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

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Stephanie Foo shares parts of her life and experiences with complex PTSD in this memoir. This book broke me in the best ways and put me back together. Foo shares aspects of her childhood abuse from her parents, the key cause of her C-PTSD at the start so beware it is heavy to start. But as the book continues Foo shares about her healing journey to this point in time. Carefully choosing her words, Foo brings you into her world and her brain, and it is beautiful. 

These quotes all sucker punched me in different ways. 

“When we say someone is resilient, we mean that they adapt well to conditions of adversity - they are strong in possession of “emotional toughness”. But how do you measure someone’s emotional toughness, exactly?” … “Resilience is instead synonymous with success.”

“So, so much bitterness. So many knives to carry.” - intergenerational trauma 

“Healing is never final. It is never perfection. But along with the losses are the triumphs.”

I think this book is spectacular, and could easily be my favourite book of 2024 already. It is not light or easy, but if it’s an area you’re passionate about for any reasons at all, it is worth it.