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Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
29 reviews
laurenkimoto's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
citrinuke's review
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol
freethefrican's review
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.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt
semeyers's review against another edition
4.0
Hidden Valley Road was riveting, heartbreaking, and infuriating all in one. The Galvin family, made up of Mimi, Don, and their 12(!!) children - 10 boys and 2 girls - had the extraordinary misfortune to have 6 of their boys diagnosed with schizophrenia at a time when mental illnesses were treated as shameful and were not well understood by the medical community. We learn that even having a single child sent to a mental institution could ostracize an entire family from the community. As a result, the Galvin parents desperately try to keep up with the Jones' while their home life is falling apart. Don throws himself into his work and charitable causes, while Mimi focuses so much on her sick boys - determined to keep them at home - that her well children are left to endure horrifying neglect and abuse by their siblings.
Throughout the novel you bounce back and forth between the family and the medical professionals working behind the scenes, researching treatments for schizophrenia. You learn that the treatments were sometimes worse than the symptoms themselves and regularly led to patient deaths from the side effects.
As stated in other reviews, the author here does have a clear bias towards one of the family members. Whether from a true bias or just as a consequence of only having access to so few living Galvins, I could not tell. I also felt the author went a little easy on Don, often laying blame solely on Mimi unfairly. These instances are what made me take off a star.
Overall, this one is a highly recommended read. It is a heavy one though!
Graphic: Addiction and Mental illness
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Murder
onewoman_bookclub's review
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Dementia, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
kellyofcali's review
2.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction and Drug use
katielaine_w's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
taymarie6's review
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Minor: Drug use
awalker97's review
4.0
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder
jennifer_bush_73's review
5.0
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