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The Body Papers
Winner of The Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing, Grace Talusan’s memoir The Body Papers bravely explores her experiences with sexual abuse, depression, cancer, and life as a Filipino immigrant, supplemented with government documents, medical records, and family photos.
Born in the Philippines, young Grace Talusan moves with her family to a New England suburb in the 1970s. At school, she confronts racism as one of the few kids with a brown face. At home, the confusion is worse: her grandfather’s nightly visits to her room leave her hurt and terrified, and she learns to build a protective wall of silence that maps onto the larger silence practiced by her Catholic Filipino family. Talusan learns as a teenager that her family’s legal status in the country has always hung by a thread—for a time, they were “illegal.” Family, she’s told, must be put first.
The abuse and trauma Talusan suffers as a child affects all her relationships, her mental health, and her relationship with her own body. Later, she learns that her family history is threaded with violence and abuse. And she discovers another devastating family thread: cancer. In her thirties, Talusan must decide whether to undergo preventive surgeries to remove her breasts and ovaries. Despite all this, she finds love, and success as a teacher. On a fellowship, Talusan and her husband return to the Philippines, where she revisits her family’s ancestral home and tries to reclaim a lost piece of herself.
Not every family legacy is destructive. From her parents, Talusan has learned to tell stories in order to continue. The generosity of spirit and literary acuity of this debut memoir are a testament to her determination and resilience. In excavating and documenting such abuse and trauma, Talusan gives voice to unspeakable experience, and shines a light of hope into the darkness.
Born in the Philippines, young Grace Talusan moves with her family to a New England suburb in the 1970s. At school, she confronts racism as one of the few kids with a brown face. At home, the confusion is worse: her grandfather’s nightly visits to her room leave her hurt and terrified, and she learns to build a protective wall of silence that maps onto the larger silence practiced by her Catholic Filipino family. Talusan learns as a teenager that her family’s legal status in the country has always hung by a thread—for a time, they were “illegal.” Family, she’s told, must be put first.
The abuse and trauma Talusan suffers as a child affects all her relationships, her mental health, and her relationship with her own body. Later, she learns that her family history is threaded with violence and abuse. And she discovers another devastating family thread: cancer. In her thirties, Talusan must decide whether to undergo preventive surgeries to remove her breasts and ovaries. Despite all this, she finds love, and success as a teacher. On a fellowship, Talusan and her husband return to the Philippines, where she revisits her family’s ancestral home and tries to reclaim a lost piece of herself.
Not every family legacy is destructive. From her parents, Talusan has learned to tell stories in order to continue. The generosity of spirit and literary acuity of this debut memoir are a testament to her determination and resilience. In excavating and documenting such abuse and trauma, Talusan gives voice to unspeakable experience, and shines a light of hope into the darkness.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published April 2, 2019
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October 21, 2018Grace Talusan writes eloquently about the most unsayable things: the deep gravitational pull of family, the complexity of navigating identity as an immigrant, and the ways we move forward even as we carry our traumas with us. Equal parts compassion and confession, THE BODY PAPERS is a stunning work by a powerful new writer who—like the best memoirists—transcends the personal to speak on a universal level.
August 23, 2019
Grace Talusan’s memoir The Body Papers is stunning in its self-awareness, honesty, and unassuming beauty. She writes about moving from the Philippines to the United states as a child, experiencing sexual abuse from her grandfather, and navigating cancer later on in life. These topics are often dark and difficult to read about yet Talusan conveys her life in a way that shows she has thoroughly processed every challenge, while still having the emotional openness to let us readers into her struggle and her fight for survival. Throughout The Body Papers, too, is deep love, the Talusan’s love for her nieces and nephews, her love for her father, and her love for her family’s ancestral home. She writes in such a straightforward way, no frills, yet the book feels full of compassion and vulnerability.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in memoir, or the experiences of women, people of color, and immigrants. Talusan captures so many different experiences and emotions with complexity and nuance, ranging from the way her extended family shielded an abuser from harm to the range of feelings she encountered upon eventually not having a child of her own. Throughout The Body Papers Talusan weaves in the theme of how racism and trauma can devastate the body. At the same time, she describes the body – her body’s – resilience in the face of massive loss. She’s blessed us by putting forth that resilience in memoir form with The Body Papers. Thank you Grace Talusan and I hope her words find those who need them most.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in memoir, or the experiences of women, people of color, and immigrants. Talusan captures so many different experiences and emotions with complexity and nuance, ranging from the way her extended family shielded an abuser from harm to the range of feelings she encountered upon eventually not having a child of her own. Throughout The Body Papers Talusan weaves in the theme of how racism and trauma can devastate the body. At the same time, she describes the body – her body’s – resilience in the face of massive loss. She’s blessed us by putting forth that resilience in memoir form with The Body Papers. Thank you Grace Talusan and I hope her words find those who need them most.
