Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

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

9 reviews

ruthmartinartist's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

samcsmith's review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Death, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Alcohol, and Panic attacks/disorders

vicjp's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Racism, Pandemic/Epidemic, War, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Hate crime

gabhopesreads's review against another edition

5.0

This is the best memoir I've ever read. It's so well-written, phenomenal on audio and one of my favorites this year so far. I loved the narration, plus the included audios of her therapy sessions. I loved how she went into details about history, hers and forgotten history, erased history. I loved how it felt like I was put under a microscope and dissected, but in actuality she was explaining her C-PTSD. At the end, the message of hope mirrored my own that I was lucky enough to find years ago. I wish I'd read this sooner, when I'd been drowning in my diagnosis. But the thing with C-PTSD is it's always there, so this will be helpful to read at any point in my life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pandemic/Epidemic, Hate crime, Gun violence, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Racism, Grief, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Domestic abuse, Cultural appropriation, Child abuse, Car accident, and Bullying

katharina90's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

I'm always on the lookout for books about C-PTSD to foster a deeper understanding of my own complex trauma. 

Foo writes about this topic in a very approachable way, blending memoir and journalism. At times it's a painful read but less triggering than I expected. What I found most interesting was her work with Dr. Jacob Ham. 

I didn't love that the author sometimes presents subjective statements and experiences as universally true. I also strongly disagree with her generalization that Psychologists are more knowledgeable than LCSWs. 

"We're gonna keep practicing curiosity and exploration rather than judgment, and it's through that practice that you'll start to be nicer to yourself."-Dr. Jacob Ham 

"This was Dr. Ham’s whole theory: that because of its repetitive nature, complex trauma is fundamentally relational trauma. In other words, this is trauma caused by bad relationships with other people—people who were supposed to be caring and trustworthy and instead were hurtful. That meant future relationships with anybody would be harder for people with complex trauma because they were wired to believe that other people could not be trusted. The only way you could heal from relational trauma, he figured, was through practicing that relational dance with other people. Not just reading self-help books or meditating alone. We had to go out and practice maintaining relationships in order to reinforce our shattered belief that the world could be a safe place."

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gaslighting, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Hate crime and Police brutality

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

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

Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

wetdirtreads's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Racism, Medical trauma, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Hate crime, and War

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

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

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

Minor: Body shaming, War, Incest, and Infertility

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