Series: N/A, Standalone
Publication date: October 13, 2015
Publisher: Seal Press
Genres: Nonfiction, biography
Format: eArc
Source: The publisher through netgalley in exchange for an
honest review
Pages: 312
Even as a reporter, Sheila Hamilton missed the signs as her
husband David’s mental illness unfolded before her. By the time she had pieced
together the puzzle, it was too late. Her once brilliant, intense, and
passionate partner was dead within six weeks of a diagnosis of bipolar
disorder, leaving his nine-year-old daughter and wife without so much as a note
to explain his actions, a plan to help them recover from their profound grief,
or a solution for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt that they would
inherit from him.
All the Things We Never Knew takes
readers from David and Sheila’s romance through the last three months of their
life together and into the year after his death. It details their unsettling
descent from ordinary life into the world of mental illness, and examines the
fragile line between reality and madness. Now, a decade after David’s death,
Sheila and her daughter, Sophie, have learned the power of choosing life over
retreat; let themselves love and trust again; and understand the importance of
forgiveness. Their story will resonate with all those who have loved
I mainly wanted to read All the Things We Never
Knew because it has to do with depression and bipolar disorder – a
subject I’m very interested in. I’ve read a ton about these disorders and I’ve
written a bunch of papers on it too so I know all the basics and more.
The storyline in All the Things We Never
Knew is told by Sheila Hamilton, the wife of the deceased David Krol.
David Krol suffered from bipolar disorder and eventually took his own life.
Hearing, or reading, about this is very emotional and it was hard to read more
than a few chapters at a time.
After every chapter there was a factual ‘chapter’ about
different subjects. In the beginning I read these factual chapters but after a
while I lost interest. Most of it I knew beforehand and reading these
informational pages and then read the highly emotional chapters was tough. It
definitely made me read the book slower since I had to switch out of the ‘story
telling mode’ and into ‘ learning’ mode. I understand why they are included in
the book but for me it made the book harder to read.
So, to summarize I wasn’t a fan of all the facts.
I really enjoyed getting to know the story of Sheila and
David, it didn’t read entirely as nonfiction and I just enjoyed reading about
how they met, their dates, the first couple of months and eventually the
wedding, the pregnancy and so on. This is basically the story of Sheila and
David, it just happens that David is bipolar.
I really felt like I got to know them both, Sheila doesn’t
just talk about David’s family, his upbringing and his life. She included
herself, we got to know about her upbringing, family and life and I liked that.
The fact that it isn’t focused solely on David was a welcomed surprise.
All the Things We Never Knew begins in
the middle of the story; the marriage is not a marriage anymore and Sophie,
their daughter, is nine. It then goes back to the actual beginning, when the
two of them met and we get to know everything until where the book began and
then continues telling the story.
I don’t really know whether I like this timeline or not but
I loved getting to know their story!
All the Things We Never Knew is
definitely a memorable story, seeing all the signs in David and knowing there
was nothing to be done because he’s already dead was hard. Knowing what it
would do to Sophie, Sheila and the rest of his family was even worse, they have
to live with it for the rest of their lives!
It was good, but I’ve only given it 3 berries. I feel like
all the facts ruined the story and I ended up skipping all those chapters.
All the Things We Never Knew is highly
emotional and you definitely need to know that going into it.
