Hidden Valley Road

   We are isolated because of the world pandemic and when I saw that Oprah had chosen this book for her book club, I was very interested.  I am a sucker for interesting covers.  Who wouldn't want to read this book?
   I immediately bought it on my ipad and began reading.  I was engrossed from the first page.
   Don and Mimi Galvin raised these 10 boys, plus two girls that were not yet born when this picture was taken. 
   They lived on Hidden Valley Road in Colorado and the twelve children were born between 1945 and 1965. The mother was a woman of culture and the father was a man of the military.  It looks like a perfect family, if ever there was one.  And, of course, there is no such thing.  But this family had more challenges than you can ever imagine.  Six of the boys had schizophrenia!
   Interspersed in the family's story, is the scientific investigation of this disease.  Every theory over the years is explained in detail.  There was way too much detail for me.
   What I recognized from this heart-wrenching true story is that the disease devastates the whole family.  Everyone lives in fear of 'being next', as well as being traumatized by violence and abuse.
  Every review that I have read is glowing, but I have two problems with the book.  I have mentioned the detail of the scientific research.  My other problem is with privacy.  I realize that the author got permission from every living member of the family. Can a person with mental illness really give permission?  There were word-for-word conversations with one or another of the boys while in a psychotic episode.  I feel that we can get to the heart of the story without so much personal detail.  I knew that the author did great research for this book- reading family letters, diaries, medical records.  I have always felt that diaries are not to be read by anyone but the owner.  Everyone doesn't share my feelings of privacy.
  This is an important story to tell and the book was well-organized and much of it was extremely well written.  I just felt that the story could be told without so much personal detail.
  The family were used in the on-going search for a genetic marker for schizophrenia as well as better treatment options.
  I was engrossed at the beginning, but emotionally drained by the end.