The Full Catastrophe: All I Ever Wanted, Everything I Feared

by Casey Mulligan Walsh

Casey needs a family: the joys and sorrows, people who love her, and a place she belongs—what Zorba the Greek called “the full catastrophe.” Adrift since losing her father when she was eleven and her mother soon after, the death of her only sibling eight years later strengthens her resolve.

Casey marries, has three children, and thinks she’s found the life she’s longed for, but her marriage isn’t the dream she envisioned. Ultimately, a divorce and custody trial propel her family into a catastrophe of a different sort, and each of her children suffers. Struggling alongside them, Casey embraces the spirituality she’s sought since childhood. Then the unthinkable happens—her firstborn, Eric, dies at age twenty—and she’s left to make sense of her family’s collapse and the loss of her beloved boy.

In a moving testament to the power of love, The Full Catastrophe tells of a life of loss and sorrow transformed into one of hope and redemption. With hard-won wisdom, Casey shows us how peace and belonging can only be found within ourselves.

Genres: Memoir, Grief, Nonfiction

338 pages, Paperback

Published February 18, 2025

About the author

Casey Mulligan Walsh is a former speech-language pathologist who writes about life at the intersection of grief and joy, embracing uncertainty, and the nature of true belonging. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, HuffPost, Next Avenue, Modern Loss, WebMD, and Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine, as well as in Split Lip, Hippocampus, Barren Magazine, and numerous other literary journals. She is also a contributor to Daring to Breathe, an anthology about living with the foreverness of grief. Casey is passionate about supporting those who grieve all manner of losses, including those that are spoken of and those too often shrouded in silence.

In addition, she serves on the Board of and as an Ambassador for the Family Heart Foundation, an organization dedicated to raising awareness of the genetic cardiovascular disorders that have affected her family across generations.

Casey lives in upstate New York with her husband Kevin, their chatty orange tabby, and too many books to count. When not traveling, they enjoy visits from their four children and ten grandchildren—the very definition of “the full catastrophe.

Find Casey at www.caseymulliganwalsh.com and at https://open.substack.com/pub/embraci....

Reviews

[Ru · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful read! Hemingway said,"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit in front of a typewriter and bleed." Casey Mulligan Walsh has done just that with The Full Catastrophy. This book is an honest, humble examination of a life fraught with tragedy and loss. She pulls no punches in the telling and admits her faults and weaknesses. The reader feels a respect for the author and will find themselves rooting for her to find the happily-ever-after that seems to elude her. You will at once wonder how anyone can survive what she has and applaud her ability to pick up the pieces and move on. If you're looking for a story to restore your faith in the power of love, this is it.

[Carmel Breathnach · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put this memoir down. It reads like a novel in many ways as it's filled with suspense and I wasn't sure exactly how things would turn out. Like me, Casey lost her mom in childhood. Her father also died when Casey was very young and then her brother died in young adulthood. Her beloved son, Eric, also died far too young. How can a heart carry on after experiencing this much grief? There's so much turmoil and sadness in Casey's life and she shares it all with the reader in beautiful, honest, clear prose. We trust her voice, feel her heartache and bear witness to all the pain, frustration and anger on the page and I couldn't stop turning the pages because I needed to know that Casey was going to be okay. And, spoiler alert, she is, because as we learn in this book, Casey is not only a fighter, but she also has a huge, loving heart that's open to love at all times. She's smart, curious and vulnerable and love keeps finding her, right up until the last pages of this beautiful memoir.

[Michele Dawson Haber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Casey's memoir is both hard to read and difficult to put down. Hard because of the number of losses she faced with throughout her life. Just when I thought she can't possibly take anything more, another loss knocks her off her feet. But she keeps on getting up! How does she do it? That's what kept me turning the pages, I wanted to know. Her story of resilience, faith, and hope is inspirational. I was rewarded at the end by a happy ending. More importantly, I was so very glad for Casey!

