Hidden Valley Road is about the life stories of a large-sized American family plagued with schizophrenia, and the research efforts into this mental condition.

Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream, albeit one that was conservative and religious. After World War II, Don's work with the Air Force brought them to reside on Hidden Valley Road, Colorado, where they had twelve children spanning a twenty-year period from 1945.

The Galvins seemed to have a perfect life in the eyes of their neighbors and friends, but behind the scenes, it was a different story: psychological breakdown, sudden violence, and hidden abuse. 

By the mid-1970s, six of the ten Galvin boys, one after another, were diagnosed as schizophrenic, from which the family was riddled with tragedies and heartbreaks. 

The six sick brothers had distinct personalities and manifested their mental illness in different ways.

Donald, the firstborn of the Galvin clan, was the ‘perfect’ kid in the eyes of his parents as well as those around him. Apart from being athletic and handsome, he was also a football star and wrestling star. He seemed destined to become the man his parents wanted him to be. 

Donald really seemed to have it all until something was off. He had been feeling distant from others since his early years, with this feeling becoming even more pronounced in his college life – and it was getting worse, manifesting itself in new and frightening ways. The process was like a high-pressure cooker, exploding after a period of constant whistling of pressure escaping. The rest of his life saw him quitting university, desperate to keep a short-lived marriage, numerous trips to mental facilities, and eventually being confined to the house on Hidden Valley Road. 

The other brothers who suffered from schizophrenia suffered similar fates. Among them, the most harrowing story was that of Brian, who murdered his girlfriend and then killed himself in a murder-suicide that the family tried to write off as an accident. 

Apart from feeling occasionally upset at the diabolical nature of the mental condition, bouts of annoyance also hit me from time to time: 

Why did Don and Mimi opt for having a football team-size tribe in the first place? 

Why did Mimi cover the secret of some of her boys being mentally ill from the rest of the family, pretending that everything was ‘going well’? Out of shame at the expense of seeking help? 

Why did Don shy away from his share of the family responsibilities? 

Why didn’t they protect their two girls from being molested by their own siblings? 

But who’s to judge? Mimi, the mother was doing what mothers do - protecting her children and her family, though sometimes it meant being unfair towards some of the family members.

Reading this book has changed my stereotypes towards people suffering from mental illness. In the past, I simply thought or imagined that they are dangerous and need to be avoided and even incarcerated; whereas now I recognize that they need proper treatment, both psychologically and physiologically.  

The concept of schizophrenia, however, is not new to me. Back in my childhood village, there were two 'crazy guys' and all kids were taught to avoid them at all possible times. 

The symptoms of the younger one were visible from a mile away: walking in mismatching shoes, mumbling to himself, waving or throwing whatever was on his hand at the moment, and sometimes attacking passersby. The other, however, was much more 'civilized', at least by judging from the 'surface'. In fact, he was a math and handcraft genius. For instance, he was able to produce more exquisite bamboo products than those villagers with decades of experience because before and during the weaving process, he would conduct rounds of calculations on the stone floor of his yard. 

I heard that the reason for his being 'crazy' was that he failed the college entrance examination back in the early 80s - the only opportunity that could have changed his life path. 

Neither of them received any medical or psychological treatment and the younger of the two died when he hit middle age. Whether they were suffering from a form of schizophrenia or some other mental condition, nevertheless, they should have received treatment. 

Towards the end of this book, the author Robert Kolker said, "We are more than just our genes. We are, in some way, a product of the people around us -- the people we're forced to grow up with, and the people we choose to be with later."

Whether schizophrenia is born from nature or nurture, instead of marginalizing them, more care and attention from the family and those around them at an earlier stage will help the patient experience less painful moments later in his or her life. 

"For a family, schizophrenia is, primarily, a felt experience, as if the foundation of the family is permanently tilted in the direction of the sick family member. Even if just one child has schizophrenia, everything about the internal logic of that family changes."