Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

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

6 reviews

readingpicnic's review

5.0

This is such a devastating book, but I’m so glad it exists. The compassionate approach that the author takes towards severe mental illness and the honest thought processes of working towards this view is a point of view I don’t see very often. This book really hit hard as someone who has a lot of mental illness in my own family from both sides, but especially my mom’s side since her brother committed s*icide when she was in high school. I beg you to check the trigger warnings for this book, especially if you’ve lost (or almost lost) someone close to you to s*icide or dealt with s*icidal thoughts yourself, but it is so well written and has incredible narration from the author. The advice for living with the grief of losing someone in this way was very helpful I think, as this book was very well researched due to the author being a journalist who wrote extensively on how the mentally ill are treated in the US, but also contains personal advice on living with grief from some of her living siblings and people she connected with during her lifetime of research. I’m so glad I picked this up; thank you for the recommendation @bridgetish, this is why you’re my favorite booktoker.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Minor: Eating disorder and Pedophilia

nialystic's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

heharding's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

louiepotterbook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

meemawreads's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Meg Kissinger is an award-winning journalist and I can see why. While I prefer the majority of the book written as memoir, some of the more "reporting" parts near the end about the American mental health "system" are concise and easy to digest.
What made me love this book was so personal that I have to recognize my bias: for two years I nannied for a family that lived two blocks from the beloved Wilmette house the Kissingers lived in through a lot of this book. I could see the neighborhood easily as I read, know all the landmarks referenced. I also come from a buttoned-up religious family that likes to joke instead of talking about anything real. Meg had her first child the year before I was born so it was like getting an insider perspective on my parents' and grandparents' generations. I'm fascinated by the questions, "how did we get here? What made us this way?" and the similarities between families made this book feel full of clues to that puzzle. A very biased but full-throated five taters! 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔/🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcoholism and Mental illness

Minor: Child abuse and Abortion

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Car accident and Abortion