Counting Bones: Anatomy of Love Lost and Found

by Ellen Anderson Penno

When she was twenty-four years old, Ellen Anderson Penno lost her partner in a climbing accident while they were ascending Mount Baker in Washington's Cascade Range. The avalanche hid his body in a crevasse just weeks before Penno was slated to begin medical school, and she soon found herself torn between deferring her studies for a year, or starting right away with a full course load.
Rather than succumbing to grief and risk never beginning her medical education at all, Penno plunged deep into her studies, surrounded by death on all sides, struggling to maintain her way through her turbulent emotions and a rigorous med school schedule.
In this stirring and often mordantly funny new memoir, Ellen Anderson Penno structures a story of mourning, loss, despair and love through the lens of the classic medical text Gray's Anatomy, showing readers what becomes of those who must rebuild their lives after tragedy strikes.

Genres: Memoir

288 pages, Paperback

Published April 15, 2024

Reviews

[Pamela Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grief is such an individual process, no formula to help you, everyone grieves in their own way, which is why, since my husband died, I’ve been reading so many books on grieving. Ellen Anderson Penno’s memoir on the loss of her boyfriend is so different than any I’ve read. Ian died hiking on Mount Baker in a massive avalanche as she was waiting for his return to their camp. She began her grief journey at the same time she was entering Medical School, so she has used the Textbook Gray’s Anatomy as a way to tell her story. That is why the subtitle is the Anatomy of Love Lost and Found. There is a lot in this book along with processing sorrow, information on hiking and other sports, friendships, family, becoming a doctor, and starting a new life. 4 stars.

[Kara Koester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ellen Anderson Penno loses her boyfriend in an avalanche on Mt. Baker as a 24-year-old. In Counting Bones, she relates the long process of grieving his death. Her story is engaging; though I confess, I got lost in the detailed descriptions of mountaineering and, in later chapters, medical descriptions from her time in med school.

[Margot Penno · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re looking for a profound and emotional read, pick this book up. The detail in the writing makes you feel as if you are standing alongside Ellen, following through her trials and tribulations, as she deals with loss and death. I would recommend this book to anyone!

[Ashley : bostieslovebooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NeWest Press for the gifted ARC book.

Ellen Anderson Penno uses Gray’s Anatomy, the classic medical text, to structure her memoir of mourning and rebuilding after the tragic loss of her partner during an avalanche.

I was initially intrigued by this book’s premise of structuring a grief journey against the Gray’s Anatomy text. Grief is universal, though how each individual experiences it is different. Somewhere within this, I find reading about the grief journeys of others to help with my own. Penno recounts her life with emotion and vulnerability. At times, the writing did feel a bit disconnected or erratic in switching topic and I wonder if this was due to keeping with the set structure of the text. I’m curious what this memoir would have been like if Gray’s Anatomy had not been an influence. I’d recommend this book to fans of memoirs, especially those with interest in mountaineering and/or medical fields.