[Suzette Mullen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heartbreaking and inspiring story of incredible resilience, I was rooting for Casey from start to finish!

[Aaron Kuehn · Rating 5 out of 5]

You’re probably familiar with the specter of bad luck, but the story told here goes beyond misaligned stars or occasionally being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This story is so much more than that. Walsh tells her very personal story of a life filled with tragedy, trauma and marginalization that is difficult to believe could fall on the shoulders of one person.

The blurbs for this book foretell the hardships, loss, abuse, and isolation that are a part of Walsh’s story. Beyond the astounding challenges she has overcome, Walsh tells her story without blame, anger, or hopelessness. Rather, she glows with her strength, faith, dreams, and hope – it goes far beyond getting back up and dusting herself off and trying again. She reinvents and reimagines who she is, who she wants to be and where she wants to go. It’s not a straightforward path – it never is, but she doesn’t know how to give up!

On first impression, it would be fair to think this is going to be a depressing and sad read. It is not! Certainly, your emotions and understanding of people in difficult situations will be challenged. But overall, the tone, the underlying message, is one of hope.

Told with humor and warmth, the intimate and relatable stories of her life come through the crisp, rich writing that creates a vivid, visceral experience. The cliche about a book not being easy to put down is true here.

I laughed, grinned, shook my head, became enraged, shook my fist, and related with so many times, places, and situations. We all have challenges, though rarely does anyone go through the depth and breadth of what she has experienced!

Her strength, faith, and the allies with whom she surrounded herself, demonstrate her belief that sometimes “. .. the things we create have to crumble before we can rebuild them on a stronger foundation. Sometimes everything has to shift before we can find solid ground …”.

Reading that last page left me with a renewed and perhaps clearer view of hope, awe about how this woman persevered and came out the other side and a fuller view of what it means to be a human and live a life.

[Betty Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

How much loss can a person endure without losing her love of life? If you read Casey Mulligan Walsh’s memoir, THE FULL CATASTOPHE: All I Ever Wanted . . . Everything I Feared, you will find your answer. After her parents’ early deaths, she is sent to live with relatives who have little use for affection or a twelve-year-old girl’s grief. Her only sibling dies suddenly at the age of twenty-seven, compounding her burden, a deep hole she tries to fill by marrying an incompatible partner. The absence of family drives her desire to have children and the perfect family she never had. Succumbing to this craving, she creates a wishful life story with flawed characters living in a façade as fabricated as a Hollywood movie set. When reality takes over, her marriage dissolves and the appearance of a perfect family crumbles in divorce. She loses her in-laws’ supportive connection and the images she created of her children. Instead of good grades and respectful behavior, each of the three children slides into dysfunctional routines, mirroring their father.
When her first-born son dies at the age of twenty in a car accident, she is so practiced at loss that she seems to glide through the process, comforting her son’s friends, tamping the animosity of divorce with patience— until the smooth path ends and potholes of fear and profound grief threaten to bury her. Relying on the strength that pulled her through so much death, she lights her dark sorrow with bright memories of her son who will walk beside her in spirit, forever. Those lights propel her into a life where her emotions and intentions are clearer than ever, where she can accept and live with the imperfections we all face and own. Casey Mulligan Walsh’s memoir is a story of unimaginable grief and inspiring transformation, written in honest and gripping prose with salient details that capture the reader from the first words. It is truly a work of astonishing grace.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's nothing quite like picking up a book and seeing your own reflection in its pages. There were so many times I stopped reading a passage in The Full Catastrophe and thought, "Wow. She's telling my story. " In many ways our circumstances were different, but our lives followed a similar trajectory.

To what lengths are we willing to go to belong? What's the collateral damage of trying to make an intolerable situation tolerable? How do we give our children what we never had, while still trying to find our own way? How do we grieve unimaginable losses amidst an unraveling life? Walsh's writing is raw and vulnerable, yet it still exudes hope.

