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A review by mpjustreading
The Body Papers: A Memoir by Grace Talusan
5.0
The Body Papers is a collection of essays exploring Grace Talusan’s past memories, including her experience with immigration. Her journey of rediscovering her identity as a Filipinx, and reclaiming her body from abuse, trauma, and illness.
This is the first memoir I’ve read by a Filipinx author. It’s so relatable, especially when Grace Talusan talks about cultural factors regarding shame and denial within the Filipinx community that hinders someone from reporting abuse or talking about mental health illness. .
Family is an extremely important aspect of Filipinx culture. The family is the foundation of social life, so Filipinas/os typically aim to have collective and harmonious interpersonal relationships. So what do you do when someone in your family hurts you? Part of your identity as a Filipinx deconstructs. Without close-knit family ties, you start to question who you are and if it’s even possible to heal.
When Grace Talusan told her family about the abuse she experiences for years, I was enraged. Her family was not surprised, their reaction minimized the trauma, and they were more protective of the family’s closeted pedophile because he was the Tatang of the family. When Grace Talusan reveals what her grandfather has done to her, there’s dissonance. A “threat” that this confession may disrupt the collective, harmonious family. There’s a magnified shame that comes with revealing the trauma that has happened, and a learned need to protect other family members from this shame. This is how culture influences underreported abuse. How it creates an inaccurate picture of a community. And how unfortunately, victims are most of the time silenced.
This is the first memoir I’ve read by a Filipinx author. It’s so relatable, especially when Grace Talusan talks about cultural factors regarding shame and denial within the Filipinx community that hinders someone from reporting abuse or talking about mental health illness. .
Family is an extremely important aspect of Filipinx culture. The family is the foundation of social life, so Filipinas/os typically aim to have collective and harmonious interpersonal relationships. So what do you do when someone in your family hurts you? Part of your identity as a Filipinx deconstructs. Without close-knit family ties, you start to question who you are and if it’s even possible to heal.
When Grace Talusan told her family about the abuse she experiences for years, I was enraged. Her family was not surprised, their reaction minimized the trauma, and they were more protective of the family’s closeted pedophile because he was the Tatang of the family. When Grace Talusan reveals what her grandfather has done to her, there’s dissonance. A “threat” that this confession may disrupt the collective, harmonious family. There’s a magnified shame that comes with revealing the trauma that has happened, and a learned need to protect other family members from this shame. This is how culture influences underreported abuse. How it creates an inaccurate picture of a community. And how unfortunately, victims are most of the time silenced.