A stirring and emotional memoir about trauma and repressed memory, and what happens when we recall. The content was not always easy to read, and I had to take a number of breaks and come back to this memoir.

I don't think I have the words to adequately express the way this book made me feel. Haunted? Sad yet joyful over Amy's journey? Shaken? Angry? Anxious over my own daughter's future life experiences? The answer is yes to them all. And I think Amy would probably approve, based on the nuanced and open-handed way she told her story. I felt like I was getting a front row seat to Amy's therapy sessions, but not in a voyeuristic way. Instead, her words touched a chord in me that has me curious about my own tells, the ways my past traumas play out in my own body and interactions with others. I'll be thinking about this book for a while yet.

The Tell: A Memoir is a powerful, engrossing story of childhood trauma. I recommend the audiobook narrated by the author Amy Griffin who bravely underwent therapy using psychedelic drugs to uncover repressed memories of childhood abuse. While her choice of therapy is unorthodox, the process of learning how the brain can hide and reveal memories is fascinating. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

due to personal stuff going on rn, I had to put a pause on this one. too close for comfort at the moment and while I love reviewing I also love my mental health :(
I def plan to pick it back up when I'm able & I'm so grateful to PRH, The Dial Press, Amy Griffin and NetGalley for the DRC in exchange for my honest review that <b>will</b> be coming! ...later.

From what I've heard, I'm certain I'll continue to love this when I do finish it.

A brave and courageous memoir from a survivor of abuse, The Tell offers a powerful reflection on the dangers of a society that pushes women to conform to rigid, outdated roles. While some of these traditional values are finally being questioned, they still linger far too deeply in our collective psyche.
Everyone—especially parents—needs to make a conscious effort to break the cycle of marginalizing women while simultaneously encouraging their competition to be in a relationship, find a man, or marry well. This book holds a mirror up to that contradiction with stunning clarity.
One quote was particularly poignant: “To prove my merit, I needed to be chosen by a man—someone special, someone powerful. To be wanted would confirm my value… What really mattered was that I cultivate the credentials that would make someone like me, that I become salable to the world of men who would determine my worth.” I think that resonates with every woman who has ever felt the pressure to be both desirable and impressive—on someone else's terms, often at the expense of their own desires.
I appreciated Amy Griffin’s candor and relatability, and I’m encouraged that a book on such a difficult yet common topic is gaining momentum. I can only hope it empowers more survivors to speak up and find support earlier, and helps adults better recognize the signs of predatory grooming so we can prevent abuse and protect our youth.

What a read! I couldn't put this book down.
The author certainly had such an important story to tell and, though so painful, I so admire the courage it took to write this book. It was a tough and inspiring read and I thank her for letting us know of her story and her healing.

“A moment arrives when the usefulness of a secret expires. Keeping it becomes the thing that hurts us. We have to tell. “

This heartfelt memoir takes us to the darkest place, and back again, as we meet Amy, and her “perfect life” in Amarillo, Texas, and then are told her story — horrifying with a secret which hasn’t been told in the thirty-odd years since it happened.

Written with candor, and the deepest intimacy, it would be impossible not to be touched (and appalled) by Amy’s experiences, and awed by the healing process she followed, beginning with the telling and the sharing, with the reader, and with tremendous bravery.

I read this book almost straight through, unable to contain the emotions raised (within this reader, and no doubt, even more primally for the author), including sadness, rage, terror, and eventually, a baseline of healing and acceptance. For life does go on, ultimately and regardless. Terrible things happen to many, if not all of us, and as the author shows us, we become the people we are by how we are able to respond, and carry on, growing in a direction that contains us, even when things appear unfathomable. As the reader comes to terms with her own life and priorities of focus, it feels as if we have taken a journey together, and come out in the end a little wiser, our empathy heightened, and feeling a whole lot more vigilant.

A difficult read and an inspiring one, we are all ultimately connected by our compassion to our own, and others, often indescribable pain. And sometimes, that is a reminder we all need to hold, front and center, as we find our way to each other and through the best and the worst, as they inevitably touch our lives.

A great big thank you to the author, Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

This memoir is extremely difficult but so important. It reminded me a lot of Chanel Miller's Know My Name and was that well-written, too. Amy Griffin has done such a courageous thing in writing this book, it is powerful, raw, and so emotional that I shed tears multiple times while reading it. This book is so hard to read but so important, too. I couldn't put it down.

This memoir is brutal and beautiful and a true testament to courage and strength. I read it in one sitting and will be thinking about it for a long time.

I usually shy away from memoirs because they often read like a series of life events rather than follow the arc of a story. But the structure of The Tell is brilliant.

This book really made me think about the stigma of doubt attached to abuse survivors. If someone is hit by a car, we accept that they might not remember the incident due to trauma. And if the memory returns, there's no questioning whether it happened. But when the trauma is abuse and the wounds are psychological, there's a tendency towards maybe the whole thing is made up.

Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. And thank you to Amy Griffin for having the strength to vulnerably share your story.

