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A review by meemawreads
While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence by Meg Kissinger
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! 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔/🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔
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