While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence by Meg Kissinger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I actually listened to the audiobook. “While you were out” is a difficult book to rate. At times I found the way it was written and narrated to be almost cold and unfeeling and then other times I was moved to tears.
This is a book about mental illness and the many ways it can impact a family. The concept of suicide and suicidal ideation is a very constant theme throughout so this could be very triggering for some.
Parts of this are a description of the author’s family life and the way she and her family were impacted by mental illness and alcoholism throughout their childhood and earlier adult years. Other times it reads more like an investigative journalism piece about mental illness. Understanding who the author is this makes sense. However, I found myself wanting to know more about her and her family and not a clinical investigative piece. She spends a lot of time discussing her early years but her own adult years are only discussed in relation to her family of origin. I found myself invested in her story and wanting to know how she was or was not repeating patterns in her own marriage and nuclear family.
Overall, this was an interesting and moving story.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.
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