As a writer myself, I can say it took a lot of courage to write this book. I can also say it took an immense amount of courage to live the life imprinted on its pages. And yet she lived to tell about it without bitterness or lingering regret. You'll fall in love with the young girl who's left to search high and low for someone to belong to. Your heart will overflow and break as she builds a life that ultimately caves in on her. And then you'll be amazed at the person she becomes. There's so much hard-won wisdom in these pages. No matter what your story is, this book will resonate because Walsh has made room for anyone who's ever longed to be found. Which is all of us.

[Djenane Nakhle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cheers to Casey Mulligan Walsh’s courage in writing about pain and loss, while also illuminating how to cope with tragedy in a voice both measured and compassionate. The Full Catastrophe is an extraordinary emotional tour de force, inviting readers to confront life’s fragility while bearing witness to the enduring strength of the human spirit.

[Gale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is a beautifully written testament to the transformation of loss and grief into hope and redemption.

[Morgan Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Casey Mulligan Walsh’s memoir, The Full Catastrophe: All I Ever Wanted, Everything I Feared, kept me reading even though I knew from the start what the story hinged on, and I was dreading that moment. Despite a marriage that fell apart, Walsh keeps going with an attitude that exudes resilience. Her survival is not saccharine, but honest and inspirational. Ultimately, Walsh realizes that no matter how much she wants to control her world and that of her children’s, she can’t, and at last she is okay with that. She is living the “full catastrophe,” a house full of love and mess. I loved Walsh’s voice throughout and felt I had met a friend who understood my feelings as well.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

In her Author’s Note, Casey Mulligan Walsh begins her tough, bittersweet and unflinching memoir with this quote from Barbara Kingsolver: "Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin."

Casey notes that The Full Catastrophe is “a true story to the best of my recollection.” And a reader cannot expect better than that. Some writers of memoir will ask family members or friends to fact-check their memories, but I’ve often thought of memoir as a window into one person’s perception of their life and take it as such. It’s not autobiography. It’s that person’s truth, the essence, of what they remember.

What impressed me more than anything while reading this book was Casey’s seeming determination to not whitewash her story, to not spare herself any criticism in how her life turned out.

I started to use the word blame but that wouldn’t have been fair. Casey turns a critical eye on herself, but in such a way that allows her to rise above where she feels she might have gone wrong. Hers is a story of how the best of intentions can lead one astray and how being honest with oneself can save a life (hers) and a family.

When still a young girl, both of Casey’s parents died. Several years later, her only sibling–a beloved brother–also died, leaving Casey alone and adrift in an unfriendly world. She was placed with relatives who weren’t shy about showing her their displeasure in having to be responsible for her.

In such an environment, it’s easy to imagine any young woman jumping at the first chance to leave. In this case, that chance was an ill-fated marriage.

All Casey wanted was to feel safe in the world and to shower love on a family of her making. She really wasn’t asking for much, not considering how hard she was willing to work for what she believed in. Unfortunately, she and her husband were a “mismatched pair.” Later Casey also learns that his parents (who she had believed accepted her as much as they would their own daughter) were perhaps her greatest enemies, siding with her husband during their separation and subsequent divorce, and coming between Casey and her children.

It’s not enough that Casey struggles to keep together the family she always wanted. Two of her three children, her first-born son and then her daughter, are born with a genetic condition, a form of high cholesterol called familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). Can you imagine the worry, the fear for your children, knowing they have a condition that can lead to a premature death?

As Casey’s marriage deteriorates, she becomes more controlling of her children and her husband. She admits this. In the context of her children’s health, it makes sense. In the context of all her losses, the deaths of her parents, her brother, other family members and friends, it makes sense. In the context of her husband’s drinking and combativeness, it makes sense. Her world was falling apart, and she was desperate to keep it together. As anyone would be.

And then her oldest son dies. Not from FH as Casey feared, but from something so random and so common as a car accident. Casey holds it together until she can’t. She finds comfort and strength in the outpouring of love and support she and her family receive, but then dissolves in tears at the end of TV news story about Eric.