July 1, 2019
Winner of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing, Grace Talusan writes about moving from the Philippines to the United States as a child, navigating family secrets/illness and periods of undocumented status, and what it is like to return to her homeland as an adult scholar. The time period comes all the way up to practically the present day, meaning there are two presidents to deal with - President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines and his "war on drugs" and President Trump with the focus on immigration.
TW for sexual abuse and willful disregard of abuse.
TW for sexual abuse and willful disregard of abuse.
October 25, 2018
There is so much to admire in this brave and fierce and deeply intimate memoir, most notably the author's unsentimental and plainspoken approach to her material. There are no fireworks of language here, no false flourishes designed to obscure or somehow extract beauty from the events she recounts with unflinching clarity. Talusan simply demands that the reader pay attention: to make the rich and often devastating connections among the events of her life: some harrowing, some tender, all of them delivered with honesty and forthrightness. The memoir is told in thematic sequences in which the author and the family come continually to light, but only in flashes; these flashes get brighter as we read, and by the end we see everyone in their full humanity, and we fully comprehend the depths of both despair and love at their core. As a child of immigrants, I found much to relate to in the family dynamics -- alternately laughing and shuddering with recognition.
April 9, 2020
I am blown away by Grace! Full review to come.
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TLDR: I’m recommending The Body Papers to everyone; strike that. This is required reading.
Ugh. This book had me bawling. Stunning and sincere, Grace Talusan tells her story as a Filipina immigrant in America after her father got accepted into a resident program in New England.
As a child, she was forced to keep silent about her family’s immigration status, a major fear for many who were and still are seeking a better life (either for them or their children). Talusan also writes about the tragic irony of her childhood: getting sexually abused by her grandfather for 7 years. In her heroic silence, she was able to save her sister from the same abuse, but I can’t imagine the psychological trauma it has caused for her years after the events.
Further along in her life, Grace opted for preventative bilateral mastectomy and ovary removal due to a lifetime risk of cancer caused by a hereditary gene passed down by her father. Her story is courageous and her ability to still see light in this world after being dealt such a sad hand is honorable. In losing her ability to have children, she focused more on being the auntie to her nieces and nephews.
One thing that resonated with me was her relationship with her parents, her father especially. Early in her book, she described her father as “a man of few words, and expected fewer from [her],” and his pride for her was unspoken until she was an adult. This was reality for me, and one that I struggled to understand until recently. My father had high expectations of me while I was under his wing, a reflection of his own upbringing. He also came from a family where words of affirmation were few and far, and the words “I love you” were barely uttered. To this day, I can’t remember the last time my dad told me that he loved me, but I know that he does. His ability to drop everything for me if I ever called, that’s his love.
Thank you, Grace, for sharing your story with the world. It is not often that I find a book that screams THIS IS FOR YOU.
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TLDR: I’m recommending The Body Papers to everyone; strike that. This is required reading.
Ugh. This book had me bawling. Stunning and sincere, Grace Talusan tells her story as a Filipina immigrant in America after her father got accepted into a resident program in New England.
As a child, she was forced to keep silent about her family’s immigration status, a major fear for many who were and still are seeking a better life (either for them or their children). Talusan also writes about the tragic irony of her childhood: getting sexually abused by her grandfather for 7 years. In her heroic silence, she was able to save her sister from the same abuse, but I can’t imagine the psychological trauma it has caused for her years after the events.
Further along in her life, Grace opted for preventative bilateral mastectomy and ovary removal due to a lifetime risk of cancer caused by a hereditary gene passed down by her father. Her story is courageous and her ability to still see light in this world after being dealt such a sad hand is honorable. In losing her ability to have children, she focused more on being the auntie to her nieces and nephews.
One thing that resonated with me was her relationship with her parents, her father especially. Early in her book, she described her father as “a man of few words, and expected fewer from [her],” and his pride for her was unspoken until she was an adult. This was reality for me, and one that I struggled to understand until recently. My father had high expectations of me while I was under his wing, a reflection of his own upbringing. He also came from a family where words of affirmation were few and far, and the words “I love you” were barely uttered. To this day, I can’t remember the last time my dad told me that he loved me, but I know that he does. His ability to drop everything for me if I ever called, that’s his love.
Thank you, Grace, for sharing your story with the world. It is not often that I find a book that screams THIS IS FOR YOU.
August 27, 2019
I am the American-born daughter of Philippine immigrants. This book is beautiful - her writing metaphorical and full of imagery, yet sometimes the Talusan book is too much for me and I have to put it down.
She taps into the weight of being an immigrant daughter, that your parents sacrificed everything to give you a life, and how you can never really live up to their dreams, especially if you have trauma and emotions that are intense and cause you to be flawed. In many ways American children and Philippine parents are a poor match, although the love is thick and present. I am nearly 50, and I feel like Grace Talusan has given me a voice.
She taps into the weight of being an immigrant daughter, that your parents sacrificed everything to give you a life, and how you can never really live up to their dreams, especially if you have trauma and emotions that are intense and cause you to be flawed. In many ways American children and Philippine parents are a poor match, although the love is thick and present. I am nearly 50, and I feel like Grace Talusan has given me a voice.
January 2, 2021
The Body Papers is a memoir written by Filipina-American Fullbright Scholar, Grace Talusan. A book that explores how much trauma a body can take while trying to keep your heart & soul alive, this book shows how Talusan’s healing has not been a linear process, but one that has been constant, however wavering, even when facing death (or its likelihood.)
Born in Manila, Philippines, Talusan immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts with her mom, dad & older sister. She returns to Manila throughout her life for brief visits with her family, but chooses to live there for a few months as an adult while doing research for her Fullbright scholarship. While telling us about her time in Manila as a “balikbayan” (a word coined in the Marcos dictatorship in the ‘80s & means something like “the-immigrant-returning-to-their-homeland-has-become-like-a-foreigner”), what it feels like to finally look like everyone else, what it’s like crossing Manila streets, Talusan tells us about her beloved nieces, & how they remind her of her own childhood, which, while fraught with sexual abuse perpetrated by her paternal grandfather, was also a somewhat “normal” childhood with soccer games, library books, and the Catholic Church, like any other.
Knowing full well that this memoir covers severe child abuse, it took me a while to pick it up because I wasn’t ever sure if I was ready. Checked-out from the library, & still hungry for more stories from Filipina/o/x Americans after reading Castillo’s America Is Not The Heart, I finally picked this book up & started reading the first pages, which immediately pulled me in with its gentle yet vivid descriptions about living in Manila as a returning immigrant.
This book is not only about the abuse that Talusan survives as a child, but this book is also about Talusan’s body & the trauma she endures with it into adulthood when she discovers she is genetically predisposed to two kinds of cancer.
Though what may be a triggering read, Talusan’s writing feels so familiar that my engagement with the book felt almost effortless. Not to say I read this in one sitting. I needed time to process certain parts, even the happy parts, which this book surprisingly has a lot of because of the love that exists in the writer’s life.
Bookmarked quotes:
“This is what happens when assimilation brings erasure: I lost my first language, Tagalog.” p. 45
“And what did a woman mean after all? As a middle-aged woman, I still have moments when I feel eleven.” p. 63
“Reaching out to other people and connecting, which is the exact opposite of how I felt when I was being abused, is why and how I am alive. All this work in healing has made it possible for me to have a life.” - p. 147
“I become too distracted by all the fine dining and shopping to locate my grief, to remember what was lost.” - p. 238
Born in Manila, Philippines, Talusan immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts with her mom, dad & older sister. She returns to Manila throughout her life for brief visits with her family, but chooses to live there for a few months as an adult while doing research for her Fullbright scholarship. While telling us about her time in Manila as a “balikbayan” (a word coined in the Marcos dictatorship in the ‘80s & means something like “the-immigrant-returning-to-their-homeland-has-become-like-a-foreigner”), what it feels like to finally look like everyone else, what it’s like crossing Manila streets, Talusan tells us about her beloved nieces, & how they remind her of her own childhood, which, while fraught with sexual abuse perpetrated by her paternal grandfather, was also a somewhat “normal” childhood with soccer games, library books, and the Catholic Church, like any other.
Knowing full well that this memoir covers severe child abuse, it took me a while to pick it up because I wasn’t ever sure if I was ready. Checked-out from the library, & still hungry for more stories from Filipina/o/x Americans after reading Castillo’s America Is Not The Heart, I finally picked this book up & started reading the first pages, which immediately pulled me in with its gentle yet vivid descriptions about living in Manila as a returning immigrant.
This book is not only about the abuse that Talusan survives as a child, but this book is also about Talusan’s body & the trauma she endures with it into adulthood when she discovers she is genetically predisposed to two kinds of cancer.
Though what may be a triggering read, Talusan’s writing feels so familiar that my engagement with the book felt almost effortless. Not to say I read this in one sitting. I needed time to process certain parts, even the happy parts, which this book surprisingly has a lot of because of the love that exists in the writer’s life.
Bookmarked quotes:
“This is what happens when assimilation brings erasure: I lost my first language, Tagalog.” p. 45
“And what did a woman mean after all? As a middle-aged woman, I still have moments when I feel eleven.” p. 63
“Reaching out to other people and connecting, which is the exact opposite of how I felt when I was being abused, is why and how I am alive. All this work in healing has made it possible for me to have a life.” - p. 147
“I become too distracted by all the fine dining and shopping to locate my grief, to remember what was lost.” - p. 238
September 15, 2019
I understand that the author had a story she needed to tell, and I know writing a memoir is hard, but I felt disappointed with this one. I think my expectations were off, too. I thought this was more about immigration. Instead it was about surviving sexual abuse and worrying about getting cancer. And maybe about the Philippines. Or maybe about being an aunt to a niece who loses an eye.
The chapters didn’t seem to flow. I often wondered why the topic changed or what the theme was. Time jumped around for no reason.
And obviously you don’t expect a book about sexual abuse to be cheery, but the whole thing seemed to focus on every negative experience or fear she had. It’s just hard to read a book without humor or optimism. Maybe this tired feeling I’m left with was the goal, but I don’t think so?
I think some people would connect with this, but I wasn’t the right audience.
The chapters didn’t seem to flow. I often wondered why the topic changed or what the theme was. Time jumped around for no reason.
And obviously you don’t expect a book about sexual abuse to be cheery, but the whole thing seemed to focus on every negative experience or fear she had. It’s just hard to read a book without humor or optimism. Maybe this tired feeling I’m left with was the goal, but I don’t think so?
I think some people would connect with this, but I wasn’t the right audience.
August 3, 2020
This was an excellent memoir. She wrote about her immigrant experience as a Filipino growing up in New England, traumatic experiences, and her and her family's experience with genetic cancers. It was honest and heart-warming. It was also encouraging to see how she had thrived through some very difficult situations. There were sections that were disturbing and difficult to read. But I'm glad I did. And I'm glad she shared her story.
I had trouble following the timeline. But then I read that she had pulled together essays that she had written throughout the years, and that's how the book came to be.
This book also referred me to www.restlessbooks.org. It is nonprofit publisher, focusing on bringing to light voices and stories from around the world. I don't know how I"ll fit this in, but I'm looking forward to reading new stories from new voices.
I had trouble following the timeline. But then I read that she had pulled together essays that she had written throughout the years, and that's how the book came to be.
This book also referred me to www.restlessbooks.org. It is nonprofit publisher, focusing on bringing to light voices and stories from around the world. I don't know how I"ll fit this in, but I'm looking forward to reading new stories from new voices.
May 21, 2019
A complex and beautiful memoir that explores what it is to live in one’s individual body, but also what it is to be connected to a larger body such as a family unit, a community, a place of origin. Talusan deftly weaves together the story of self as experienced through the lens of immigration, family dynamics, racial identity formation, and abuse. But her words extend beyond her story to her family’s story and what it might mean to leave a place and begin somewhere new, what it might mean to carry traumas across generations, what it might mean to forge a life. I highly recommend this book.
April 18, 2021
This searing memoir is filled with the author’s truth. Talusan tells her story in a matter of fact way about how her grandfather’s sexual abuse and its fallout, being an other in her own country and her decisions about having the cancer gene. There is so much pain in this memoir as well as hope and not a single word was wasted or in excess.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
ETA: April 2021 staff pick
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
ETA: April 2021 staff pick
June 13, 2019
The Body Papers covers a lot of ground that could easily fall into what people refer to as "trauma porn" -- Filipino life and politics, first generation immigration, incest, cancer -- its hard to believe that one person has lived this whole life, let alone written about it with such honesty, clarity and concision.
The Body Papers is a difficult book to read, but one that has been crafted by a deeply talented writer with much love.
The Body Papers is a difficult book to read, but one that has been crafted by a deeply talented writer with much love.
July 9, 2019
Reading this book I felt a kinship to Grace Talusan - on being Filipino-American, on going back to the Philippines, on feelings of belonging and acceptance of culture, and on familial loyalty. I really enjoyed her voice as she told stories about growing up in America, moving back to the Philippines on a Fulbright Fellowship, and reconnecting with her home.
August 30, 2019
I picked up this book on the way out of the library, just because it was new, short, and a prize winner! I am so glad I did. With "The Body Papers," Grace Talusan gives voice to a vastly under-represented demographic, the woman immigrant writer. Although she came to the United States at Two years of age, Grace and her older sister were at risk of being deported after their fathers' student visa expired. By then, she had three siblings that were naturalized citizens. Grace gives the reader a riveting account of what it feels like to be "other" while her surroundings and soul are grounded in America. Through her words, I imagined the grappling for a sound identity in the midst of two worlds.
Ms. Talusan also illustrates her book with photographs from her life, some as a child, some as an adult, and others that are simply papers, the papers that tell the story of immigration from the Philippines, the threat of being returned at a moments notice, and the touching letter from her father, a man of few expressed emotions.
I was struck by the brevity and punch of Ms. Talusan's words. She begins to hint to the reader of abuse she suffered like this: "None of the doctor's hypotheses explained the hives. But he was asking the wrong questions. It wasn't his fault. Who would have guessed?"
As the inheritor of two family legacies, abuse and cancer, Grace takes us through her tribulations in a matter-of-fact way that leaves the reader stunned by her bravery and intelligence. Her hopeful and hard-working parents certainly endowed her with the correct name. "Grace" is not just her name, but the way she has chosen to live her wonderful terrible, human life. Above the conversely clamorous and calming atmosphere of her native land, Grace's voice rings true, direct, and distinctly American.
Ms. Talusan also illustrates her book with photographs from her life, some as a child, some as an adult, and others that are simply papers, the papers that tell the story of immigration from the Philippines, the threat of being returned at a moments notice, and the touching letter from her father, a man of few expressed emotions.
I was struck by the brevity and punch of Ms. Talusan's words. She begins to hint to the reader of abuse she suffered like this: "None of the doctor's hypotheses explained the hives. But he was asking the wrong questions. It wasn't his fault. Who would have guessed?"
As the inheritor of two family legacies, abuse and cancer, Grace takes us through her tribulations in a matter-of-fact way that leaves the reader stunned by her bravery and intelligence. Her hopeful and hard-working parents certainly endowed her with the correct name. "Grace" is not just her name, but the way she has chosen to live her wonderful terrible, human life. Above the conversely clamorous and calming atmosphere of her native land, Grace's voice rings true, direct, and distinctly American.
June 8, 2020
Grace is an extremely talented storyteller, expertly intertwining the difficult themes of sexual assault, immigrant identity, family relations, and cancer into one cohesive and captivating memoir. I was drawn (and sometimes rightfully repulsed) by her ability to describe scenes and emotions - I felt in my gut the anxiety and chaos of crossing the street in Manila, her father’s confusing despair when their family dog passes away, the embarrassment of accidentally getting her period in school... just to name a small handful of scenes.
As an Asian-American immigrant, I found Grace’s telling of her immigrant journey in America to be extremely relatable. From her desires to wake up as a blonde hair blue eyed white girl, to the dissonance between her newly acquired American values and her broader family’s Filipino beliefs, I felt heard and understood. I loved watching Grace and her father navigate this together — she helps us embrace the painful moments and differences as a necessity to give way to the fulfilling relationship they nurture throughout their lives.
Thank you Grace for sharing the lifelong journey of exploring your beautiful, multifaceted identity.
As an Asian-American immigrant, I found Grace’s telling of her immigrant journey in America to be extremely relatable. From her desires to wake up as a blonde hair blue eyed white girl, to the dissonance between her newly acquired American values and her broader family’s Filipino beliefs, I felt heard and understood. I loved watching Grace and her father navigate this together — she helps us embrace the painful moments and differences as a necessity to give way to the fulfilling relationship they nurture throughout their lives.
Thank you Grace for sharing the lifelong journey of exploring your beautiful, multifaceted identity.
July 12, 2020
Reading The Body Papers by Grace Talusan, I felt seen. I cannot tell you how many times I was nodding along in tears because this book right here is the Filipinx-American experience.
The otherness of growing up brown in America. The distant emotional relationship with the immigrant parents. The childish yearning to be white just to fit in and be beautiful. The disconnect between home and the homeland.
Talusan is a survivor: of child sexual abuse, cancer, abusive relationships. And yet, she’s still here. I admire this iron will so deeply in people like her and my mother, also a cancer survivor. (And survivor of so much more. But that is not my story to tell.)
The Body Papers is a memoir about many things—immigration, sexual assault, cancer, bodily autonomy, family. To me, more than anything it’s about the ability to survive and take back the power that was stolen from us. In doing so, then do we begin not only to survive—but to heal, and live.
The otherness of growing up brown in America. The distant emotional relationship with the immigrant parents. The childish yearning to be white just to fit in and be beautiful. The disconnect between home and the homeland.
Talusan is a survivor: of child sexual abuse, cancer, abusive relationships. And yet, she’s still here. I admire this iron will so deeply in people like her and my mother, also a cancer survivor. (And survivor of so much more. But that is not my story to tell.)
The Body Papers is a memoir about many things—immigration, sexual assault, cancer, bodily autonomy, family. To me, more than anything it’s about the ability to survive and take back the power that was stolen from us. In doing so, then do we begin not only to survive—but to heal, and live.
March 24, 2021
"My mother complains that since my father retired, he spends too much time watching YouTube videos of the Philippines. "What is he looking for?" she asks me. I don't tell her my theory: he's searching for what he's lost."
Yup this is stunning. Talusan is clearly an expert in her craft. Her writing is excellent and the structure is surprisingly readable considering she doesn't always follow a linear path. It's heavy. There were many moments I put down the book to breathe, but I also read it in almost one sitting. There is something that feels whole and healing here. She wrote in the acknowledgements that this memoir is a love letter to her siblings and parents, and it deeply feels like it. It's almost like in writing a love letter to them she also wrote one to herself. Will read anything Talusan writes in the future.
Yup this is stunning. Talusan is clearly an expert in her craft. Her writing is excellent and the structure is surprisingly readable considering she doesn't always follow a linear path. It's heavy. There were many moments I put down the book to breathe, but I also read it in almost one sitting. There is something that feels whole and healing here. She wrote in the acknowledgements that this memoir is a love letter to her siblings and parents, and it deeply feels like it. It's almost like in writing a love letter to them she also wrote one to herself. Will read anything Talusan writes in the future.
June 11, 2019
Beautifully and emotionally wrought, The Body Papers gives us a unique insight into the life of Talusan, a Filipino immigrant. It's a story of a woman living between countries, wrestling with the memories of harrowing sexual abuse at the hands of a family member, and the devastating track record of cancer in the family. These are heavy issues, but Talusan shares her story with unusual clarity of insight, in passages that fill the reader with something indescribable, leaving you unable to tear your eyes away from the page.
July 15, 2019
The limit does not exist when it comes to producing tears of joy, tears of immense pain, and tears of overwhelming sadness when I finished reading each chapter, every sentence, and down to the last word Talusan has beautifully written. I felt seen and heard through this memoir. I will hold this book close to my heart, it a story of my family, it is a story of me, and it is a story for all of us. A must-read in one’s lifetime.
July 30, 2019
Grace Talusan writes honestly and beautifully about difficult issues - abuse, race, immigrant identity, cancer, and the complexities of family. Her story is heartbreaking at times, but she tells her story in a way that makes it difficult to look away. 4 stars.
November 22, 2020
-i'm always so hyper-critical of fil-ams (for good reason, i think), but i actually enjoyed reading this memoir!
-reading about grace's experience as a young filipino immigrant gave me insight into what my life could have been had my family decided to go through with immigrating to canada
-i like how honest she is in telling her story. i feel strangely proud of her.
-this might sound weird, but i also really liked reading about a dysfunctional filipino family. it was the representation i needed!!! especially since only large, tight-knit, happy filipino families are shown in media. thank u grace for giving me this representation. her father and mine are almost identical.
