“Counting Bones is a book about grief told not obliquely, but head-on. With truth steady at her side and earth-anchored clarity, Anderson Penno masters the fine line between self-pity and self-glorification as she traces grief's path: the initial strike of near annihilating power, then its expansion to permeate all aspects of one's life before it begins to slowly, not lessen, but to shapeshift, transforming both itself and the writer. But Counting Bones is also a good story, a coming-of-age chronicle that will hold its readers as they marvel over the courage and resilience of an indefatigable, multi-gifted young woman.”
— Sharon Butala, award winning author of Leaving Wisdom and Where I Live Now

“Counting Bones begins as a tale of a college romance rich with hiking, mountain climbing, skiing and the special sensation that comes from finding a soulmate for the first time but shifts into a complex tale of grief as a life-long visitor. The author loses her beloved to an avalanche on Mt. Baker in Washington just as she’s finishing college and starting medical school. Her memoir reads like a symphony—an “Ode to Grief” instead of joy, but just as nuanced and beautiful. “Ian and Ian’s death are like two different people,” she reflects, as the reader follows her through her complex reaction to the sudden trauma even as she faces the medical training required to handle trauma in others. If you loved Joan Didion’s Year of Magical Thinking, buy this book.”
— Mary Collins, author of At the Broken Places: A Mother and Trans Son Pick Up the Pieces (Beacon Press)

“Ellen Anderson Penno’s memoir is an anatomy of precision and procedural beauty. Counting Bones takes the reader on a sure and steady climb, unexpected descent into loss, and through an ill-timed academic crucible. Anderson Penno pairs the rhythm and language of rock climbing with the nomenclative framework of Gray’s Anatomy. In an introspective writing style that juxtaposes the creative with memoir Anderson Penno manages, in unexpected moments, to belay time, depart from the quantitative, and bring to light poetic concerns of the broken hearted.”
— Darcy Tamayose, award winning author of Ezra’s Ghosts

“A piercing and original read that enfolds the reader with touches of humour and pathos ... [i]n her first book, Penno shows that revisiting memories of a lost love can be more intimately rewarding than one might ever imagine.”
— Elaine Morin, Alberta Views (full review)