Reviews tagging 'Grief'

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

78 reviews

smolgalaxybrain's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad

5.0

If I could give this book a 10/5, I would.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Racism and Sexual assault

pookiee's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

really enlightening and pretty relatable.

started this months ago and put it down cuz it was too upsetting at that time, but i’m so glad i finished it. it’s hopeful, and the work the author put in to get better is admirable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Racism and Grief

Minor: Body shaming

starlit_pathways's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Hate crime, Racism, Xenophobia, Car accident, and War

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

meaghancook's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Grief, and Abandonment

trinamarie's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

Wow what an incredible memoir. Such a brutally honest personal account detailing childhood abuse and generational trauma.  And most importantly the journey of learning, understanding and healing from complex trauma. Sometimes hard to read, but so glad I did, a hopeful and compassionate story. 


Stephanie Foo; Malaysian Chinese American Author 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Grief, and Abandonment

honorablemmmention's review against another edition

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

5.0

I picked up this book because of withcindy's review, and how passionately she was about it. She claimed it made her cry in the subway, not because of its sadness, but its joy.

I too found myself absolutely bawling in inappropriate places (for me it was while walking the dogs). Stephanie so casually talks about the abuse she suffered as a child. And it aches to hear. Truly horrific. But it's the moments of healing, of brevity and realization that she might be okay, that make you sob. I will also follow cindy in talking about this in therapy. 

I have NEVER written down so many notes on a book. Here are some of the general themes that touched me deeply: (I've put a spoiler warning just in case you want to go into it blind)

Dissociation, self love, the realities of what it means to "heal", the power of gratitude, truth and its ugliness, untreated generational trauma, abandonment/estrangement/loss, the universal need for comfort and reliability, apologies, the differences between suffering and pain.

If you love autobiographies, or even think they're a little stuffy and way too many people write them (or if you're in/have been in therapy) I recommend this book to the point that I wanna shove it in your hands. Also if you, or someone in your family, has had to break the chain of abuse.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Mental illness, Grief, and Abandonment

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

emzireads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Grief

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

This was really good. It struck me how candid Stephanie was being about her childhood traumas, how those experiences affected her and as a result rippled down to all of Foo's relationships and aspirations.
The descriptions of the childhood abuse was palpable, sickening, and incredibly sad. Major content warnings for these scenes, please take care while reading.

The relationships with her parents in her adulthood was also fascinating. How she manages to maintain some contact with her father despite how much he hurt her. We do what we must to find mental and physical safety but how much we can crave love from our parents even if we fear them. It's a constant balancing act and so emotionally exhausting.

I don't know very much about psychiatry and psychology so this aspect of the memoir was a bit over my head but I still followed along. She made it pretty easy for non-experts to understand the different kinds of treatment she sought. This memoir is so sad, reading about Foo encountering so many hurdles and struggling to find the light at the end of the tunnel. Knowing that she was well enough to write this memoir, reflecting on her life does little to lessen the second-hand blow of her life story to the reader. It's heavy heavy heavy.

I wish her the best in continuing to heal and understand herself before and after the trauma.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Cursing, Hate crime, Self harm, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming, Incest, Infertility, and War

negative self-talk, bad therapy experiences, victim blaming.

lindseyshaw300's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This book is somehow both tragic and hilarious! Foo somehow manages to brilliantly describe her journey with CPTSD in a way that allows you to embark on it with her. She’s real and raw and honest and funny. It is hard to read about the graphic descriptions of childhood abuse and the compelling descriptions of overwhelming grief, but it is well worth it. I learned so much while reading it. This book is one that I’ll definitely reread in the future! It would be good for other sufferers of CPTSD or anyone who is curious to learn about it, especially for the benefit of better understanding a loved one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Chronic illness