The Full Catastrophe is a story of love and loss, the devastating grief of losing a child, the determination to make a family, to make a home. All along I was taken with Casey’s resolve to do the right thing by her children, sometimes to the point of seeming to turn them against her. Tough love, you might call it, but love nonetheless.

I often thought of my mother as I read Casey’s memoir, recalling how my mom tried to protect me from the big, bad world, how her efforts to protect me drove me away from her. I wondered if at times she too blamed herself for her children’s failures. I can only hope that, like Casey, she came to realize that she had done the best she could have done given her circumstances and that her love would ultimately bring me back to her.

The following quote from The Full Catastrophe is one that I keep nearby, a reminder that while death is inevitable, love never dies:

"Just in time, I understood our connection to those we love doesn’t end with death, that nothing can separate us unless we choose to walk away. That it will all be over so soon for all of us, and what’s important is what we do while we’re here."

I highly recommend The Full Catastrophe for all readers, but especially those interested in memoir and who may be experiencing their own never-ending grief.

[Kelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a memoir that will grab you by the heart right away and not let go until the end (and maybe not for awhile after). In the face of unimaginable loss, the author has managed to create something full of poetry, strength, and reflection. It's a beautiful, if wrenching, meditation on grief and love.

Full disclosure, I attended a workshop with Casey and read an advance copy of this work, but I would have loved this even without that connection.

[Liane · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I’m…determined to live the life I have and not the one I fear,” writes Casey Walsh, in this intimate, reflective memoir of a life filled with heart-wrenching losses and tragedy. Grief and joy are joined in lockstep in her quest to make sense of the collapse of her family and the loss of her oldest child. Her love and resilience shine through, as she seeks and ultimately finds her home in the world. A brave, beautiful, and hopeful book.

[Michael]

Loneliness and loss came far too early for Casey, and still she did not give in to bitterness or despair. With a poet's sensibility she went looking for a family to love. Her keen insights and limpid prose are accompanied by a generous humor, and we root for her through all the false starts and dead ends until she finally comes home again. The writing is entertaining and intellegent and I enjoyed the read as much as I appraciated the things her book taught me.

[BK Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Casey Mulligan Walsh was a child, she was no stranger to illness. Her mother had been suffering from cancer since Casey was in third grade, and her father had diabetes. After her father died suddenly and the family moved to a new town—as it often had before, leaving her always the new kid in school—she again labored to fit in, desperate for acceptance and endlessly struggling to prove her worthiness. And when her mother died soon after, there would be yet another new town, new school, and now, new family. But it wasn’t hers, and it didn’t quite feel like family. She likely thought being orphaned at twelve would be the worst thing that would happen to her, but she’d come to discover it was merely the first grievous blow.

Casey was taken into the home of a kind but unaffectionate aunt and a humorless, argumentative uncle—strikingly different from the happy home where she’d felt deeply loved by her devoted mother and charming, playful father. There, she had a nascent sense of the strategy that would carry her through her life. “I’ve never been able to change any of it—my parents sick and dying, the endless moving, now living here—but I can control one thing: me.” But the painful lesson she’d still have to learn was that she couldn’t control situations, only her reactions to them.

She went to bed each night and prayed that one day she’d wake in a “place that feels like home.” She conjured her future and her someday home—the perfect family, one where she’d always belong. She wanted what Zorba the Greek wanted—"the full catastrophe”—marriage and kids, a happy messy chaos. And once she thought she’d found it, it slowly began to crumble. The more determined she became to salvage her marriage and protect her children, the more obstacles were hurled in her path.

