MEMBERSHIP
Book Bar Meet & Greet
___________________________________________________________ With Author Robert Kolker of Hidden Valley Road .
ANGELA GRATE Nelson Mullins angela . grate @ nelsonmullins . com
A s the school season resumed for many in the Atlanta area , a group of Atlanta lawyers came together to read a challenging but important non-fiction bestseller , Hidden Valley Road . A 2020 Oprah ’ s Book Club selection , Hidden Valley Road is the culmination of years of interviews , research , and narrative plotting by the acclaimed journalist and novelist , Robert Kolker . Together the Book Bar journeyed the winding road of family , medicine , and personal dignity through our discussions and individual perspectives .
Hidden Valley Road is a detailed history of the 14-person Galvin family ’ s battle with mental illness after six of the sons are diagnosed with schizophrenia . The familial history is told alongside the historical backdrop of the scientists and researchers working to understand the illness . Kolker brought his investigative tenacity — sharpened through his work on the true crime novel Lost Girls — to the medicinal aspects of this story , making what could have become a tedious discussion of genetics and psychology into an intellectual battle between the fields with each side working feverishly from different approaches to reach a common goal .
Unlike many other scientific stories ( think , The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks ), Kolker was forced to face the fact that the common goal was not necessarily a cure but a better understanding of the origin story of schizophrenia . The researchers ’ hope was that in learning where the illness comes from , it may be possible to trace the variations to divide the symptoms into possibly treatable subgroups . It was eye-opening to learn that the leaders in this field could not claim to understand schizophrenia ’ s causes or cures and that some of the best treatment options could also lead to extremely adverse symptoms and premature death . Two of the
Galvin brothers who were more routinely medically treated , died prematurely from possible side effects due to their schizophrenia medicines . It was difficult to read that the choice for those diagnosed with schizophrenia and their loved ones was to either take medicine that may or may not be effective and may or may not cause greater harm , or withhold standard medicinal treatment and face other dangerous symptoms that mystified doctors .
One of the high points in the novel is when the Galvin family ’ s genetic information leads to a breakthrough in schizophrenia research . The family was sought after for decades because of the size of the family and the unique ways the family ’ s genetics could be researched . The abundance of characters did not limit the importance of any of them . While we each admitted to forgetting who was whom at times , our group did not have the same visceral reaction to the dozen children that Kolker admitted some readers had reported . Even though having twelve children to keep track of was challenging for us readers at times , the menagerie of personalities added depth to each and created a useful sample for comparing and contrasting the family members in a similar way to how the family ’ s size was useful for scientific researchers .
Toward the end of our discussions , the Book Bar discussed the relationship between the two daughters and the family . While Lindsay jumped headfirst into the vacant matriarchal role after her mother ’ s death , she resented her healthy siblings who chose to distance themselves from the family , especially her older sister Margaret . We continued this discussion with Kolker , gaining meaningful insight from his personal experiences with the women . He admitted that Margaret and Lindsay ’ s relationship is still very estranged due to their differing approaches in how to move on
20 October / November 2022