Rating: 🤩

If you’re looking for a book to take to a silent book club, read in one sitting, all so you can cry quietly amongst strangers, and then awkwardly talk about it with the very same strangers when reading time is up: look no further than Tender Points by Amy Berkowitz. (Also yes this was my reading experience lolsob.)

In all seriousness, this book-length lyrical essay exploring the author’s experience with chronic pain, rape, and misogyny in the medical field is so goddamn beautifully-written, moving, and heartbreakingly relatable. While it was published a decade ago, it is still painfully relevant and I’d honestly recommend it to any other femme experiencing chronic pain—as well as the people who love them.

On a very personal note, this book helped me think about the chronic muscular tightness and pain I’ve experienced since childhood in a new way. While I know “the body keeps the score” and all that, I’d never considered that the origin of the pain I had even as a kid very likely stemmed from the constant fight or flight caused by childhood sexual abuse and other trauma. Which isn’t to say it’s “all in my head” or whatever, but rather that trauma changes the body and brain in very real ways.

Anyway. This book was beautiful and one of the most moving I’ve read this year. It’s absolutely worth reading.