Out Came the Sun: Overcoming the Legacy of Mental Illness, Addiction, and Suicide in My Family

Description

A moving, compelling memoir about growing up and escaping the tragic legacy of mental illness, suicide, addiction, and depression in one of America’s most famous families: the Hemingways. She opens her eyes. The room is dark. She hears yelling, smashed plates, and wishes it was all a terrible dream. But it isn’t. This is what it was like growing up as a Hemingway. In this deeply moving, searingly honest new memoir, actress and mental health icon Mariel Hemingway shares in candid detail the story of her troubled childhood in a famous family haunted by depression, alcoholism, illness, and suicide. Born just a few months after her grandfather, Ernest Hemingway, shot himself, it was Mariel’s mission as a girl to escape the desperate cycles of severe mental health issues that had plagued generations of her family. Surrounded by a family tortured by alcoholism (both parents), depression (her sister Margaux), suicide (her grandfather and four other members of her family), schizophrenia (her sister Muffet), and cancer (mother), it was all the young Mariel could do to keep her head. In a compassionate voice she reveals her painful struggle to stay sane as the youngest child in her family, and how she coped with the chaos by becoming OCD and obsessive about her food, schedule, and organization. The twisted legacy of her family has never quite let go of Mariel, but now in this memoir she opens up about her claustrophobic marriage, her acting career, and turning to spiritual healers and charlatans for solace. Ultimately Mariel has written a story of triumph about learning to overcome her family’s demons and developing love and deep compassion for them. At last, in this memoir she can finally tell the true story of the tragedies and troubles of the Hemingway family, and she delivers a book that beckons comparisons to Mary Karr and Jeanette Walls.Review“…if Ernest Hemingway, Mariel’s grandfather, happens to be an author who holds a special place in your heart, and if the term “wine time” feels oddly familiar, then Out Came the Sun: Overcoming the Legacy of Mental Illness, Addiction and Suicide in My Family (Regan Arts; 2015) is a beach-chair must.” ― Hamptons Magazine “OUT CAME THE SUN has a definite purpose. It illustrates for those struggling with addiction, depression, or mental illness that seeking a healthy lifestyle and positive personal attitude can be the answer. Mariel acknowledges that everyone is different, but in sharing what has worked for her and listing available resources at the end of the book, she hopes her family's struggles can in some way help others . ” ― Reading Junky “ Out Came the Sun , Mariel Hemingway’s autobiography, brings to life the notoriously chaotic legacy of the Hemingway family wherein she battles the dysfunction with an uncharacteristic desire for cleanliness, order, and normality. Her struggle appears to glue her kin together, and her tenacity to overcome the so-called “Hemingway curse” is uncovered in this revealing memoir.” ― The Daily BeastAbout the AuthorMariel Hemingway is an Academy Award–nominated actor, author, healthy lifestyle brand founder, mother, and mental health advocate. She resides in California.