-reading about grace's experience as a young filipino immigrant gave me insight into what my life could have been had my family decided to go through with immigrating to canada
-i like how honest she is in telling her story. i feel strangely proud of her.
-this might sound weird, but i also really liked reading about a dysfunctional filipino family. it was the representation i needed!!! especially since only large, tight-knit, happy filipino families are shown in media. thank u grace for giving me this representation. her father and mine are almost identical.
July 24, 2019
Very powerful and personal.
September 9, 2019
What a powerful book. Heartfelt and courageous, Grace Talusan’s memoir is the real deal. I’m always wary of how immigrant Filipinos express their experience - sometimes it’s shallow, condescending or vapid. This one by Talusan is thoughtful and brimming with positivity amidst the bleak topic. Other Filipino experiences can’t hold a candle to this explosive memoir.
I’m hopeful that those without intimate knowledge of the Philippines will find the remarkable core of this memoir and come out of it transformed.
Access to review copy provided by the publisher.
I’m hopeful that those without intimate knowledge of the Philippines will find the remarkable core of this memoir and come out of it transformed.
Access to review copy provided by the publisher.
April 11, 2019
I could not put this book down. I read an excerpt in a writing class and then waited impatiently for two weeks for the book’s publication. Talusan writes directly and poetically about her experiences as an immigrant, a sexual abuse and cancer survivor, and a member of a large and complicated family. Her memoir is also enriched by the inclusion of photos, documents and poems. I cannot stop thinking about this sentence: “My grandfather entered my life like lava, incinerating everything in its path.” It is in sharing her story and writing words like these that Talusan has helped to heal herself.
May 14, 2019
Loved the writing, disappointed in the editing. Several overly-detailed callbacks to stories that have already been explained in chapters of their own. Many reminders of who people are when as a reader I already felt I knew them personally. A few times I thought I had actually accidentally started re-reading paragraphs that were, in fact, just written twice with slight tweaks. The writing is truly beautiful and the stories are moving, but the memoir needs a new round of sharp eyes to keep the author's story flowing.
November 17, 2019
“For most of my life I had believed I was a bad person because something bad happened to me. I had to learn I was not bad. I tell my story now in the hope that it will do the same for others, create an opening for their stories and alleviate those feelings of loneliness.”
The Body Papers is a beautiful book that rejects silence about the body, family, and trauma. Storytelling keeps us from loneliness, I think.
The Body Papers is a beautiful book that rejects silence about the body, family, and trauma. Storytelling keeps us from loneliness, I think.
March 24, 2020
I honestly have no idea why this book won an award and I would not recommend it to anyone. I guess the description of the Philippines and the food there was interesting. I did not see a thread tying everything together. The writing was so-so. It was boring and repetitive. Photos didn't always have something to do with the chapter. It is a lot of "poor me" with no"light at the end of the tunnel". I had a hard time finishing it.
November 15, 2018
This memoir captivated me with its honesty and beautiful, clear writing. The author bravely recounts her experiences with immigration, childhood trauma, racism, and cancer. I learned more about the Filipino culture and my admiration grew for the author’s courage in the face of adversity.
January 14, 2021
Stunning and important.
August 15, 2020
This is a story about Grace Talusan, a writer who has written a memoir about her journey from the Philippines as a child to her growing up in New England. Along the way she delves into her years of sex abuse by her grandfather, and the cancer deaths of numerous family members. She also gets the devastating news that she carries the BRCA cancer gene, leading to hard decisions.
As a child she and her family face possible deportation, although at that time Reagan’s policies did not force a return to The Philippines as they sought the path to citizenship.
Talusan deals with honesty about family guilt and credits Oprah and other daytime talk shows for alleviating “the stigma of being a survivor of sexual assault.” I found it interesting that when she and her husband, an African American, travel to the Manila, he wishes to stay because the burden of racism and living as a Black man in America has lifted.
Well done.
As a child she and her family face possible deportation, although at that time Reagan’s policies did not force a return to The Philippines as they sought the path to citizenship.
Talusan deals with honesty about family guilt and credits Oprah and other daytime talk shows for alleviating “the stigma of being a survivor of sexual assault.” I found it interesting that when she and her husband, an African American, travel to the Manila, he wishes to stay because the burden of racism and living as a Black man in America has lifted.
Well done.
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