A great memoir on mental illness and how important it is for us to have access to mental healthcare.

This was a really fascinating memoir. Kissinger is an excellent writer, and I commend her for her honesty and vulnerability for telling her family's story. I thought the juxtaposition of her own story and the overall story of mental health in the United States was very effective. I will say, Kissinger is a journalist and it shows, so if that's not a style of writing you enjoy, this may not work as well for you. Personally, I prefer that style, but it does have a tendency to be less emotionally connected. Overall, I would recommend this to anyone interested in memoirs and mental health, as it's an excellent look at the topic.

I loved this family memoir! At first I had a bit of a hard time following all the members of this large family, and the lack of photos in the ARC did not help, I quickly became enmeshed in Kissinger's family. I found this memoir so interesting and engaging and so unbelievable at times. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. The stories of the family were fascinating enough, but the layers of complexity added with the mental health struggles made the narrative so interesting and engaging. I would recommend this book to readers of memoirs and those interested in understanding more about mental health and the hereditary nature of mental health struggles.

This was an honest, raw, and at times depressing portrayal of mental health within one family. This book portrays the diversity of mental illness amongst siblings and their parents, depicting the strengths and weaknesses of many individuals. The author did not shy away from discussing the more difficult topics such as suicide. However these topics are handled with grace and dignity for the persons involved. I also appreciated the incorporation of research into the narrative, supporting her family's experience and normalizing it. Overall I think this could be a memoir used in undergrad psych classes.

As someone who has family with mental illness I was very intrigued to read her memoir. It was okay for me but somehow lacked an emotional punch for me. I don’t know why but I didn’t really connect with the book. I do appreciate the attention she has brought to the problems we have in the mental health care availability in this country.

This was an interesting memoir that I found to be more unlike other memoirs. The first half of the book was full of a huge amount of information (at times it left like too much information and background) and it moved slowly. The second half moved quicker but felt like a journalist discussing mental health instead of a memoir. I think the first half read more like a biography of her family and less of the author’s own experience and while I know the things she wrote about affected her I didn’t get to feel the how as it was focused on facts instead of the writer’s experience. That being said I thought the examination of how mental health has been treated using the case studies of this family was well done, moving, and a clear articulation of what isn’t working. The author is a good writer and I would be interested to look at more of her work as a journalist because she is a great journalist.

Heard so many great things about this book. I missed the early copy. But it is on my TBR list and can’t wait to dig in!

As someone who struggles with mental illness I really appreciated this book and would absolutely make sure you read trigger warnings and inform yourself before reading.

I really enjoyed the first 2/3 of this book, but to be honest, I skimmed the last 1/3. The story of the mental health issues that plagued the Kissinger family was sad, but, unfortunately, totally plausible in this life. Hopefully, as society becomes more attuned to the challenges that mental health survivors face, the stigma that is attached becomes less and less so.

This memoir made me feel sad, angry, heartened, hopeful - the author does an exquisite job portraying her family and the circumstances surrounding her childhood as an amalgam of love, anger, frustration, and resilience. We still need to do so much to support people with serious mental illness and support those health professionals who care for them. https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit/61885057

I wasn't able to read this book before the author came to our store to speak, but I enjoyed every minute of her talk and would definitely recommend her book. She offers and insider look into her family members that battled mental illness. She is well educated on the subject and presents it with a sense of humanity and even humor. She is inspiring and people should read this book.

This was hard to read. I can't even imagine how much harder it was for this family to relive these moments as Meg researched and wrote this.

For anyone who has suffered with mental illness or know those who have, this would be worth reading. This family went through so much, before getting help was considered an option, but at the end of it all they had each...and hope.

I sincerely appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

I didn't finish this book even though I wanted to. It is a great book, but it was getting to a point where I knew things were going to hit a little too close to home, and I didn't want to read a version of the trauma I still needed to work through on a page. Maybe one day I'll get back into it an finish it.

This was a haunting look at the inner workings of a family dealing with intense mental illness with little to no support. It shines a harsh light on the dangers of inadequate mental health care and the importance of destigmatizing it. I would hardly say that I "enjoyed" this read, but I'm glad that I read it.

This is a well-written story of a broken family. It's a good lesson in learning how to communicate and how to speak up before it's too late and family members are gone. It's quite heartbreaking at times to think that one thing could change the course of a life.

I listened to this after listening to What My Bones Know so I am not sure if that skews my review. I was not a fan of the way the author did not take any ownership or accountability. It was difficult to read.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review and opinion.

Devastating and raw, this memoir examines the ins and out of mental illness in the writers family specifically in the Midwest. This was a truly heart felt and genuinely eye opening read. I found it to be hard to get through at times, but unable to put it down because the writer told such an important story. It focused on the lack of awareness of mental illness when she grew up in the late 1900s in Chicago, and the work that she has done herself to improve awareness through her work as a journalist. It was tragic and sad, but still uplifting and poignant at the same time. It is demonstrated how prevalent mental illness is, so this book is bound to affect the reader in many different ways. I am certainly glad that I read this, as it is a very important story to share.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

Thought provoking memoir that will really make you think. I don't exactly know how to write up a review for this one as it is so heart wrenching. I know for a fact that everyone should read this book and make themselves aware of this topic as many times it is swept under the rug, not talked about and over looked.

Meet the Kissingers. A large family of eight kids and two parents, living in the plentiful and upper middle-class suburbs of Chicago in the 1960s. They always had something fun or exciting going on with someone in the family. Everything seems to be going swimmingly for this family until you turn over the rock and see the underbelly of what was really going on within the family. Mental illness and alcoholism plagues the family, and that's what journalist Meg Kissinger chronicles in While You Were Out.

Having always been fascinated by large families, including my own cousins who grew up in a family of six kids and the old show, "Eight is Enough," I found this book very engaging. At first, you hear about all the fun and amusing times this family has, but the cracks soon appear. Mrs. Kissinger disappears for weeks at a time while Mr. Kissinger drinks a little too much. What's going on with this family of popular and seemingly happy people?

In the 1960s and 1970s, issues like mental illness were covered up and not discussed. Unfortunately, several of the kids face problems like severe depression and bipolar disorder as they grow up. It adversely affects the family in many ways, and, as the years go by, Meg discovers that tackling mental illness in this country was broken. In some ways, it still is, but she puts her future journalistic skills to work to combat this issue that directly impacts her family with two suicides and problems that affect her parents for all their lives.

At first, I wasn't that interested in the book, but once I read the first page, I really became captivated by the story. Meg's and her siblings' childhoods were so interesting to read about and full of activity, but once the kids hit puberty, it seemed like things changed. To top that off, her parents hid problems about themselves and sometimes it affected their abilities to function. It was eye-opening.

What was further eye-opening was Meg's discoveries after dealing with her family and the lack of or inadequate help the family received. They couldn't discuss her one sibling's tragic suicide because it would bring shame on the family. They couldn't find the right help for any of the siblings who needed it. And once she investigates the mental health care system and meets people affected by it, she goes on her own quest to reveal it to the public and change it.

This could be considered a sad book, but it really isn't. There's a lot of love within the family and resilience that surfaces every so often. Oftentimes, the family members conquer the hard times with humor and laughs. They also try so hard to be there for each other and figure out how they can find better times in the future.

The story is written without pity and laced with positivity as well as the different ways that the siblings handled these issues. Some could not get out from under the depression or mental issues, while others coped in unexpected ways. I really grew to love the family and appreciate the strides that Meg Kissinger made to help other families in the same predicament. While the story could be construed as tragic, many times, it was worth it to see how this family persevered throughout the struggles.