Reviews with content warning for Abortion - While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence

Title: While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence
Author: Meg Kissinger
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 4.50
Pub Date: September 5, 2023

I received a complimentary eARC from Celadon Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted #Ad

T H R E E • W O R D S

Candid • Traumatic • Impactful

📖 S Y N O P S I S

While You Were Out begins as the personal story of one family’s struggles then opens outward, as Kissinger details how childhood tragedy catalyzed a journalism career focused on exposing our country’s flawed mental health care. Combining the intimacy of memoir with the rigor of investigative reporting, the book explores the consequences of shame, the havoc of botched public policy, and the hope offered by new treatment strategies.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I have a keen interest in books (particularly memoirs) that tackle and advocate for mental health issues, so I was grateful to be offered an advanced reader copy of While You Were Out. I was unaware of who Meg Kissinger was ahead of picking this one up, yet I quickly came to hold a special place for her and her siblings in my heart.

Meg tells her family's story in a moving, yet professional manner. She combines personal memories and experiences with steadfast research to deliver a heartfelt exposé of a system failing the most vulnerable of people. From a young age the Kissinger family was faced with continual heartbreak, and yet somehow Meg is still here to tell their story. This is a memoir that will make you laugh. It will make you cry. It will make you empathize. And it will make you angry at a system designed to fail.

While You Were Out is an important and impactful addition to the growing list of mental health literature. I could not put it down. It's a memoir I won't soon forget, and will be continually recommending. If you do decide to pick this one up, I'd definitely suggest proceeding with care for yourself.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• memoir readers
• fans of Educated and/or The Glass Castle
• mental health advocates

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"This is what telling your story can do, she told them. It can bring the dead back to life - not in the same way but as a kind of transformation. It doesn't take away the injury, but it can give you a feeling of power when you are in control of the narrative. The balance is shifted back to you. There's new life, resurrected."

Content Warnings

meemawreads's review against another edition

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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

reading_kim_'s review against another edition

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

4.0

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