia research. I like how the book tells the research as it happens in relation to the time period the Galvins were in.
For example, in early research when technology wasnt great and there were still values about a working father and caring mother, research seemed to be more on the nurture side claiming that a 'schizophrenogenic mother' was the cause of all the problems. I cant even imagine how that must have effected Mimi Galvin and explains why she had to be so guarded and often doubled down and only focused on her sick children.
I also found the sensory gating test very interesting and that many of the non sick Galvin children processed the double click the same way twice like the sick children, but then they did not develop the disease, even though poor processing of stimuli is a symptom of it.
And then when technology became more advanced researchers leaned more towards the nature side as they were able to investigate the Galvins genes for any signs that could point towards a genetic code for schizophrenia. It must have been especially exiting to have an opportunity to study the Galvins they provided an opportunity to really try and understand how some people get/ dont get the disease despite sharing similar genetics.
It also enabled them to test possible prevention strategies such as providing pregnant women which choline suppliments in order for a specific gene to develop properly, which could lower the risk of schizophrenia developing even if you do have the mutation. The children this was tested on are still living so it will be interesting to see if they do develop schizophrenia, but just at a later stage than children who did not receive additional choline.
I think the most upsetting part of the book is where the two brothers died to due heart failure their drugs were causing, but because they had been diagnosed with schizophrenia nurses just thought that the symptoms were just of that which made them rule out any other possibilities, which ultimately lead them to die. I think this represents the attitudes towards mental illness where the Galvins lived, how the sick sons were treated as if they were basically sub human and how the family must have felt so much shame for something that you instead need support with. Their time in the mental hospital also sounded horrible, and it amazed me how many times they were sent in and out when their symptoms fluctuated.
However in the end it did sound like the Galvin sisters made peace with the living sick Galvins, and that carers and treatment had made their life more bareable than it was when they first started getting sick.
So in conclusion this was an interesting read, especially on the research side of things. It was kind of morbidly facinating to read about how such a promising, successful family could have their life turned upside down by something they could never expect.
Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Suicide, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
blueberry's review against another edition
3.0
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis