I want to read this book, as much as I am nervous about reading it. I’m the youngest in a family of 10 siblings, 9 girls and 1 boy, and our brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was 21 and I was 7. I know my story, and how it differed from this family’s story. Just hearing about the book I see similarities as well. Our brother died at the age of 74 about the same time this book came out. I’ll have to think about reading it and get prepared to deal with some of my own past experiences that still pull hard at my heartstrings. 😢

As a parent of an adult son with schizophrenia, I was very interested to read this book. I try to read as much as I can about the disease in hopes of finding a new treatment for my son. I liked how the author discussed the science of the illness and it's progression throughout the last century or so. Sadly, treatment for my son is very much a rollercoaster, up one day way down the next. The disease changes as the person ages and medicines stop working all of a sudden. I cannot imagine caring for more than one person in my family with this disease like Mimi Galvin did. It is heart wrenching to watch one child disappear and become someone else let alone 6. I think the more that is written about this illness, the more aware we can all be of the symptoms and casualties of mental illness. Hopefully it will at least inspire compassion for this percentage of the population that deals with demons on a daily basis.

This book has been on my radar for awhile. I don’t usually read books about mental illness, but because it talks about a whole family and brings in science, I have been interested. Your review cemented my interest. I plan to read this sometime this year. Thanks for this thorough review, Olive!

I was dying to find anything about this book when it first came out couple of years ago . Thank you so much for your reviews 💕😏👍🏼

Excited to check this out! Thank you for a wonderful review!

I got about 2 minutes into this video and paused because I wanted to read it myself. I've just finished the audiobook so came back to watch the rest! I think your discussion on his sources is really key

This book sounds amazing! I love your book reviews I always feel I know what I'm getting into before starting the book....

I became rlly interested in this when your first update showed up on my GR feed, I'm definitely gonna try to read it once my library has it!

I am liking this book so far and just learning about schizophrenia in general has been fascinating. You make an interesting point about the author not taking the other children into consideration with the care that the daughter has taken on. I see that and it may be due to the other's not wanting to be a part of his book as well as stepping back from care. If they've distanced themselves from all of it then it would make sense they wanted no part of this story. Has this been asked of the author? I haven't got to that point yet in the book but your impression of it opened my eyes to keep an open mind of what's to come. Excellent review!

This book sounds so interesting and I’ve never heard of this family. Thanks for the review, adding it to my TBR.

Thanks for this review, been thinking of picking this one up soon!

I just read this and couldn't put it down. I found it so interesting. I agree with you about the author not explaining his connection. I loved the parts about history of the science of the disease.

This sounds fascinating! Thanks for your thoughts on it!

Thanks for the analysis!!

Reading this book right now! Love this review!!

Really appreciate this review! I think it's a really interesting line between writing for a specific person's sake (tribute-like) and writing in a personal way that benefits a general reader/audience. I've definitely come across this imbalance in nonfiction books before, especially with a researcher wanting to take the people involved into account so much that it ends up being tedious reading for anyone else. I'm definitely still interested in this book as anything related to schizophrenia is on my to-read eventually, but I'm happy to have a better sense of it going in.

I'm reading it! And I love your review about it!

I couldn't put HVR down. Like you I wondered about the writer's point of view early on. After reading about 3-4 chapters, I read the acknowledgments to better understand who he leaned on to write the book. I wasn't bothered to find out that it was the two daughters but I would have liked him to "own" his bias earlier on. Had this been a book written from the parent's viewpoint it would have been less interesting. Had it been written from the other "healthy" children's pointi of view it would have been less compelling. I thought the contrast between the caregiver daughter and the noncaregiver daughter worked well for me as a reader. It made Part III make sense for me. Loved your review BTW. Will check with you next time I'm looking for a good read.

I've been waffling on whether to read this one. I think, after your review, I'll give it a shot....after the pandemic passes. I don't think now is the time for me to take on something too heavy.

I only heard about this one after Oprah announced that she was picking it. I wasn't interested at first but hearing you speak about it definitely has piqued my interest.

This one appeals to me I will definitely read it.

*add to cart!!*

Olive, I had this book on hold on Libby from my local library, and it just became available for me to borrow while I was watching your video! My interest is piqued, following your review, but now I'm not sure that I want to read it. Does it drag once you get to the third part? What overall rating would you give it? Is it worth just reading the first part? Thanks in advance!

Just started reading it a little bit ago. I know a very small amount about the disease schizophrenia. So far it's been a page turner I like that the facts are not dry and not over complicated where you have to have a degree in psychology to understand what was being written.

I read his book "Lost Girls" and thought it was really well done. That one is also about some pretty heartbreaking stories and I found him to be a very human writer, if that makes sense. He treats his subjects with a lot of respect and you can tell he cares a lot, and I think that does him a disservice sometimes in the way he chooses to tell the story. I loved Lost Girls but I was not super satisfied with the way he chose to finish the book. I was really happy to hear he had another one coming out - I think he's a great writer, and the subject matter of this one is interesting so I'll definitely pick it up.

Thank you for your review, not on the headspace to read it sums it up for me!

I’m reading this right now.

Currently reading this so I’m going to add this to my watch later so I can check out your thoughts after I finish!

Omg yes!!!! Im just finishing up part three of this book and i was SO hoping that you would mention how unnecessarily long it is. I dont care THAT much about the sisters or their insistence on bothering a 90 year old woman out of her comfort zone, that kind of pissed me off. I loved hearing the story of the evolution of the research and treatments of schizophrenia and i believe theyve found a potential "cure" im the developmental stage by inteoducing higher amounts of "colyene" (sp)?? into prenatal vitamins? did i hear that right? im listening to it on audio and its manyyyy hours long - are you sure this isnt a 1000 pager!??? lol i just want it to be over so i cant say in three sentences what the most important aspects are and my take aways. Okayyy maybe a paragraph. Its entirely too long.

This sounds interesting. I have a cousin who has schizophrenia, but is functioning on medication. Even has a successful career. And I guess I’ve always been curious about his experience but I always felt it too rude to ask him directly. This might satiate my curiosity. I know that sounds bad, but I mean that in the best possible way lol

I work with two of these brothers Donald and Peter

Fascinating but it also sounds like quite the disturbing read. It must have been awful for the family to go through all that at a time when people were handling psychological illnesses so poorly.

I just finished the book and what saddened me at the end were some of the "choices" that some of the healthy siblings made. For example, John had last seen his mother on her 90th birthday and returned for her funeral at 93. No parent is perfect and his life in that home may have been difficult but someone paid for his music lessons enabling him to become a music teacher. I think the youngest sister Lindsay was right in calling some family members out over their distancing from their mentally ill brothers. They were not asked to take them into their homes-just visit, perhaps a phone call.