Review by readingpicnic - While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence

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

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.

Content Warnings

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

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