Blue Genes: A Memoir of Loss and Survival

by Christopher Lukas

Christopher (Kit) Lukas’s mother committed suicide when he was a boy. He and his brother, Tony, were not told how she died. No one spoke of the family’s history of depression and bipolar disorder. The brothers grew up to achieve remarkable success; Tony as a gifted journalist (and author of the classic book, Common Ground), Kit as an accomplished television producer and director. After suffering bouts of depression, Kit was able to confront his family’s troubled past, but Tony never seemed to find the contentment Kit had attained–he killed himself in 1997. Written with heartrending honesty, Blue Genes captures the devastation of this family legacy of depression and details the strength and hope that can provide a way of escaping its grasp.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: Memoir, Mental Health, Nonfiction, Mental Illness, Psychology, Biography, Biography Memoir

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Home sick from work and I read this book today. It's really good, very sad, very articulate. Lukas begins the books with an early scene between his brother and himself when they were very young--4 and 6, I think, then goes to being told his brother killed himself. Next he takes us on a journey through his family history--his grandparents, his parents, especially his mother's early life, his parent's marriage, his brother's birth, his own, her suicide and them growing up without a mother, and all they went through. Next he chronicles the relationship he had with Tony as adults. Christoper worked in television and Tony was a journalist and author who won two Pulitzer Prizes. The book is about their relationship and also about the legacy of depression, bi-polar depression, and suicide--his grandmother, mother, uncle, aunt, brother, and his dad drank himself to death--in the Lukas family and in all families. Very informative, yet very personal.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kind of book. I wish it were longer and even more in depth. The pain that comes from a legacy of not talking about mental illness.

[Shawna · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much loss. So much suicide. So much pain. It was enlightening to follow the psychological trail from event to reverberation and consequence. How little we knew about mental illness just a short time ago.

It's a difficult and heavy hearted read, but for those looking for insight or answers, it's worthwhile.

[Clara Hochstetler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A honest and moving depiction of how depression and suicidality run in families. Equal parts heartbreaking and inspiring. The author is incredibly resilient and speaks candidly about the impact of a suicide on those family members left behind.

[Sylvia Coopersmith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartbreaking, beautiful, and a surprisingly good memoir. Was not expecting to like it as much as I did for a class assigned book

[Monie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Late one night Christopher (Kit) Lukas received a phone call with news that his brother, the gifted journalist J. Anthony Lukas, had committed suicide. Tragically their mother also committed suicide when they were young boys. Kit and his brother were never told how she died and no one spoke of the family’s history of depression and bipolar disorder. The legacy of guilt and grief haunted Kit and Tony throughout their lives.

Despite both brothers achieving remarkable success, Tony as a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, they suffered bouts of depression. Kit was able to confront his family’s troubled past and find happiness but Tony remained depressed which ultimately led him to take his own life.

Being that this book was a memoir I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters. It may have helped if I was familiar with Tony’s writing or felt some sort of connection to the brothers but the writing just didn’t pull me in. I feel this was more personal for Kit than a story that needed to be shared. I can see where the book might be helpful for anyone who has been affected by a loved one’s suicide but it just didn’t click for me.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christopher (Kit) Lukas’s mother committed suicide when he was a boy. He and his brother, Tony, were not told how she died. No one spoke of the family’s history of depression and bipolar disorder. The brothers grew up to achieve remarkable success; Tony as a gifted journalist (and author of the classic book, Common Ground), Kit as an accomplished television producer and director. After suffering bouts of depression, Kit was able to confront his family’s troubled past, but Tony never seemed to find the contentment Kit had attained–he killed himself in 1997.

A moving memoir about a younger brother's loneliness and desperate attempts to reach his older brother. They were unparented because of untreated bipolar depression and alcoholism and so needed to parent one another. Children rarely do that well as this book shows.

[Garryvivianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of sad, mother commits suicide & the family only tell Kit & his brother that the mother was sick & died. They only find out about the suicide much later in life. The father is with them on & off, the over-bearing grandmother wants to be there all the time & they never feel like people really want them. The younger brother Kit is the author of this memoir. He always felt abandoned by first his mother then his father & somehow by his older brother whom he always looked up to. The "blue genes" is the familial trait that he feels is resonsible for the suicide of his mother & other family members. I thought it was a sad family.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up from the "new nonfiction" section of the library and thought it looked interesting. The author's family has a history of mental illness and suicide. His mother committed suicide when he was just a child and it had a profound effect on him. The book was interesting and a good reminder of how much childhood experiences affect the psyche of an adult. However, by the end, I got really tired of the constant psycho-analysis by the author; indeed, when I read that he as a psychology major in college, it made a lot of sense. EVERYTHING was put in the frame of psychology and the author's conclusions often seemed a bit off.

[Judith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a well-written memoir and very interesting, but it is so sad that I cannot recommend it to anyone. Everyone in the author's family was attractive and successful and they all eventually committed suicide due to depression. To add insult to injury, the author's beloved wife died just before the book was published. Surely there is a lesson to be learned here, but it's too late for the members of his family and I feel like I am now in mourning for people I didn't even know. I just hope the author can break the chain and set a new model for his children to follow.

[Vashti Puls · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was written in a flat, trite manner. I've known more "sane" people who have had much worse experiences than how he "remebers he and his brothers lives. Suicide is HELL and I have empathy for the man but he does not convey much emotion or drama or show the HELL of what living with a mental illness is like. Of course he came from a rich family so his mother was in a "sanitorium". He was spared the gory details! Anyone

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the Pulitzer Prize winning book COMMON GROUND by Anthony Lukas, and so picked up this book written by his brother, trying to come to terms with Anthony's suicide in mid-life. Turns out there is a lot of suicide in this family and kudos to Christopher Lukas for writing it out - double interesting as a man writing in his 70's who had to grapple with all of this when the era he grew up in didn't have as many options to understand or process his kinds of loss.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the most unemotional memoirs I have ever read. It's an interesting history of a family, but I have a really hard time comprehending that this was really his life, that it was his mother and brother he's discussing. He says, when finding out about his brother's suicide, "I scream and throw the undropped shoe at the far wall." I cannot fathom that the person who wrote this book actually had that response.

[Priya K · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting read for now. Let see how it develops...

Well, i'm a little conflicted abt. the book.Its a memoir abt. "tough childhood" and not having the right diagnosis at the right time.Yes, genes play a role too and thats very evident, but, i think in his case, Family played a great role in the making and breaking of the two brothers.

[Lydia Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

being close to someone who's own mother committed suicide when they were young, this book gave me a new perspective on behaviors and reactions I have witnessed. it helped me gain a better understanding and more compassionate view of "why" seemingly benign everyday conversations and discussions have an alternate perception by someone who has suffered such a profound loss.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a good, albeit somber read. It details the author's experience dealing with the fallout from depression in his immediate and extended family, and how he has managed to overcome the seeds of suicide that are planted in his genes.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very moving and well written book. There is such sadness in the fact that many, many families suffered before the medical community was equipped to diagnose and treat depression and, more specifically, bipolar disorder. I would highly recommend this book.

[Sam Kroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not for those who don't like depressing material or biography/autobiography type books, but otherwise this is an extremely real and good book about the real lives of a family plagued with mental illness and suicide.

[Michel]

Heard of on the Diane Rehm Show

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent memoir of how the echoes of suicide reverberate through a family for a long time and how no one escapes them.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an interesting and at times poignant account of the author's struggles to understand his brother's suicide and the family history that drove him to it.

[Courtney]

I had to give up on this one--I couldn't get into it.

[Chris Desmottes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wasn't impressed with this story.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow. enormously sad and depressing but a beautiful coming-of-age story that protrays a family's struggles with depression and bipolar disorder. heavy and melancholy, but well worth it.

[stephanie]

four stars from a.

[Koz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would give it a 2.5 if I could. I had a hard time with the wrier's voice/style.

I thought the suicide-related content/info was devastating and incredible. And the "envoi" was heartbreaking.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I met this author and eagerly read his book. It is a good solid brave one but the thesis did not stay with me. It aches forever to lose one or more siblings.

[Clodagh Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a happy book but well written.

[Marcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

wish i had written this...