A rare look at how society dealt with mental illness in 1910. Seventeen-year-old Matthew, who was constantly made aware that he couldn't live up to his unloving father's expectations, suffered a complete mental collapse after he flunked out of seminary school. What followed were months in a terrible mental asylum with all the torture and deprivation that went with it, until Matthew's older brother rescued him and took him out to Colorado to recuperate on a ranch. Matthew was catatonic, unable to even manage the basics of self-care, and occasionally violent, and it was only through persistent love and hard work that his brother was able to take care of him until he gradually recovered his wits.

It was a good concept but not, I think, especially well-written. None of the characters were really detailed enough to seem like real people to me, but more like stereotypes. The stern hellfire-and-brimstone minister, the cowed but loving minister's wife, the spunky country girl determined to make her own life, etc. I think the problem was that there were so many different points of view in the story that the author didn't have time to develop any of them fully.

Nevertheless, the book might be worth a read if you like feel-good family stories or stories about mental illness. ( )