Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Girls and Their Monsters: The Genain Quadruplets and the Making of Madness in America by Audrey Clare Farley

4 reviews

elude's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Sexism

Moderate: Rape, Xenophobia, and Suicide

sleeson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

2.75

I find memoirs and non-fiction books surrounding mental illness fascinating. I have some pushback when it comes to the diagnosis of mental illness in families born before 1957. I still have many other books to read. But so far, the common denominator of the stories I've read, is the extreme physical & mental abuse received by their parents, very early in age. I have anger on behalf of these women toward their parents, teachers, and doctors. They held these women back and continuously let them down for no reason. They deserved better. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcoholism, Bullying, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

mariball's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

I went in not knowing anything about the Morlok quadruplets and how their lives contributed to the ongoing study of what causes schizophrenia.

The strongest parts of the book is the lives of the sisters themselves- who they were, their family history, how they grew up in a world that was ill-equipped to deal with the realities of mental illness and its effects. Additionally, another strong point was learning about David Rosenthal and how he ended up in charge of monitoring the quadruplets and using their case study to form his theory on what was responsible for the manifestation of schizophrenia. 

What prevented the book from getting a higher rating from me was the need to address so many topics and theories at once. The second half of the book is a direct result of that, feeling less cohesive and less focused as the first half. In addition, the second half fast forwarded so much of the sisters’ lives it felt like they became an afterthought as the author focused moreso on the different viewpoints of the cause of schizophrenia, culturally and scientifically. After spending so much time with the Morlok sisters in the first half it felt so off to see them revert in the background until the final chapter. All in all, though, it is a deeply interesting story and I’m glad to have learned about them and the researchers who genuinely wanted to find answers to their suffering. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Physical abuse

lifeinpoetry's review

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Rape, Physical abuse, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Incest, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Antisemitism, Pedophilia, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt