erin_leigh_reads's Reviews > While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence

While You Were Out by Meg Kissinger

If you are struggling with your mental health or know someone who is, I’d highly recommend reading Meg Kissinger’s memoir While You Were Out. It is amazing to see how far society has come in talking about and dealing with mental illness but it’s also sad to see how society has such a long way to go. In the 1960’s, when the book takes place, mental illness was not talked about as there was so much shame and stigma associated with mental illness. Unfortunately Meg Kissinger’s family was no different. Meg’s mum would suddenly disappear for days and months at a time and Meg had no clue where her mother was. It simply wasn’t talked about. Eventually it comes to light that Meg’s mum suffers from anxiety and depression and her father from Mania. You combined that with violence and drinking and you have a rather toxic environment for a child to grow up in. But despite all the turmoil, tragedy and heart ache in Megs life, she pulls through and becomes a journalist writing about her own families struggles with mental health and also the flaws in the American Mental Health system.

This memoir is extremely heavy and is definitely triggering so I would highly recommend not going into this book blind and also reading it over time.

I never like to give a rating for a memoir as it’s someone’s life story and not a piece of fiction. I will say it was an excellent book and very informative.

Thank you to Celadon Books and NetGalley for my advanced readers copy of While you Were Out in exchange for my honest review.

Pub Date: September 5th, 2023