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

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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