Out Came the Sun

Overcoming the Legacy of Mental Illness, Addiction, and Suicide in My Family

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 cycle of severe mental health issues that had plagued generations of her family. Surrounded by a family tortured by alcoholism (Mariel's parents), depression (her sister, Margaux), suicide (her grandfather and four other members of her family), schizophrenia (her sister, Muffet), and cancer (her 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, coping with the chaos by becoming obsessive about her food, schedule, and organization.

The twisted legacy of her family has never quite let go of Mariel, but in this memoir she opens up about her claustrophobic marriage, her faltering acting career, and her turning to spiritual healers and charlatans for solace. Mariel has ultimately written a story of triumph about learning to overcome her family's demons and developing love and deep compassion for them. At last she can tell the true story of the tragedies and troubles of the Hemingway family, and she delivers an audiobook that beckons comparisons with Mary Karr and Jeanette Walls.

©2015 Mariel Hemingway (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Connected through her storytelling....

Beautifully expressed and I feel as though I knew all members of the family. Thanks for being so intimate, you're a strong woman and your grandfather would be proud.

Good book, terrible narration

I’m only half way through the book and am seriously considering cutting my losses and being done with it. It’s an excellent story! I just wished I’d read the physical book instead of getting the audio version. The narration is so slurred and choppy, along with awful editing, it’s incredibly difficult to listen to. I don’t know that I’ve ever written a negative review on an audiobook, but this one is nearing unbearable and I feel like it’s fair to warn others. Buy the book and read it!

A decent memoir

I found myself relating to some of Mariel's family issues, especially in the beginning of the book and especially with her mother, so I enjoyed that part of the book. Mariel seems to be a nice, humble, down-to-earth person, with quirks and flaws just like everyone else, and that made her likable and relatable to the average person. She did a lil bit more name-dropping than I would have liked, but hey, she's a celebrity, and that's part of her story, so I chalked it up to that. There were a few parts in the book, right around the middle of it, that I didn't find interesting, but continued to listen anyway. Overall, I liked the story and I don't regret my purchase, but it wasn't the best book I've ever read.

My biggest complaint was how Mariel read the story. She has a nice voice, and for the most part she read it fine, but there were times when she stumbled or slurred a word to the point where she should have gone back and re-recorded it. It sounded sloppy when she did that, and maybe it's just how she speaks, but that seems unlikely...it was probably more of an issue of not wanting to re-record it, which to me sounds like laziness. If I'm purchasing an audiobook, I want to enjoy what I'm hearing, not be distracted by stumbles and mumbles of words.

A gifted writer, and a captivating read!

At times, her writing reminds me of her grandfather..... example: After a frustrating/depressing ordeal, she writes "I sat with the cat at the window, and got older"....

Eloquent

I haven't read/listened to many biographies cover to cover, but Mariel's was an exception. I found her vulnerability and forthright manner to be touching. Such family history too. I'm glad she narrated her own book, really added to the authenticity of it.