My review of What My Bones Know:
"This book was a gorgeous read. I laughed and cried so much. And bit my lip and rolled my eyes and pursed my lip alongside the author.
I listened to the audiobook and really appreciated Foo's journalistic eye and curiosity towards her own struggles to live and love (but not laugh, because Foo doesn't struggle to make herself and others laugh!). I also enjoyed the cameos from Dr. Ham - an apt inclusion from someone with Foo's experience in radio.
I have never felt super comfortable identifying with CPTSD as a diagnosis (at least not in the same way as I do with autism), mostly because it feels a little bit redundant. But Foo expertly weaves her experiences letting go of self-pathologization and self-punishment with an examination of U.S. imperialism, Chinese philosophy and culture, Malaysian history, neuroscience, the wellness industry, psychology, psychotherapeutic modalities, and so on. Doing so made the narrative of 'disorder' fulsome and human, framed not through the carceral and ableist lens of the medical industrial complex but through the life narrative of one elder millenial Asian American woman learning to love herself. Her storytelling reminded me to appreciate my own trials and tribulations within therapy and within the mental health systems, that all this worth savouring for a moment rather than glaze over.
I will cherish this book for a long time. <3"