Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

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

10 reviews

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Self harm, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Car accident, and Addiction

clarabooksit's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

I’m not good at reviewing books that wow me, but this blew me away. I love a book that both moves me and educates me, and this did both in spades.

Foo narrates her journey toward self-discovery and well-being with incredible candor and immersive storytelling. Her writing feels effortless and inclusive: it’s not just her story but an invitation to the reader to join her on her journey.

I loved it. Highly, highly recommend. A favorite of the year, for sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Addiction, Mental illness, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Racism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Suicide, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical trauma

Minor: Death and War

antistic's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

The start of the book where she describes the trauma she went through growing up was difficult for me to get through. But I'm glad I did because reading her journey through her trauma and healing was something I absolutely needed at this time. The book touches on trauma, mostly parental abuse but also touches on generational, racial, and workplace trauma. I like how honest she is on what healing feels like — from the difficulties of finding a good therapist, to trying all kinds of different therapies (some of which work for her and some which don't), to including her therapy transcripts within the book. It makes it feel tangible and real, and she wonderfully weaves in some of the current science and theory about trauma to to make a book that feels both personal and broad. I leave the book feeling glad that her life is looking up and hopeful for my own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child abuse, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, and Rape

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

This was really good. It struck me how candid Stephanie was being about her childhood traumas, how those experiences affected her and as a result rippled down to all of Foo's relationships and aspirations.
The descriptions of the childhood abuse was palpable, sickening, and incredibly sad. Major content warnings for these scenes, please take care while reading.

The relationships with her parents in her adulthood was also fascinating. How she manages to maintain some contact with her father despite how much he hurt her. We do what we must to find mental and physical safety but how much we can crave love from our parents even if we fear them. It's a constant balancing act and so emotionally exhausting.

I don't know very much about psychiatry and psychology so this aspect of the memoir was a bit over my head but I still followed along. She made it pretty easy for non-experts to understand the different kinds of treatment she sought. This memoir is so sad, reading about Foo encountering so many hurdles and struggling to find the light at the end of the tunnel. Knowing that she was well enough to write this memoir, reflecting on her life does little to lessen the second-hand blow of her life story to the reader. It's heavy heavy heavy.

I wish her the best in continuing to heal and understand herself before and after the trauma.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Bullying, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cursing, Grief, Self harm, Hate crime, Ableism, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, and Alcoholism

Minor: Body shaming, War, Incest, and Infertility

negative self-talk, bad therapy experiences, victim blaming.

stonams's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Racism, Abandonment, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Alcoholism, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and War

kbergsten's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Suicidal thoughts

faduma's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Abandonment

jialianyang's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

A lovely, touching memoir about complex PTSD, breaking intergenerational cycles, and C-PTSD as beast and superpower. Foo weaves together her perspective as a journalist and child of immigrants with well-researched perspectives on therapies, interventions and mental health. Raw, heart wrenching, funny, and honest. This will make you feel inspired to be more compassionate to yourself, to others, and to earnestly approach your inner child and those around you with a generous, expansive love.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Violence, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Abandonment

lilcoppertop's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Dysphoria, Grief, Alcoholism, Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Abandonment, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Racism, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Domestic abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, and Violence

romancereader's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship