Book Review: The Tell: A Memoir by Amy Griffin-Memoir

Hello, dear Readers,

Below is my book review of The Tell: A Memoir by Amy Griffin

Title: The Tell: A Memoir

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Memoir

Author: Amy Griffin

Publisher: The Dial Press
Publication Date: March 11, 2025

Language: English

Hardcover: 288 pages

Meet the Author: Amy Griffin

Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • An astonishing memoir that explores how far we will go to protect ourselves and the healing made possible when we face our secrets and begin to share our stories

“A beautiful account of the journey of courage it takes to face the truth of one’s past.”—Bessel van der Kolk, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Body Keeps the Score

For decades, Amy ran. Through the dirt roads of Amarillo, Texas, where she grew up; to the campus of the University of Virginia, as a student athlete; on the streets of New York, where she built her adult life; through marriage, motherhood, and a thriving career. To outsiders, it all looked, in many ways, perfect. But Amy was running from something—a secret she was keeping not only from her family and friends, but unconsciously from herself. “You’re here, but you’re not here,” her daughter said to her one night. “Where are you, Mom?” So began Amy’s quest to solve a mystery trapped in the deep recesses of her own memory—a journey that would take her into the burgeoning field of psychedelic therapy, to the limits of the judicial system, and ultimately, home to the Texas panhandle, where her story began.

In her search for the truth, to understand and begin to recover from buried childhood trauma, Griffin interrogates the pursuit of perfectionism, control, and maintaining appearances that drives so many women, asking, when, in our path from girlhood to womanhood, did we learn to look outside ourselves for validation? What kind of freedom is possible if we accept the whole story and embrace who we really are? With hope, heart, and relentless honesty, she points a way forward for all of us, revealing the power of radical truth-telling to deepen our connections—with others and ourselves.

My Thoughts

This is one of the best memoirs I have read recently. 

I honestly was not expecting the main event to be. TW: Sexual Abuse, rape, childhood trauma. 

I was so intrigued by the start of the book and how the author runs, literally and metaphorically, and how by doing that, by putting herself through high standards of perfectionism and always wanting to do everything right, her mind, herself was able to suppress the trauma of her childhood of being sexually abused by her teacher. 

It was also interesting to learn how she was able to "recover" or remember all those memoirs through MDMA therapy and how observations made by her daughters helped her to realize and start her own healing journey. Her relationship with her family is one of the most touching elements throughout the book.

Thank you, The Dial Press and NetGalley, for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. 

Wendy