Reviews tagging 'Rape'

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

10 reviews

thatmellokid's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Abandonment

alysereadsbooks's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

One of my favorite books of this year. This book is such a raw, vulnerable, and beautiful examination of mental health and trauma.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Abandonment

Moderate: Rape, Suicide, Grief, and Toxic friendship

crybabybea's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Amazing. I'm learning this year that I really enjoy nonfiction written by journalists, and Stephanie Foo is no exception. Her writing is accessible and engaging, seamlessly blending personal anecdotes, interviews, facts, and studies to support her main thesis. Foo's intelligence and self-reflection shine through her writing. Her clever humor and insightful conclusions were inspiring. The book feels like a journey alongside her, offering lessons in healing from trauma. 

This is a must-read if you struggle with C-PTSD, or even if you just struggle with trauma or a different mental illness that affects your daily life. Even if you're familiar with C-PTSD, there's much to learn. The book's sad, hard-to-get-through moments are balanced with heartening and meditative insights, showing that healing is non-linear but ultimately intensely rewarding. 

Foo's perspective as an Asian-American adds depth to her memoir, offering compassion for her family's experiences and the broader Asian-American community. She explores her family's past, connecting her trauma with collective experiences, and acknowledges the complexities beyond stereotypes. 

I especially liked the penultimate part, which focused on her sessions with Dr. Jacob Ham. She unlocked a lot of self-discovery by having an open, loving, accepting relationship with her therapist. It was so heartfelt and inspiring to see that relationship blossom and ultimately help Stephanie recover and learn to accept love and kindness rather than self-flagellating and sinking into shame spirals. He emphasized the importance of reconnection and repair and revealed to Stephanie (and to me as a reader) that regulating your emotions and triggers is just the first step in a super complicated dance involving complex relationships and the damage and repair that happens in human connection.

The final couple of pages had me a complete sobbing mess. I really appreciated Stephanie's choice to end the book with a self-reflection about accepting her C-PTSD for what it is; not something that makes her broken and unlovable, but something that makes her who she is.

I highly recommend the audiobook, narrated by the author so it feels intimate and personal. She also included the original audio recordings of her sessions with Dr. Ham, which was a really neat addition that made the audio experience feel more transformative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Rape, Xenophobia, Murder, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

There is no actual car accident but there is an incident of abuse in which the author experiences her father driving maniacally and threatening to kill everyone in the car.

ruthmartinartist's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

clarabooksit's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

I’m not good at reviewing books that wow me, but this blew me away. I love a book that both moves me and educates me, and this did both in spades.

Foo narrates her journey toward self-discovery and well-being with incredible candor and immersive storytelling. Her writing feels effortless and inclusive: it’s not just her story but an invitation to the reader to join her on her journey.

I loved it. Highly, highly recommend. A favorite of the year, for sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Police brutality, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Death and War

madeleinebay's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Deportation

Minor: Confinement, Genocide, Rape, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Deportation

antistic's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

The start of the book where she describes the trauma she went through growing up was difficult for me to get through. But I'm glad I did because reading her journey through her trauma and healing was something I absolutely needed at this time. The book touches on trauma, mostly parental abuse but also touches on generational, racial, and workplace trauma. I like how honest she is on what healing feels like — from the difficulties of finding a good therapist, to trying all kinds of different therapies (some of which work for her and some which don't), to including her therapy transcripts within the book. It makes it feel tangible and real, and she wonderfully weaves in some of the current science and theory about trauma to to make a book that feels both personal and broad. I leave the book feeling glad that her life is looking up and hopeful for my own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Colonisation

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Excrement, Kidnapping, Murder, and War

ronan_lesh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Moderate: Eating disorder, Racism, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Death and Rape

caseythereader's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Thanks to Random House for the free copy of this book.

 - WHAT MY BONES KNOW is a masterpiece of a memoir. Blending Foo's personal story with the research she did to learn more about her own condition, the book sheds light on the little known and understood diagnosis of C-PTSD.
- Given that C-PTSD happens when there is extended, repeated trauma, this book also gets into generational trauma and the history of Foo's family and their traumas, which I think a lot of people will relate to, even if you're not of the Asian diaspora.
- I feel like I don't even know what to say about this book. It's so good. Please read it, and also go listen to @thestackspod episode with the author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Rape