Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Pageboy by Elliot Page

12 reviews

dafni's review against another edition

inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

2.75

I hold a lot of admiration for Elliot Page and I was really looking forward to reading this book. Maybe my expectations were surprisingly high, but I thought this would be a brilliant book. Until it wasn’t. 

Elliot has shared in his interview that transness is not linear, and this conceptualisation formed the basis for presenting his story in a non-chronological order. I respect that, but it did not work for me at all. I found the writing to be all over the place, jumping around and going back and forth to the point that was extremely confusing and unpleasant. Elliot was not just jumping between past and present, but even between past and past or present and present, so there was absolutely no coherence in the writing. He did not contextualise the lived experience at the beginning of each chapter and as a reader I found myself often halfway through a chapter to understand we are back at his teenage years or a different point in time. 

I appreciate the pain of identity concealment, parental rejection, homophobia and transphobia. This memoir acts as an account of Elliot’s pain and struggles, but only scratched the surface. I felt Elliot did not dive deep into the felt experience and lacked reflections of his own privileges in this battle. 

The narration of the audio book was colourless and with no expression in his voice, which made the experience of listening difficult and disengaging. 

Should you read the book? Unsure.
Would I recommend it? Unsure too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Homophobia

Moderate: Eating disorder and Dysphoria

Minor: Drug abuse

vixenreader's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.25

A structure based on the journey towards self-love, this memoir is deeply poignant, unflinching, and vulnerable, and a honest experience about how wilful ignorance and prejudice ultimately perpetrates the bigotry experienced by the trans community. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Lesbophobia, Dysphoria, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, and Sexism

Moderate: Death, Medical content, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Cancer, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

Minor: Self harm, Drug use, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Biphobia, Alcoholism, Violence, Blood, Classism, and Drug abuse

Be aware that there are themes of parental neglect, rejecting a trans child, bi-erasure, putting actors in harm’s way, the influence of the internet, tension within unhealthy relationships, unhealthy polyamory, heartbreak, threats towards trans and queer folks, nudity in film, erasure of queer identity, and being forced back into the closet.

alexayres47's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Eating disorder, Transphobia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Self harm, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, and Vomit

clarelou07's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

• The chapters feel like short stories, scattered throughout Elliot's life
• There is a lot about sex and relationships (which makes sense given Page's coming out as gay paving the way to be himself). However, there are some sex scenes from their younger years which read as sexual abuse. Beware if this is a trigger.
• As a Southern queer nonbinary person, Elliot's reflection on sexuality and gender was refreshing to read. I wish the world were kinder to exploration like this, and I'm happy Page exists publicly to share his story.
• While wanting to love this, the book was okay for me. I'm generally not a memoir person, but wanted to give this a shot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Car accident, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Addiction, Drug use, Medical content, Mental illness, Bullying, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Self harm, Stalking, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Dysphoria, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Suicidal thoughts

starwitness's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Drug use

carriepond's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.25

Pageboy is the memoir of actor Elliot Page. Although it is a celebrity memoir in the sense that it recounts some of his experiences working as an actor, including relationships with fellow actors and all manner of abuse from fellow actors or directors, it is not a sensationalist or "tell-all" type of account. Rather, the touchstone of Page's memoir is the toll that remaining closeted about his sexuality and gender identity had on all aspects of his life, making it difficult to forge meaningful relationships or to ever truly relax within himself, and taking him to some dark places-- self-harm, disordered eating, suicidal ideation.

This book has a lot of really gut-wrenching, sad moments and others that will piss you off. But there are also so many beautiful moments where Page describes being held up by those who loved and supported him over the years and the feeling of ease, euphoria, and completeness that emerged once he stepped into his truth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Sexual assault, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Outing, Torture, Transphobia, Eating disorder, Homophobia, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Deadnaming

julesadventurezone's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

chasingpages1's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

cryscries's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I loved his narrative voice and reading it felt very genuine. To me I liked the non linear story telling of Elliot’s life - I especially found it relatable with his relationship with his father and struggling with mental health as an adult. I would like to know a follow up about Elliot’s life post surgery but I felt that the book really summed up his queer journey pretty well from past to present. There was just a lot I never knew Elliot faced (behind the scenes of movie sets, dysphoria as an actor, and celebrity life) - really glad to have picked this up.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Dysphoria, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexism, Stalking, and Eating disorder

Minor: Drug use and Drug abuse

horizonous's review against another edition

challenging emotional fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Homophobia, Stalking, Torture, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, and Sexual content

Moderate: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Drug abuse

Minor: Racism, Cancer, and Excrement

◦ Torture = Movie Plot based on real events