Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

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

202 reviews

rileybq's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Abandonment, and Mental illness

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Homophobia

fspikener's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Child abuse, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse

rocio07's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

cassireads's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book is incredible and a must read for future or current mental health workers. Or honestly anyone navigating trauma and the grief that comes along with it. Stephanie contributes so much to a largely overlooked topic and I am taking lots away from this book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Violence

Minor: Abandonment and Racism

cgreenstein's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.75

This was incredibly powerful and hopeful and honest. I listened to it as an audiobook, which meant I got to hear excerpts from the actual therapy session recordings in the final third of the book, and I thought that was something that really enhanced the book-- you could hear her old self and contrast that with the current self who is now writing about the old self. At any rate, this book is evidence that the author is incredibly strong and incredibly compassionate, and I can see why the buzz around this book was so fervent. It's deserved.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic

sarahbeaman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

finishing this book felt like letting out a lifelong exhale. what a gorgeous, reflective and well-researched memoir about growing up and growing through complex ptsd, and about how love and family always find those who are brave enough to reach for them (despite despite despite).

i saw so much of myself in this book while also learning so much about the unique complexities of c-ptsd for people of colour or anyone from a marginalised group. one that will stay with me, i hope, for a long long time.

quotes that stuck out to me:

“Being healed isn't about fecling nothing. Being healed is about feeling the appropriate emotions at the appropriate times and still being able to come back to yourself.”

"Love is not a finite resource, something you have to mete out carefully like a package of Oreos. Instead, providing love begets more love, which begets more and more love.“

”I decide I'll get to washing up when I get to it. I'll get to everything when I get to it. The world will keep turning. The tacos are delicious, and I take my time eating them. And then I'm marveling: Oh, wow. Maybe this life I’ve got is going to be spectacular, after all.”

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Colonisation, Mental illness, Child abuse, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

murnduh's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, and Violence

cghegan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

pipercurda's review against another edition

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, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Cursing, Abandonment, and Suicidal thoughts

sruti's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative sad tense fast-paced

4.5

Someone I follow on Instagram recommended this book as they felt it reflected and helped them understand their own experiences. I listened to the audiobook and as someone who fortunately does not share the authors struggles, I found it well-written, well-read (the author herself did the audio), interesting, heartbreaking, at times even uplifting, and incredibly informative. 

Stephanie Foo speaks a lot to the immigrant experience in the US and alludes to how many of us end up here due to instability or hardship in our family’s home countries. This inherently creates challenges in building and maintaining relationships. In exploring her own experiences, Foo investigates the neuroscience, psychology and social factors driving both abuse and cPTSD. It is an honest and extraordinary work. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse and Abandonment