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e11en's review
3.75
Graphic: Sexual content, Car accident, Stalking, Transphobia, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Body horror, Eating disorder, Adult/minor relationship, Deadnaming, and Pedophilia
elijah__'s review against another edition
3.5
It's hard not to compare this book to I'm Glad My Mom Died, which is written in a similar voice, is another memoir by an actor, and shares several themes and topics -- and, frankly, McCurdy is simply the better writer. When Page jumps back and forth between periods of his life, it doesn't feel intentional or logical; while stories need not be presented in chronological order to be understood, the jumps are constant and confusing in Pageboy, as Page often leaves little to no indication that the setting has changed. While two editors are credited, I felt that the novel could've been combed over and cleaned up a bit more thoroughly. It feels like a friend telling you a convoluted, twisting story -- with all the errors and confusions that entails -- but with flowery language and metaphor thrown in, often without an apparent benefit to the prose.
That being said, I think the bones of a good memoir are present; Page has lived an interesting life and has interesting things to say about the film industry, love, and queerness, even if I don't think these things are expressed as well as they could be.
Graphic: Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Car accident, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Rape, Bullying, Transphobia, Sexual assault, Self harm, and Misogyny
tigger89's review against another edition
4.5
As far as the queer memoir side of things go, this was a satisfying, illuminating read. Obviously Page's experience isn't everybody's experience. He admits that he's privileged in many ways, but he isn't ashamed — nor should he be — in recounting his lived experiences. I was particularly interested in his depiction of life as a closeted queer person, secretly dating women while working in the film industry, as well as how his childhood experiences shaped how he interacted with the world as an adult. I would caution readers that there are many passages — particular pertaining to sexual assault and gender dysphoria — that read as incompletely-processed trauma. There's not a lot of shielding on the emotions. Page provides content warnings at the front of the book, so please, take them seriously.
For the celebrity side of things, I don't really feel qualified to judge. I primarily know Page from his activism, and also I watched Juno. So mostly I was interested in how the celebrity stuff interacted with the queer stuff, and all the names just washed over me. The experience worked for me, but I can also understand someone who might want more anchoring being frustrated at the lack of explanation of who most of these people were. And of course there was the obligatory discretion, where "a member of crew" or "an acquaintance" did horrible things. I have no idea who those people were. In a way, the facelessness works. They could be anybody and we wouldn't know, which is the reality, since we know the list of people who have faced consequences for their behavior is woefully limited.
I personally loved the nonlinear format. The chapters are each gathered around a theme, concept, or state of mind, though it's not always obvious when you start off. Sometimes I had to flip back through, looking at the chapter title, before I spotted the connection and understood why the things were arranged the way they were. Another thing that will bother some people is Page's writing style. He frequently emphasizes or describes by stringing together several short sentence fragments. Distinct, painting a picture, individually striking. While Page is guilty of blatant comma abuse, I actually liked it. But I completely understand why it made some readers' skin crawl.
Important question time: do the dogs die?
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Child abuse, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Transphobia
Moderate: Car accident, Alcohol, Cancer, and Outing
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, and Animal death
chris_reads's review against another edition
Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Dysphoria, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Stalking
Moderate: Sexual content, Car accident, Pedophilia, Blood, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Rape
Minor: Excrement, Transphobia, Bullying, Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug use, and Religious bigotry
julesadventurezone's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Medical content, Self harm, Sexual content, Bullying, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Religious bigotry, Violence, Vomit, Dysphoria, Hate crime, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Excrement, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Child abuse, Drug use, and Mental illness
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Bullying, Misogyny, and Sexism
Minor: Car accident, Lesbophobia, Murder, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Classism, Torture, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Cancer, Child death, Drug abuse, War, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
hullomoon's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Transphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, Dysphoria, and Self harm
Minor: Drug use, Alcohol, Car accident, and Eating disorder
honeybeewitched87's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Stalking, Homophobia, Medical content, Body shaming, Dysphoria, Biphobia, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Transphobia
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Body shaming, Alcohol, Blood, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Cursing, Deadnaming, and Gaslighting
laketwentytwo's review
4.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Self harm, Transphobia, Hate crime, and Homophobia
Moderate: Medical content, Deadnaming, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, and Stalking
Minor: Car accident and Excrement
jessthanthree's review
4.0
Graphic: Self harm, Child abuse, Stalking, Transphobia, Eating disorder, Sexism, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Bullying, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Deadnaming, Blood, Vomit, and Excrement
Minor: Colonisation, Car accident, Alcohol, Gore, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
chasingpages1's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Body shaming, Medical content, Misogyny, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Adult/minor relationship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Religious bigotry, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Hate crime, Child abuse, and Fatphobia
Minor: Drug use, Death, Alcohol, Cancer, Car accident, Outing, Vomit, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcoholism, Cursing, Deadnaming, and Drug abuse