Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma

Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

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

15 reviews

koreanlinda's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

This book was a hard read for me as a survivor of child abuse. I was beaten repeatedly by my mother and teachers when I grew up in South Korea. Although Stephanie Foo is a Malaysian Chinese-American, I was able to see lots of overlapping ideas around domestic violence between her family culture and mine.

Part 1 (out of five parts) was the hardest to read because it describes all kinds of violence that Stephanie experienced when she was young. However, it gets easier from there, and Part 5, as Stephanie promised at the beginning of the book, has a happy ending.

Although I felt immense sorrow, I did not cry throughout the book until the pages of Stephanie's life started getting filled with love. The power of happy tears was stronger than other kinds. As I closed the book, I felt hopeful about my own life. I thought, if she can live, I can live, too. Like Stephanie said in Chapter 41, "Maybe this life I've got is going to be spectacular, after all."

I went into the book with lots of fear; however, I am very glad I read it. I felt seen in Stephanie's story, and I learned a lot about C-PTSD. Although the abuse I experienced was not as severe as Stephanie's, I had symptoms that she experienced from C-PTSD. Stressful situations and mistakes pushed me into self-chastism and depression. While I was constantly scared of being punished, I continued to punish myself internally.

I recommend this book to everyone who has experienced traumatic events or any abuse including a lack of love from a childhood caregiver. You will learn a lot. Not only you will gain knowledge, but you will also get empowered through Stephanie's narrative: Our PTSD is a precious part of ourselves, and it can manifest as our superpower.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in June 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda

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lexi_ag's review

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This is one of those books that completely reframes the way you think about other books. Every piece of this was heartbreaking inspiring and amazing. The audiobook is so phenomenal.

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eliya's review

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

heartbreakingly raw and hard to listen to at points. stephanie foo shares some truly horrifying memories.

fascinating approaches to CPTSD

some approaches i’m familiar with, some i’ve only day-dreamed about haha.
would love to approach conversation in a Nathan Fielder’s “the rehearsal” way lol. gave me some sold things to bring to my therapist when i have one. made me reconsider the way i interact in conversations.

very informative, kept coming back to the body and physiological responses to trauma, as the title suggests.

lots of information regarding generational trauma and how it effects people of color.
i was particularly intrigued by the
rat study about generational trauma

cringy / cheesy at some points, as is the nature with healing books. some eyeroll moments where the author acknowledges very briefly but very obviously obligatorily her class privileges to be able to access this type of care. ultimately helpful for me as a reader, though, to see what type of healing is possible (?) even though it definitely feels out of reach rn.

truly moving and hopeful.

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hanna_numinen's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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birbmcbirb's review

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

This is THE book I now recommend about C-PTSD. To both those with it, and those trying to understand it. I wasnt left drained and triggered like so many other CPTSD books, and Ms. Foo is a wonderful writer. I powdered through this book in 3 days, and it only took that long because I was busy each day. Any other mental health book would have left me triggered and burnt out, this book amazingly did not, but not because it pulled punches in talking about abuse and recovery. Im going to be so annoying about suggesting everyone reads this.

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