Rating: 
Summary: Good Concept, but Unfocused
Review: The title is a little misleading: It is not about "gifted children" in the sense we would think of it in the U.S.. The "gift" is the defense some children build to protect themselves from overbearing parents. A lot seems to be lost in the translation from German. A good book for making it's point, but written by a therapist for other therapists who suffer from the same syndrome. After making her point in the first few chapters the author wanders off into a confusing web of irrelevnce. This book is apparently an excerpt from a larger book. As far as it goes in explaining the suppressed personality problems it is good, and can provide a lot of insight for people who had overbearing parents, but provides little help with the problem.
Rating: 
Summary: A treatise on victimhood
Review: The two pillars of this book are: 1) If you're gifted and depressed it's all your mother's fault, and 2) narcissism is a good thing. If ever a book encouraged whining victimhood and wallowing in depression this is it. One wonders if Miller would even have bothered writing this book (first published in 1979) if Prozac had been invented earlier. Reading her methods for "overcoming" one's past makes me thankful that Freud's psychoanalytic techniques have fallen into disfavor of late.
Rating: 
Summary: Read Winnicott Instead
Review: This book changed my life - by leading me to the works of D.W. Winnicott, to whom Miller refers here and there. If two stars seem like a stingy payback for a life-changing experience, the reason is that when I read Winnicott I discovered that he had said everything that Miller says, with far greater eloquence and, yes, originality. Go to the source: read Winnicott instead.
Rating:
Summary: Somewhat Disappointing
Review: This book has one or two extremely important insights, however in the many years since the original hardcover publication they have become fairly widely disseminated. As a result, when I read this book, my reaction was "Is this all there is?". For today's reader, there is a lack of exploration of these insights and importantly, the summary of the book here on amazon.com is misleading in saying that it provides guidance on how to overcome the damage done in childhood. This last point is what I was looking for in the book and it says little other than suggesting a route to explore within traditional pyschotherapy.
Rating:
Summary: The Title is More Impressive than the Content
Review: This book offers very little insight into the practical realities of defeating mental illness.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is NOT about gifted children in the usual sense
Review: This book provides a terrific framework for those interested in understanding themselves and possibly undoing some of their learned responses to the world around them. The book aims to get at the real self which has often been repressed as means of coping with frightening feelings. It is sometimes difficult get through the material because it evokes in the reader very strong responses. But it is accessible and compelling. It is also a compassionate book that does NOT lay blame, so much as it seeks to heal by helping one confront the past and his/her relationship with his parents very early in life. It is NOT a book about gifted children! It is book about children (all of us) as Gifts. And it can help you begin to figure out what some of those gifts might be if you have the courage and the faith to face yourself. It is launching point and not a solution in itself. Nothing compares with the help of a decent therapist. But there is a lot of food for thought here...
Rating:
Summary: A Begining
Review: This book was a start for me. A beginning that I thought I would never find my way to. I saw clearly, both of my parents narcissistic needs. There was no mistaking it. How I lived in the shadow of their bad marriage, their generational cultural trap, & the same mindless use of poor excuses for absolute obedience. A must read for anyone contemplating being a parent. I reclaimed my childhood anguish & anger. Never realizing that I had "swallowed" it for so long. Never knowing that I had rightful needs until now.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: This book was recommended to me by my psychologist and it has been one of her best suggestions. Miller really provides insight to those who have been searching for answers. While I don't agree with everything the author states, I think that the book is insightful, well written and sensitive. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: This book saved my life...
Review: This book, plus having gifted and understanding counselor, helped me see how the years I formed as a person, and the things that happened--shaped my life, my saddness, my anger, and ultimately my resolution. I disagree with those who flatley read it as "blaming" one's parents. Finding out what unfair things happened to one by their parents, and then demanding the chance to confront them--is the healthiest thing I have ever done. It brought reconcilation between my father and I after 15 years of not speaking. But he did have to answer my questions... parents don't have the right to always be right... that makes for a very unhealthy society. Alice Miller helped me find it, and ultimately my father. Read this, and all her books. Look beyond the walls that society and our parents set for us... It's a wonderful and beautiful garden that lays beyond....
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Beginning...
Review: This is a remarkable book which enabled me to understand the emotional trauma I suffered from an angry, depressed, and emotionally abused himself, parent. I read it 10 years ago and it was a wonderful, needed beginning to cope with the effects of emotional abuse. But analysis and thinking about the past is not enough; action is required for recovery, therefore I also recommend "Toxic Parents" by Susan Forward, a tremendously helpful book, which will assist you in activeley changing your life, and the "Self Esteem" tapes by Carolyn Myss, a enlightening series which redefines and opens up the concept of self esteem and illustrates how crucial it is to your survival.
| 
