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868 reviews for:
While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence
Meg Kissinger
4.28 AVERAGE
868 reviews for:
While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence
Meg Kissinger
4.28 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
Gripping, but relatable, memoir about growing up (in Wilmette, Illinois) in a large family where multiple family members suffered from alcohol dependency and mental illness. Having lived in Wilmette, I appreciated that the author did not change the names of people and places in the book. More importantly, she also did not change the very real, raw emotions of her family members. If you were a fan of Hidden Valley Road, this book might be for you. So grateful that Meg Kissinger bravely and beautifully captured her past in words.
“The more time I took to consider the trauma we had all been through, the easier I understood that two seemingly contradictory truths can exist simultaneously. My parents could be warm and loving but also reckless and flawed. Our family life could have been happy despite the tragedies.”
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5 stars. Wow, I really loved this book. The author was so candid and humane about her family's struggles with mental health. She gave such a lovely context for their lives. It was also just a really tender portrait of a Midwestern family in the 20th century. The humor and vitality of her parents and siblings balanced their story with the tragedies they endured. This was as good of a portrait of an American family as anything I've read. Just brilliant!
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced