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

Author: Stephanie Foo

Narrator: Stephanie Foo

Unabridged: 10 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/22/2022


Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Thomas on June 04, 2022

Okay I loved this memoir! It has the same therapy appeal of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone though with more attention paid to how culture and race affect mental health. In What My Bones Know, accomplished journalist Stephanie Foo writes about receiving a diagnosis of complex posttraumatic stre......more

Goodreads review by Cindy on January 01, 2023

The best book I’ve read all year. As an Asian woman who also grew up from San Jose and chased external success to fill the void of family trauma and mental illness, Foo’s memoir hit very close to home. The beginning is tough to get through as she recounts the physical and verbal abuse she faced thro......more

Goodreads review by Brady on February 28, 2025

Perfect in every sense of the word. Raw and emotional, I found myself tearing up so many times throughout listening to this.......more

Goodreads review by Shawn on July 01, 2024

some life changing shit, for real… thank you, Stephanie🫶🏻......more

Goodreads review by Nina (ninjasbooks) on May 07, 2023

This is one of the best memoirs I’ve read about living with complex PTSD. It was a heartbreaking recollection of a shattering childhood and overcoming the beast within. It is about searching for answers and healing slowly, and I’m so happy her journey is out there to inspire and help others.......more


Quotes

“Absorbing . . . a reckoning, and Foo approaches it with candor and rigor . . . profoundly affecting.”The New York Times

“Foo’s happy ending is nothing short of deliverance—rich and joyful and full of care the child was denied. . . . Possibility still glows around the edges of her sight.”USA Today

“An unflinching reminder of the hidden struggles many face, told with the keen eye of a researcher and the brutality of a documentarian.”—NPR

“Many trauma survivors struggle to describe the seemingly indescribable sense of carrying something intangibly sharp—something there but not there—inside. But in What My Bones Know, Stephanie Foo details that and more. Her achingly exquisite memoir takes us on a journey through complex trauma, illuminating her path of self-discovery and providing real hope for those who long to heal.”—Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

“At turns funny and devastating, terrifying and transcendent, Foo’s quest for understanding should be relevant not just to someone with C-PTSD but to anyone seeking to grow and be present in this one life.”—Jenny Odell, New York Times bestselling author of How to Do Nothing

“Funny and tragic, unflinchingly honest and relentlessly hopeful, What My Bones Know is a marvel of a book.”—Ed Yong, New York Times bestselling author of I Contain Multitudes

“I cried while turning the pages; I knew that I was witnessing an astonishing literary endeavor. For others who live with C-PTSD, this is a crucial, life-changing book.”—Esmé Weijun Wang, New York Times bestselling author of The Collected Schizophrenias

What My Bones Know is an absolute triumph. Foo’s beautifully written memoir is a balm and a light for anyone afraid that their early traumas have permanently stunted their capacity for connection, love, and purpose. This book is a must-read for anyone hungry for hope.”—Christie Tate, New York Times bestselling author of Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life

“A striking memoir . . . Stephanie Foo’s voice is singular—at times poetic, at times biting. This is a must-read for anyone healing from complex trauma.”—Jennette McCurdy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of I’m Glad My Mom Died

“This book is a major step forward in the study of trauma. It’s also a huge artistic genre-busting achievement. Stephanie Foo’s brilliant storytelling and strong, funny, relatable voice makes complex PTSD enjoyable to read about.”—Kathleen Hanna, singer for Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, and The Julie Ruin

“This is a work of immense beauty.”Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Foo’s writing is shrewdly insightful. In telling her story so compellingly, she joins authors such as Anna Qu and Ly Tran in adding nuance to the ‘model minority’ myth, if not actively subverting it.”Library Journal, starred review