Rather than sink into a chasm of anguish as her marriage becomes untenable and she endures fresh heartbreaks, Walsh builds a bridge between grief and hope that leads her to a sense of belonging—not quite the kind she imagined, but one that brings peace and joy. The Full Catastrophe is the author’s reckoning of what it means to live with and come to terms with suffering—with what it is to be fully human. She writes with heart and grace, remarkably free of the self-pity no one would begrudge her. In pitch perfect prose, with keen self-awareness and generous self-compassion, she gives the unspeakable words—words that lift and reassure, that will touch and comfort anyone who’s lived through even one of the vast losses she’s faced.

The memoir is exquisitely painful to read in parts and profoundly uplifting and life-affirming in others. Not a prideful account of how many gut punches one can take and remain standing, it is, rather, a deeply vulnerable and tender exploration of how even a battered heart can offer itself up to hope again and again. It’s a story of loss and grief, of divorce and shattered dreams, of a painful struggle to keep a family together, and a mother’s excruciating heartbreak. But it is, above all, a story of endurance and resilience, of faith and love—the faith that love is abundant and enduring.

It’s an important book for anyone who’s grappled with loss…and so The Full Catastrophe is for everyone.

[Jeannie Ewing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honest, real, complex account of love and loss

I first learned of THE FULL CATASTROPHE from the author herself, and entering her lived experience became one of those times when I thought, "I'm so heartbroken that someone understands, and I'm so relieved that someone understands."

Though the specifics of Mulligan Walsh's story differ from mine, I found a deep recognition in her inner world - the way her worldview was shaped and how she came to understand that control is a manifestation of fear. There have been many times I've wondered, in the twelve years I worked as a grief writer and speaker, if devastating loss catapults us into a sort of desperation to salvage what remains.

Mulligan Walsh recounts losing her entire family of origin, then her son Eric, in a way that holds the tension of paradox: wanting the life she has, but wanting it to be different, too. The emotional resonance, for me, was maintained throughout, and I found myself nodding, chuckling, smiling, and dabbing tears from my eyes.

It's difficult to find books that can express the multifaceted nature of grief, stories that neither bypass the gravity of loss, nor wallow in tragedy. Yet Mulligan Walsh, in sharp detail, draws the reader into that place where grief is not a thing outside of oneself, but is embodied. That is masterful.

I believe that anyone who has lost a loved one to death, particularly a child, will find this book a comfort, a companion. Mulligan Walsh seems to extend her heart in solidarity to every mother who has reached both within and beyond herself to make sense of the senseless. And her story seems to say, it's okay to simply be as you are, who you are, without knowing why. Because life is filled with unanswerable questions, and, as Rilke once wrote in his Letters to a Young Poet, "the point is to live the questions now."

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Full Catastrophe delivers a powerful and poignant memoir that spans the landscapes of grief, displacement, love, and perseverance. The memoir begins in the author’s childhood, where the deaths of her parents sets the stage for a tumultuous journey. With emotional depth, she recounts shifts from the familiarity of her early years to the uncertainty of being raised by family in a new town. Mulligan Walsh provides a visceral sense of displacement and longing, allowing the reader to feel the weight of her loss and the challenge of continually forging a new identity.

The reader witnesses Mulligan Walsh’s transition from a grieving orphan to a young woman in love in an adopted town. This story is painted with the harsh realities of marrying young and the emerging strains in a relationship. The Full Catastrophe is a raw and honest telling of personal and familial struggle, fragile relationships and the increasing challenges faced by her children. It is a compelling memoir that is as heart-wrenching as it is inspiring. Her reflections on motherhood are both heartfelt and raw, offering readers an honest depiction of the sacrifices and rewards of raising a family while grappling with her own struggles.

The Full Catastrophe is a testament to the human spirit's capacity to endure and evolve. It is woven with threads of hope and resilience, illustrating how even amidst the most trying circumstances, the strength to forge ahead and find meaning remains a powerful force. Her candidness in addressing the imperfections and struggles within herself and her relationships is both brave and refreshing. It’s a reminder of the often unspoken hardships that underpin many seemingly ordinary lives.

