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862 reviews for:
While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence
Meg Kissinger
4.28 AVERAGE
862 reviews for:
While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence
Meg Kissinger
4.28 AVERAGE
Here’s the thing: two of my all-time favorite books are memoirs. I love a memoir.
Maybe I just don’t like childhood memoirs? This read like Educated to me. Maybe I just had too wild of a childhood to think this was anything special? I really wanted to like it, but I just kept finding myself going “…so?”
I’ve heard that people like parts 2 and 3 better and I really tried to power through for them.
Maybe I just don’t like childhood memoirs? This read like Educated to me. Maybe I just had too wild of a childhood to think this was anything special? I really wanted to like it, but I just kept finding myself going “…so?”
I’ve heard that people like parts 2 and 3 better and I really tried to power through for them.
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
funny
medium-paced
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
I really appreciate all of the authors research, dedication and bravery in telling her family story.
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
First two thirds of the book is discussing Meg’s family history that includes family members that committed suicide (trigger warning). Which leads to the last third of the book that discusses Meg’s career looking into mental health and the issues revolving it. I wouldn’t say anything was particularly eye opening to me but if you haven’t read much on our public health system or mental health, this would be a good introduction to the subjects.
Kissinger impressed me in this poignant memoir. Her family went through so much, and she curated the stories in a way that really makes you think about the insidious nature of inter-generational mental illness. It wasn’t lost on me that mental illness was also strongly linked to maternity and reproduction. This is a memoir that is fully carrying by the narrative voice. Kissinger is piercing and insightful. Her story is full of beauty and heartbreak, and often an intersection of the two.
Kind of uneven but often a revelatory story abt growing up in a household w a lot of mental illness.
Meg Kissinger is a journalist who teaches at Columbia and occasionally treats her topic w scholarly interest. Mostly, she’s writing abt her Irish Catholic family w 8 kids, an anxious mother who drank and a manic father who drank. The kids were all born in the 50s and 60s, growing up in a time when mental illness and substance abuse were hidden. For most of her childhood, they lived on the North Shore, near Chicago. From the exterior, all looked good.
The family response to trouble, as Kissenger notes, is to make a joke. She gives many examples when this is her answer to family trauma and it often feels like she’s writing abt difficult info but still holding the audience at a distance, as defensive humor does. This family suffers more loss than many and Kissinger can be blunt about tragic events.
Most of the book is the chronological story of her family. Toward the end, she delves into the topic as a professional.
It’s an interesting story.
Meg Kissinger is a journalist who teaches at Columbia and occasionally treats her topic w scholarly interest. Mostly, she’s writing abt her Irish Catholic family w 8 kids, an anxious mother who drank and a manic father who drank. The kids were all born in the 50s and 60s, growing up in a time when mental illness and substance abuse were hidden. For most of her childhood, they lived on the North Shore, near Chicago. From the exterior, all looked good.
The family response to trouble, as Kissenger notes, is to make a joke. She gives many examples when this is her answer to family trauma and it often feels like she’s writing abt difficult info but still holding the audience at a distance, as defensive humor does. This family suffers more loss than many and Kissinger can be blunt about tragic events.
Most of the book is the chronological story of her family. Toward the end, she delves into the topic as a professional.
It’s an interesting story.