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Only love and understanding can conquer this disease. If you love someone, you will try to understand them. You won‘t turn away 🩶

Meg Kissinger is from a huge family and many her siblings, as well as parents, suffer from mental illnesses. Depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and suicidal tendencies are all struggles this family struggles with for decades during a time when these topics weren‘t discussed as often as they are now. Probably for this reason, the family never addresses these issues with each other and suffers silently. A moving memoir but lots of TWs.

Courageous and heartfelt memoir. #BOTM

This was a really deep and informative book about mental health and a family‘s struggle with the things they went through. Very interesting and also sad, but definitely very real and relatable.

Kissinger hails from a large German-Irish Catholic family full of secrets. Her parents lived with alcoholism, depression, and bipolar in an “era of silence.” Kissinger became a journalist whose beat was mental health. She investigates her own family‘s struggles with humor and candor. She also graduated from my alma mater: DePauw University. Go Tigers! #BOTM

Kissenger's intimate, raw, honest personal telling of mental illness. The investigative journalist researched and wrote about the subject for decades before unpacking the details of her own life. Heartaches and shame but also lots of love, resiliency and courage. Highly recommend!

Thank you to #Celadon Books and NetGalley in gifting me a Kindle edition in exchange for an honest review.

As I read this, I just kept thinking of the so many large Irish Catholic families that were part of my community in the same era in which Meg details her story. So many secrets because appearance was everything. I‘m so grateful the need for mental health is becoming recognized as a legitimate medical necessity.

“Take two alcoholics—-one with bipolar and the other with crippling anxiety and let them have eight kids in twelve years: What could possibly go wrong?”

This was a heartbreaking memoir that shares the harrowing experiences of a family grappling with mental illness -from her heavily medicated mother to her manic and sometimes violent father, and siblings dealing with bipolar disorder and depression.
My goodness this family had their fair share!

I can definitely see why this was one of this month‘s #BOTM offerings! I couldn‘t put this memoir down— Kissinger‘s large family (she‘s one of 8 siblings) have all dealt with mental illness in their lives— from their parents to some of the even darker issues of two of their siblings. Kissinger highlights how silence does more harm than good & uses her career to shine a light on the shoddy way this nation treats those with mental health issues.