This was a beautifully written memoir. It was a raw and inspiring story of how Amy dealt with her trauma.

I received a ARC for an honest review. This memoir from Amy Griffin is her story of a connecting her past and present and finding healing. She shares with us that she’s always been a runner. Always busy. A perfectionist. Not in tune with how she feels or able to connect with herself or others on a deeper level. She knows there’s something bothering her but couldn’t face her trauma. She begins to face it with support. She’s able to share with others and to find more healing.
I really liked this book. I don’t really like rating memoirs because it’s so personal and every person who writes a memoir deserves 5 stars just for sharing a part of themselves. No matter how it’s written.
I gave 4 stars because while it was great there were things I struggled with. I didn’t like that it took so long to get to the content of what the book was about. It felt like I was reading her story but not sure why until when she got into the reason closer to the middle of the book, but I think it may be intentional and others may appreciate that! There’s no finality with the end. It ends well but not with the full outcome that you hope for. But this is her journey and her truth so of course we just are getting a glimpse in to say it ends perfectly is not real life. Definitely worth a read imo

Amy Griffin lived the perfect life. Well-educated, she had a successful career, married a good man who loved her unconditionally and with whom she had four children. But deep inside was a void which, to begin with, not even she recognized.
The Tell is her courageous memoir about uncovering a dark secret in her past that she had completely buried. Even though it affected every aspect of her life, she had no memory of it ever having happened. Her book recounts recovering these memories, recognising how they affected her life, and addressing them.
This book will resonate with readers on so many levels.
Firstly, Amy addresses the way women are often programmed to ‘not take up too much space’. This was particularly true of the Texas in which she grew up and where she was expected to conform to society’s expectations of women.
Amy writes about the different ways she explored to recover her suppressed memories, including traditional and psychedelic therapy, which I found fascinating.
The Tell also speaks to abuse. How abusers use their power to groom and control their victims while protecting themselves. And how child abuse robs victims of their childhoods, freedom and fulfilled lives.
Then there’s the healing aspect. Amy tells us how she eventually achieved this. It was a long process as she mulled over whether she should exact revenge, follow the legal route, forgive, or simply accept.
A fascinating read, well-written and ultimately uplifting.

When the author let down her guard and share her vulnerabilities and insecurities through her writing, we are witnessing her struggle and her healing. It’s interesting how memories can get suppressed and become inaccessible. Thank you to the author for sharing her story with us.

I don't usually read Oprah picks, but this one just felt necessary. Written from the heart with such vulnerability. Amy has the support of her amazing husband to face the demons of her past. Once she was able to talk with her children and family, she realized life could move on.

This was an amazing, but very heartbreaking read [I am grateful for the TW at the beginning; after two books in a row that would have greatly benefited from a TW note, this was very refreshing] that is very detailed, all-encompassing, and while it *DOES* have a "happy" [in however you want to see that; a full life, with job, family and peace from trauma = some sort of happy, even if its not traditional] ending, it is not the ending one hopes for, nor is it ultimately what we typically refer to as "happy" [Yep, I fully acknowledge that this is V E R Y vague - I just do not want to give too much away; I am not THAT kind of reviewer], but it is still very good, and you are left with peace and much hope.

I admire Amy so much; it takes real bravery to come forward about abuse [and the road that takes you to remembering that abuse] and I am honored that she trusted "the WORLD' [even the dumb naysayers who many I question if they even actually READ this stunning book; WHO questions someone's abuse story just because they do not like the road she took to get there? ::EYEROLL::] with her story [she is an exccellent narrator as well, I need to add here. I really recommend listening to her tell her story] and that I go to read it. It has changed my perspective on several things and has made me realize that maybe, just maybe, even though it is terrifying, it is time for me to tell.

Thank you to NetGalley, Amy Griffin, and Random House Publishing Group - Random House/The Dial Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Amy Griffin’s The Tell is a compelling memoir about a challenging topic. I enjoyed the writing pace and descriptive details. The author’s vulnerability is empowering, and I believe many women will find strength in this story.

I couldn’t put this riveting memoir down. The storytelling seamlessly weaves back and forth in time as Griffin goes from girlhood to adulthood. I felt such compassion for her, but not in a pitying way. I admired her strength, her tenacity, and her drive to pursue her own mental health. This book is hard to read—abuse is never an easy topic to read about—but she wrote with such care and tenderness. It’s tightly edited and powerfully moving. There’s no doubt this book will help so many who have gone through similar situations.

A great story but also so sad. It’s interesting to me to read about how the brain responds to trauma. And how “the body keeps the score.” I loved this quote, “Remembering was so hard, but now I understood why we did it-why it was worth remembering at all.
It wasn't so we could wallow in the pain. It was so we could more fully touch the joy.”


Review posted to Goodreads on March 26,2025

The Tell was an excellent read, highly recommend it on audio too. I appreciated the writing and her grappling with her childhood trauma. It wasn't clear cut and I appreciated that.