A review by naerts
While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence by Meg Kissinger

5.0

Wow. On many levels, Wow. The book is about a large American family growing up in the 50s-70s with significant mental illness, substance abuse & trauma. It should be sad and/or horrifying. But the author does a magnificent job of sharing both the darkness and the light of her family. It’s a great example of one of my favourite learnings of recent years: two contradictory things can be true simultaneously. She recognizes all the hard stuff but also describes the love and laughter without going anywhere near the range of toxic positivity. She also shares a lot of the insights she gained as a reporter focusing on government support for mental health. I had trouble putting it down and would love to continue reading about them.