'What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma' by Stephanie Foo is a powerful and emotional memoir that delves into the author's journey of surviving complex trauma and her relentless pursuit of healing. Through impeccable and vulnerable storytelling, Foo shares her coping mechanisms, self-soothing techniques, and in-depth analysis of her hometown and past experiences. The book is praised for its relatable tone, cultural depth, and the author's ability to share nuanced and painful experiences of severe childhood abuse.
The narrative in the book resonates with readers struggling with CPTSD, providing a raw and honest account of the effects of an abusive childhood and dysfunctional upbringing. Foo's writing style is described as searingly honest, immensely helpful, and essential for anyone looking to heal from trauma. The book not only offers personal insights but also sheds light on the flaws in the healthcare system and the journey of relentless healing and recovery from trauma.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings include discussions of childhood abuse, neglect, trauma, mental health issues, and references to complex PTSD.
From The Publisher:
A searing memoir of reckoning and healing by acclaimed journalist Stephanie Foo, investigating the little-understood science behind complex PTSD and how it has shaped her life
"Achingly exquisite . . . providing real hope for those who long to heal."-Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, NPR, Mashable, She Reads, Publishers Weekly
By age thirty, Stephanie Foo was successful on paper: She had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD-a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years.
Both of Foo's parents abandoned her when she was a teenager, after years of physical and verbal abuse and neglect. She thought she'd moved on, but her new diagnosis illuminated the way her past continued to threaten her health, relationships, and career. She found limited resources to help her, so Foo set out to heal herself, and to map her experiences onto the scarce literature about C-PTSD.
In this deeply personal and thoroughly researched account, Foo interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies. She returns to her hometown of San Jose, California, to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on the community, and she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, to learn how trauma can be inherited through generations. Ultimately, she discovers that you don't move on from trauma-but you can learn to move with it.
Powerful, enlightening, and hopeful, What My Bones Know is a brave narrative that reckons with the hold of the past over the present, the mind over the body-and examines one woman's ability to reclaim agency from her trauma.
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2 comment(s)
3.75
I listened to the audiobook. While Foo's writing style isn't necessarily on point with how I like, the story had me feeling all types of ways. I did feel I was spacing out at some parts, and that's why I rounded up because I'm sure it's me who sucks and not the book. Her story of c-ptsd was very sad and taught me a lot about it which I liked.
This is an incredible book - absolutely one of the best I’ve read in a long time. Foo writes in such a way that she is SO relatable and her memoir of working through her C-PTSD was helpful to me as I’m working through my own brain and trauma.
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