Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

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

20 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.

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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

kap7818's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt

tonya_barr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

britt_thebookworm's review

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

canngrob's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Antisemitism, Car accident, and Abortion

hellokaley's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

2.5

This memoir is raw and does not skirt around mental illness and the impact when left untreated and unsupported. The way this was written combined the story of the author’s family in with historical facts and details of some of the articles she has written on the topic. Although I found the history of mental health in America details to be really interesting, I found most of the memoir to be painfully detailed and long. There were so many characters and I felt the level of detail and random stories didn’t connect well into the plot. I almost DNFed at 80%, but carried on. 

There were parts of the story that I’ll think about and many things that resonated, but all in all, I think it desperately needed editing and I wish it were 3-4 hours shorter. This won’t be one I will personally recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

katreena's review

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Very raw! 
This memoir explorers a lot of the uncomfortable feelings that people don't talk about having when in a mentally ill family. The author doesn't sugarcoat suicide and shows the real emotions for multiple sides. The author is a journalist so it's very well written and informative sections. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Alcohol

kiminohon's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Violence and Abortion

lorilynn44's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness, and Suicide

malalaisee's review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

I wish that there was a bit more balance between traditional memoir and journalism-style coverage of others’ stories, since it throws the pacing off a bit, but otherwise, this is a great, digestible, and beautifully written story. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to write and share.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Terminal illness, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual assault, Car accident, and War