The Full Catastrophe is not just a story of personal hardship but also a testament to resilience and the enduring hope of a mother’s deep love.

[Alina Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Tragedy is everywhere, it seems. Yet life continues.” (Casey Mulligan Walsh, Author - “The Full Catastrophe”)

What an amazing book!

Reading Casey’s book felt like watching her open up her wrist arteries and letting herself bleed out - completely, irrevocably, with abandon and desperation. Casey writes with gusto and thirst for spelling out the truth. Her truth, as she sees it.

Everything that life throws at her pours out, gurgling, smooth and silky, and rough and chunky at times, too. This book is a heart-felt and heart-told story of family, friendship, incredible loss, and most of all - of love. Lastly, but not least - of unbridled hope. Just when you think she hits a wall, or might go off the cliff for good, there is an eagle picking her up and giving her new wings.
I love a good real-life story and “The Full Catastrophe” is just that - a beautiful real-life story of one family, of one girl who became a woman and then much more, with whom we can all relate, but also are in awe of - awe for her courage and her resilience. I encourage everyone who wants a deeper look at life and the struggles that come with it to pick it up. It will fill you with gratitude, love, and hope in your own life's journey. That is certain.

Thank you, Casey, for sharing your soul. There is so much you left on the page that will be a lesson for so many people.

Thank you for allowing me to read this book before it came out. It was a privilege that is hard to express in words.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even after I finished reading The Full Catastrophe, I found that I could not put it down, not really. I felt as though I had lived her life along with Casey, and together we experienced loss, love, frustration, loss again, and finally peace. Casey’s objective assessment of the things she did right, and the things she did wrong, is as painfully honest as it is inspiring. When faced with so much adversity, it can be easy to cast blame, but Casey avoids that trap. She is clear-eyed about how her own decisions impacted herself and those around her. She takes ownership and tells the stories of her life with honesty, fairness, and deep reflection.

The losses Casey has faced in her lifetime are almost unimaginable, and her reflections on grief and how it impacts not just an individual but a family, and the lives of everyone, are profound. We can all identify some part of our own experiences in Casey’s story. Even though it seems as if life has given Casey more pain than seems fair, she never plays the role martyr or victim. If you’ve ever wondered, “What if…” but felt that the answer to that question was beyond or behind you, Casey will inspire you to seek the answers. What if I leave a marriage that isn’t fulfilling? What if I try again to follow a dream I’ve abandoned before? What if I let others fail? What if I dared to love again? What if I can survive? Casey is a model to all of us to dare to not only ask those questions, but to have the courage to answer them.

[Margo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Casey Walsh Mulligan spent years doing her best to fit in – at one new school after another; in her friends’ houses; with the relatives whose house she lived in after both of her parents died. Desperate for belonging, she found acceptance instead. So Casey resolved to create her own family and build a place where she would always belong.

Years later, Casey had everything she’d ever wanted – three beautiful children, a Craftsman bungalow on a tree-lined street, grandparents nearby, a boat on the lake. But despite how fiercely she loves and fights to protect her children, her marriage falls apart, her children struggle mightily and then her oldest son, Eric dies.

Powerful and compelling, The Full Catastrophe captures the bravery required to build our own belonging, both inside and outside our families. The way we make sense of suffering and never give up hoping for better days. The joys and challenges of parenting. The terrible realization that we cannot keep our kids safe, no matter how hard we try.

Vulnerable and honest, brave and loving, Casey has crafted an engrossing and universal story that will appeal to anyone who has lost one or more of their essential people and wants to know how, and if it’s possible, to build a life in the aftermath.

[Mimi Zieman · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do you find joy in a life full of repeated losses? How do you remain optimistic and hopeful? It helps to be a brilliant, resourceful and hard-working person like Casey who believes in the best in people. While Casey’s marriage crumbles and custody battles ensue, she understands that she cannot control the outcomes she so desperately wants, ultimately providing her with a measure of internal peace that serves her going forward. We are fortunate to be beside her as she experiences these hard-won lessons and are the better for it. Her story resonates with me long after I turned the final page.

I love the title The Full Catastrophe, a double entendre about the challenges in life as well as the happiness that can come when the house is full of people you love and the whirlwind that surrounds them. This book is tenderly crafted, sometimes lyrical, sometimes funny, and always absorbing. Casey’s voice is unflinchingly honest, and heartfelt, intimate like sitting in the kitchen with a best friend.

This memoir will help others navigating grief, loss, and even divorce –have hope. For everyone else, it’s a window into humanity and our capacity for resilience. I highly recommend!

[Polly Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walsh's Dickensian childhood is enough to give any reader the shivers. Having lost both loving parents at age twelve, she is sent to live with a sympathetic but distant aunt and cousins who cannot comfort Walsh, nor show her the love and compassion she desperately needs. And then she loses her only sibling to a heart attack. Casey is left fantasizing about family and creating one of her own. She falls in love and marries the first man who proposes, even though they're not quite right for each other. As each child is born, she pins her hopes on that child relieving her pain and filling the void. But that's not the way life works and the full catastrophe ensues.

I appreciated the reflection and insight at the end of the book, the message being one of acceptance and forgiveness. Parts of the book made me uncomfortable where I felt the narrative devolved into a he-said, she-said scenario that felt rather one-sided. But in the end, Walsh's humility to recognize her own failures and weaknesses won me over completely. I love her message--that life is a full catastrophe and we must learn to accept all of it rather than fight it and try to control it. When we accept life on life's terms, ourselves and one another with compassion, we need not fear life, but love it.

[Wendy Zeidner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Casey Mulligan Walsh’s book proves that memoir isn’t for the young. It’s for all of us “lived” enough to have logged life’s bittersweet at best, and profound sorrow at worst. We may be ready for this book at 25, 30─the age doesn’t matter so much as the openness. I admire how this author writes prose that mirrors her evolving selfhood: it’s openhearted and yet uses sentences that are like mica in asphalt, illuminating for us her ability to see the role she played even on the darkest, loneliest roads of her journey. As a result, we learn so much from this beautiful book, without ever feeling spoon-fed wisdom. Casey’s biography is unparalleled in the arithmetic of her loss—and yet she writes in a way that invites anyone to find points of connection. Every family, even so-called happy ones, are complex. Few of us enter adulthood unscathed. For those who have experienced true family dysfunction, this memoir is a VHS tape. But for all of us, it’s a field guide to finding our own self, despite all. It's testament to what her son Eric mysteriously taught Casey to do: jump the wake faster, higher─but with sufficient love and safety.

[Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Casey Mulligan Walsh's 'The Full Catastrophe' is the kind of memoir that gets into my bones, my heart, my spirit...and helps me connect to my own experiences of grief and transformation. Her resilience in the face of so much loss at a young age–and with no real outlet for grieving–fills me with awe...not only that she was able to survive such a deluge of traumatic experiences in tact but that she was able to find her way forward...in a life full of stages of radical acceptance. Through her intimate writing, she brings us there with her, as she realizes that creating the external ideal family will not heal her wounds, that she alone must learn to fully love and honor her younger self in a way that her first husband can't. That she comes to much of this understanding and acceptance through the loss of her beloved son is both heartbreaking and profound. I couldn't put this book down. It is an affirming and healing story that every human, each in our unique experiences of grief, will understand.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Casey’s book after engaging in several conversations with her about articles she had written on loss and grief. Reading it, however, was an emotional challenge, as I was still dealing with my own grief. Her writing was so raw and honest that it was often gut-wrenching. There were times when I had to set the book down, only to pick it up again the next day, unable to stay away for long.

The struggles Casey faced leading up to the loss of her son felt almost unbearable, and yet, her resilience in the face of such unimaginable pain left me in awe. This book is a powerful testament to the love of family and the strength needed to survive. Casey’s ability to share her journey with such detail and clarity made me feel as though I was right there alongside her, experiencing it myself.

Her story has inspired me to recognize the strength I, too, have had to tap into during my own loss. For anyone who has navigated the difficult terrain of grief, I highly recommend this book. It’s a poignant reminder that, despite the depth of our pain, there is love and life on the other side.

[Laura Gerhard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Casey Walsh’s memoir is a beautiful, painful, insightful, moving and enlightening testimonial to a life impacted by multiple losses and the quest for love, peace, and meaningful connectedness amidst the experience of both real and anticipatory grief. This raw and honest, funny at times, and deeply moving written account of the author’s experiences finding meaning and joy in life while living through losses (some sudden, and others slowly unfolding) is brilliant. Beautifully written, this memoir leaves the reader finding it effortless to connect with the author and to become deeply invested in her story. There is a thread of determination combating desperation throughout the pages, and we learn that these need not be mutually exclusive responses to traumatic events. Reading this book offers an opportunity to gain perspective about experiencing joy despite and alongside grief, and how to find the meaning in life through connectedness with each other.

[Lisa Ellison · Rating 5 out of 5]

What would you be willing to do, and most importantly, what would you be willing to put up with, to have the family you’ve always wanted? It’s the question Casey Mulligan Walsh explores in this touching and emotionally searing memoir of love, loss, and our ability to carry on. Orphaned as an adolescent, Casey marries young and dreams of the family she’ll create, hoping to make up for all she’s lost. But when her experience is more of a nightmare morphing from dream to waking nightmare, she must confront her greatest fears and find a way to embrace them all, including the toughest love of all—letting go. This immersive book reads like a novel, and the voice is so intimate it feels like Casey is sharing it with you over a cup of tea. While grief plays an important role in Casey’s memoir, she puts life on center stage in all its messiness and prompts us to consider what it means to truly love and accept all that life gives you with open hands, and more importantly, an open heart.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Told with a photographer’s flair for perspective, The Full Catastrophe by Casey Mulligan Walsh is a stunning memoir about loss, tenacity and the mysteries of love.
When an unimaginable series of family deaths casts young Casey adrift, she leans into survival, which she translates as, “keep moving forward.” No matter what.
Desperate to create a family of her own, she marries young, has three kids and sets about making the life of her dreams. Until cracks appear in her perfect family, altering everything she thought she knew.
I loved this book so much I read it twice — for her writing and her insights. Walsh’s ability to find meaning and transcendence in the darkest corners of her life inspired me, as did her willingness to be as tough on herself as she was on others. Her commitment to telling it all makes her book as powerful as it is wise.

[Deborah Kossmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Casey Mulligan Walsh has written an inspiring story about resilience and endurance. Casey lost her parents at a very young age, dealt with a marriage that became dysfunctional and all the family dynamics created by conflictual divorce, and survived the death of her son. Her story is about how one can continue to grow and learn when facing some of the most difficult experiences life throws at you. With calm and assured prose, her story is about making meaning and ultimately finding the joy that can be experienced even after terrible grief. Casey's book helps you to remember that even in the most difficult of times, life's chaos and losses are to be embraced in order to make meaning and live to the fullest. Her story made me both smile and cry at times. It's a book for anyone who has grieved and survived. I recommend it.

[Emily Rubin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was continually moved by the flowering of insights in Casey Mulligan Walsh's Embracing the Full Catastrophe. She looks back to the most profoundly difficult events, missteps, and revelations and brings them to us as readers in the present, with such good advice, and a tangible grasp on how to identify loss as a way to understand ourselves, and through this, we can surprise ourselves by noticing the times when the world gives back in ways we never imagined. Her story is a multi-faceted journey with a remarkable return to joy and a valuable affirmation of our collective creative spirit for embracing risks and trusting the past teaches us how to heal and keep going. Along with all of this, Walsh is an insightful, humorous, and lyrical wordsmith.