Praise for What My Bones Know, a NYT Bestseller
4.52 stars on Goodreads
“What takes this brilliant work from a personal story to a cultural touch point is the way Foo situates her experiences into a larger conversation about intergenerational trauma, immigration, and the mind-body connection… This is a work of immense beauty.”
- Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)
“Absorbing… a reckoning, and Foo approaches it with candor and rigor…profoundly affecting.”
- The New York Times
“An unflinching reminder of the hidden struggles many face, told with the keen eye of a researcher and the brutality of a documentarian.”
- NPR
“Foo’s writing is shrewdly insightful. In telling her story so compellingly, she [adds] nuance to the “model minority” myth, if not actively subverting it. Highly recommended.
- Library Journal (starred review)
“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
“a sharp, insightful and stirring memoir.”
- Kirkus
“An intimate, deeply engrossing story of psychological recoverY.”
- The Australian
“raw, vulnerable, transformational, messy, eloquent, captivating. I finished this book with awe and gratitude. Go get this book. do not delay.”
- PACES Connection
“What My Bones Know is not only uniquely suited for audio, but constructs a creative audio experience that challenges…[the] listener in unexpected and illuminating ways.”
- Audible
Press
Ten Percent Happier Podcast: “How to Live With the Worst Things That Ever Happened to You.”
The Stacks Podcast
NPR’s Weekend Edition
The Guardian Life & Style
WNYC’s The Takeaway
The Cut
The Allusionist
USA Today
Amazon Editor’s #1 Nonfiction Book of the Year So Far (June 2022) and an Amazon Best Book of 2022 (Nov 2022)
Goodreads’ Members #8 Nonfiction Book of the Year So Far (June 2022) and a 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist
Goodreads’ Best 2022 Books by AAPI Authors
One of NPR’s Best Books of 2022 and a Staff Pick
One of Publisher’s Weekly’s 20 Best Books of 2022
One of Apple’s Best 20 Audiobooks of 2022
One of Audible’s Best 15 Memoirs and Biographies of 2022
Business Insider’s 20 of the Most Anticipated Nonfiction Books of 2022
Cosmopolitan’s Best 15 Nonfiction Books of 2022
The New York Times’ “What’s In Our Queue?”
New York Magazine’s Approval Matrix
Los Angeles Times’ 10 Books to Read (February 2022)
Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper Feature
Author Praise
“A MUST-READ FOR ANYONE HEALING FROM COMPLEX TRAUMA.”
-Jeanette McCurdy, bestselling author of I’m Glad My Mom Died
“ACHINGLY EXQUISITE… PROVIDING REAL HOPE FOR THOSE WHO LONG TO HEAL.”
- Lori Gottlieb, bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
“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, bestselling author of The Collected Schizophrenias
“THIS BOOK IS PHENOMENAL.”
-Elliot Page, actor, author of Pageboy
“FUNNY AND TRAGIC, UNFLINCHINGLY HONEST AND RELENTLESSLY HOPEFUL, IT IS A MARVEL OF A BOOK.”
- Ed Yong, bestselling author of I Contain Multitudes.
“A HEROIC ACT OF WILL AND CURIOSITY… FUNNY AND DEVASTATING, TERRIFYING AND TRANSCENDENT.”
- Jenny Odell, bestselling author of How to Do Nothing
“A MAJOR STEP FORWARD IN THE STUDY OF TRAUMA… A HUGE, ARTISTIC, GENRE-BUSTING ACHIEVEMENT. STEPHANIE FOO’S BRILLIANT STORYTELLING AND STRONG, FUNNY, RELATABLE VOICE MAKES COMPLEX PTSD ENJOYABLE TO READ ABOUT. IF YOU ARE HAUNTED BY ANY TYPE OF TRAUMA, THIS BOOK WILL PROBABLY CHANGE YOUR LIFE.”
- Kathleen Hanna, lead singer, Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, The Julie Ruin
“AN ACT OF RECLAMATION AND A BOLD, DEFIANT PROCLAMATION: ‘I AM HERE.’”
- Kat Chow, author of Seeing Ghosts