Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo

28 reviews

smilagros's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring tense medium-paced

I don’t rate memoirs because it is someone’s life and it feels wrong to rate someone’s life. I listened to it on audio and I wish I had the physical copy to annotate at the same time. She was brutally honest about her childhood abuse and about her relationships. Listening to her therapy sessions was extremely insightful. Hearing the connection between physical health and mental health made me want to scream from the rooftops because I have been saying this for years. It’s really nice to hear/read that the shift is happening. I listened to this as a person looking for answers to help with her health. But as social worker, I felt that these are the kind of books I wish we would read in school. Actual testimonies of people’s lives. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

faithaforman's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

Powerful and moving, the author's delving into her own trauma responses were eye-opening. Her exploration of self and path to self-love and self-acceptance gave me hope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Racism, Police brutality, and Classism

whatsmacksaid's review

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Holy shit, this was incredible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Eating disorder and Self harm

celine5's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Abandonment

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Alcohol

pipercurda's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced

4.25

one of those pieces of media where you’re eternally screaming “get out of there” to the narrator but she just. won’t. and thus her story begins. an incredibly raw and honest look at complex trauma and the things that cause/exacerbate/help/heal it. i found it more difficult to get through than most this length, but i think that mostly had to do with the subject matter and finding it hard to sit down and read about abuse for more than thirty minutes straight. highly recommend to anyone in a space where they are able to digest this type of content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Abandonment

lizzieinmt's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

eliya's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

heartbreakingly raw and hard to listen to at points. stephanie foo shares some truly horrifying memories.

fascinating approaches to CPTSD

• some approaches i’m familiar with, some i’ve only day-dreamed about haha. 
• would love to approach conversation in a Nathan Fielder’s “the rehearsal” way lol. gave me some sold things to bring to my therapist when i have one. made me reconsider the way i interact in conversations. 

very informative, kept coming back to the body and physiological responses to trauma, as the title suggests.

• lots of information regarding generational trauma and how it effects people of color. 
• i was particularly intrigued by the
  rat study about generational trauma

cringy / cheesy at some points, as is the nature with healing books. some eyeroll moments where the author acknowledges very briefly but very obviously obligatorily her class privileges to be able to access this type of care. ultimately helpful for me as a reader, though, to see what type of healing is possible (?) even though it definitely feels out of reach rn. 

truly moving and hopeful.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Abandonment

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Sexism, Medical content, Medical trauma, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

probablytoolate's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

rubellaface's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Quick caveat: I do not have C-PTSD. I am a second-generation Filipino American who grew up to have high-functioning anxiety & depression due to tiger parenting, growing up Asian American, and being forced to become an alpha daughter. 

Reading this book triggered me and had me questioning my reality and how I’ve often laughed-off or disassociated my personal trauma in order to succeed in life (and therefore be perceived as being okay). Her coping mechanisms were/are my coping mechanisms, and funnily enough, I didn’t even realize they were coping mechanisms. So as Stephanie went down the rabbit hole of finding out what her bones know and how to fix it, I was right beside her– transfixed and checking my own bones for fissures and trauma from similar situations in my family life. 

Cause Stephanie Foo does not pull her punches when recounting her childhood. Every abusive situation is described in a way that is almost clinical and ripe for analyzing. Her book is basically an emotional autopsy of her trauma, and the way she uses her journalism background to thoroughly vet every single c-ptsd-related therapy is both thrilling and heartbreaking. As a reader, you want Stephanie to find a therapy that works for her and that can “cure” her, and I just wanted to hug her each time a practice or therapist failed her. 

Needless to say, I was emotionally invested in Stephanie’s book. I cried towards the end as she found stable ground and the tools to fight for her peace of mind. And I cried again at the similarities in how we approached our weddings and wedding guests. Her healing journey echoed and reaffirmed my own, and I will recommend this book to all my AAPI friends who I know have gone through sh*t and are trying their best.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Very triggering. Sometimes in a good way.

kenrya's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic