Family Skeletons
A Web of Mental Illness
Author
Elayne Gilliam
At forty, I was a widow raising four children, a first-time college student in my third marriage, and facing diagnosis of mental illness for a son and a daughter who eventually commits suicide. I confront my childhood memories from a dysfunctional family and discover family secrets and a genetic disposition to alcoholism and mental illness. Following the death of another spouse, I remarry but must let go of my mentally ill son. My story is for all who face the unexpected, unplanned, and challenges in life. This is my family story, skeletons from my closet.
About the Book
Family Skeletons
Following the loss of her husband to ALS, a mother struggles to raise four children alone, and discovers her eldest son and daughter suffer from mental illnesses. She describes her interactions with various public agencies; social, medical, and judicial. As she cares for an alcoholic, paranoid schizophrenic son, and a daughter with personality disorder which culminates in suicide, she examines memories from her childhood in a dysfunctional family. She discovers a genetic closet with mental illness, alcoholism, and deviant behavior. Following a fourth marriage, she finds peace, but at the price of letting go of her mentally ill son.
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Book Reviews
Liana Rodriguez
Book reviewer
“Even the mulberry tree dropped berries for me to pick up along with the beer cans and trash from odd visitors. When I looked at the tall trees and felt the breeze in the yard, I sometimes thought I could be happy there forever.”
This book chronicles the author’s life experiences and their entwinement with mental illness. Gilliam shares her struggles with her depression, her son Bret’s diagnosis of schizophrenia, and her daughter Dora’s suicide. Her prose is graceful with the heavy stories, and she balances them well with anecdotes of her accomplishments.
Readers will be able to connect with Gilliam’s memoir because it is written with raw honesty. She writes about her depression and childhood experiences, especially her relationships with her parents that provoked certain life choices in a sober, matter-of-fact way. While these recollections are well-executed, the author has made the choice to only name two of the characters, her children Bret and Dora, but no others. This results in readers not being able to relate as much to some of the other characters frequently mentioned throughout the book that they otherwise might have been able to.
In contrast, Dora’s poetry and journal entries help bring depth to the book and remind readers that she was a real person who suffered from depression. Additionally, the excerpts from Gilliam’s sister’s work aid readers in understanding the sisters’ relationship with their mother and the consequential mental health issues both women dealt with. The photographs in the book also help to strengthen the reader’s emotional connection to the characters by providing faces to attach to their names. The book does not expand much on scientific definitions or research on these diagnoses, so it motivates readers to do their own and educate themselves on them. Gilliam’s work is suitable for mature young adults and adults who want to read more about real-life experiences with depression and other mental health issues.