A review by kristinana
The Body Papers: A Memoir by Grace Talusan

5.0

A very powerful, brave, and moving memoir. Grace Talusan's prose is spare and understated, allowing for the reader to contemplate the enormity of what she writes about. The book begins with a description of making yogurt, a comforting and evocative image that belies the dangers and pain that will become the main focus of the book. I believe that a strong theme of the book has to do with how we make sense of the painful things that happen to us and that we see around us, whether that's by distracting ourselves with other activities, by trying to make sense out of senseless events, or by facing these events head-on and conquering them. All of these coping mechanisms appear in the memoir in different forms, and in this way, among others, the book becomes a description of how we survive. Talusan has a way of showing how one's individual experiences are deeply informed by both our family's history and by the larger histories of nations, and in this way is deeply instructional in terms of the ways our lives are shaped by so many things wholly beyond our control. What is in our control is what we do about it, and her author's note at the beginning is so important; about a realization she has when her niece is born, she writes: "I realized how dangerous it was to protect the wrong people by telling only the happy stories. Lies of omission created the conditions that allowed someone more powerful than me to hurt and exploit me..." By being truthful about so much, I am sure she will help many people comprehend and tell their own stories.