Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

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

38 reviews

bornglamorous's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

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

heharding's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

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

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

katiedoesntftba's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

If you are going to read this book, be sure to be in a good headspace. The author does not dance around the subject of mental health and suicide, however, it's a wonderful depiction of it all. I normally don't read non-fiction but I am SO glad I gave this book a try especially as someone whose family is Irish Catholic from Chicago.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

jeannine_'s review

3.5

I listened to the audio book over the last two weeks, which is read by the author.  This is an intimate memoir that is centered around the Kissinger family: a large Catholic family in the Midwest. 

The first half of the book is the story of their family- how the parents met, the many kids and their early life, the parenting style, or at times, lack thereof. And, the way mental health challenges greatly affected their family. This includes multiple instances of death by suicide and most of the family members dealing with bipolar disorder, depression, and definitely (imo) PTSD. These traumatic incidents are compounded by the fact this all took place in what I think was the 60’s; the surviving children and parents didn’t talk about any of it, no one received therapy, and basically, barely acknowledged the trauma. It was a stuff-it-under-the-rug approach. Which, clearly didn’t help anyone, but, is also indicative of the cultural and societal approach at that time.  

I found the first half-ish of the book (it’s a little more than the first half, maybe more like 65%) very interesting and engaging, and despite being a sad story, somehow not depressing at all. I appreciated the opportunity to learn about her and her family’s experiences. 

The second half (minus the last chapter) though, really lost me. I mean it took this book for me from an almost-five-star to me repeatedly thinking “this is dragging, how much is left?” It just went too in the weeds and I think could have been edited to be more concise.   I would have enjoyed this more overall  had the book stuck to telling her family’s story more (including the present day, which is in the last chapter and I enjoyed) and the presentation of available mental health resources less. . Especially since much of this was outlining what was available in the past, and even the author acknowledges that today’s mental health climate is much different and better (still with a lot of room to grow). 

So- overall, 3.5 stars. 

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Content Warnings

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

alisherly's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

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

westeggspinster's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative sad fast-paced

5.0

First book of the year! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent