Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

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

10 reviews

readingpicnic's review against another edition

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

tonya_barr's review

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

bornglamorous's review

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

katreena's review against another edition

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

malalaisee's review

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

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

louiepotterbook's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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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

elliez's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Terminal illness, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Abortion

Minor: Car accident and War

torturedreadersdept's review

challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced

5.0

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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

caseythereader's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol