No Time for Dances: A Memoir of My Sister

by Gillian Bouras

240 pages, Paperback

First published April 25, 2007

Reviews

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first and only novel I have read from Gillian Bouras, and I truly enjoyed this book (it feels wrong saying that given the topic). I found the book in a communal book shelf so I had absolute no context or prior knowledge to the author or novel itself. Although completely devastating, I found Gillian's recollections of her childhood very soothing. A heartbreaking look into the progress mental health has come (and still has far to go), thank you for sharing your story, Gillian.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers family relationships, mental health, love, loss, memories, education and of course suicide. Is it morbid? No. Do I recommend it? Yes, it is incredibly informative and real. Can we learn from it? Yes, I believe we can.

[MelbourneSharonB · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a cathartic effort for Gillian Bouras. Not exactly a happy story as she examines the life of her sister, who suffered from mental illness from her teens until she committed suicide at the age of 50. Bouras considers the issues that sister Jacqui experienced from a range of angles: their childhood, her own relationship and the possible impact of the distance between the two women once Gillian married and moved to Greek, their grandparents role in the family, Jacqui's relationships with each of her parents, younger brother Stephen's situation within the family, the attempted and actual suicides of other people and the studies of suicides by psychiatrists over several decades. Gillian Bouras seemed to me to be partly trying to deal with a sense of guilt that she carries - this seemed completely unfounded to me. An interesting read but as I said at the start, not a happy read.