72 Hour Hold

By: Bebe Moore Campbell

Narrated by: Petronia Paley

Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

In this novel of family and redemption, a mother struggles to save her eighteen-year-old daughter from the devastating consequences of mental illness by forcing her to deal with her bipolar disorder. New York Times best-selling author Bebe Moore Campbell draws on her own powerful emotions and African-American roots, showcasing her best writing yet.

Trina suffers from bipolar disorder, making her paranoid, wild, and violent. Watching her child turn into a bizarre stranger, Keri searches for assistance through normal channels. She quickly learns that a seventy-two hour hold is the only help you can get when an adult child starts to spiral out of control. After three days, Trina can sign herself out of any program. Fed up with the bureaucracy of the mental health community and determined to save her daughter by any means necessary, Keri signs on for an illegal intervention.

The Program is a group of radicals who eschew the psychiatric system and model themselves after the Underground Railroad. When Keri puts her daughter’s fate in their hands, she begins a journey that has her calling on the spirit of Harriet Tubman for courage. In the upheaval that follows, she is forced to confront a past that refuses to stay buried, even as she battles to secure a future for her child. Bebe Moore Campbell’s moving story is for anyone who has ever faced insurmountable obstacles and prayed for a happy ending, only to discover she’d have to reach deep within herself to fight for it.

©2005 Bebe Moore Campbell (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Bebe Moore Campbell shatters our abstract notions about mental illness. . . . [She] is a writer at the top of her form as a storyteller, culture keeper and astute social critic." –Los Angeles Times

“A tightly woven, well-written story about mothers and daughters, highs and lows, ex-husbands and boyfriends, and how a ‘perfect’ life can be completely altered by something entirely beyond our control. . . . Universally touching.” –San Francisco Chronicle

“Stark, incisive and often harrowing, 72 Hour Hold wrenches open the closet door behind which mental illness has been hidden in communities of color. It’s no small task, but Campbell handles it with characteristic verve and aplomb.” –The Baltimore Sun

72 Hour Hold

The book was ok. I am glad that I listened to the book instead of actually reading. Very slow start and a little drawn out.

The ups and downs of mental illness

This story placed me beside Carrie Whitmore on her emotional roller coaster ride. I don't have any personal experience loving or mothering a person with mental illness (yet) but this was reminiscent enough of living through any child's teenage/young adult years.

I rated 4 instead of 5 because the narrator's pitch got annoying from time to time, and the writing is more telling then describing which I prefer.

Well told story of Mental Health

Great Book, Great Narration. I did notice the audio skips certain sections of the book. But the story flows. I'm working on my License in Mental Health. I am reading this as almost a Case Study. I am praying for The True Character of this Story. RIP Ms. Bebe

I absolutely loved almost everything about this book

I was also diagnosed with bipolar and it can be beat , I’m living proof I no longer have to take medication after I spent 2 years straight in and out of mental hospitals. Her mom never allowed Trina to believe she was anything other then bipolar that kinda broke my heart but I loved the book and the work ❤️❤️

nope

What would have made 72 Hour Hold better?

?????????????????????

Would you ever listen to anything by Bebe Moore Campbell again?

No No no no no no no no no

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Annoying voice

What character would you cut from 72 Hour Hold?

Orlando

Any additional comments?

No no no no no no no no no no no no