Reviews with content warning for Body shaming - Pageboy

Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Pageboy by Elliot Page

108 reviews

hmetwade's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

2.75

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bookcheshirecat's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

3.5

“I am evolved as I freed myself from the expectations of others. These memories shape a nonlinear narrative, because queerness is intrinsically nonlinear, journeys that bend and wind. Two steps forward, one step back.”

➽ I liked Elliot Page since I saw him in The Umbrella Academy and was super excited about his memoir! It delves into his struggles with his sexuality, gender and his complex family dynamics. The book was hard to read at times, as Page discusses the homophobia and harassment he encountered throughout his life and career. It's told in a nonlinear narrative that jumps between different phases of his life ... sadly this didn't work for me. Nonlinear storytelling can work, but I don't think it was well-executed here. I was mostly confused as we jumped randomly between different times in Page's life, so it was difficult to keep track of things. As much as I like him as an actor and advocate, the writing left a lot to be desired. I was missing some more introspection, as the memoir didn't delve as deep as it could have!

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kate_ka's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

Sehr intimes Buch.
Der Schreibstil ist ziemlich nah am der Art, wie er spricht. Das find ich schön. Macht das Lesen zu einem persönlichen Gespräch. An einigen Stellen musste ich das Buch weglegen, weil seine Erlebnisse so schmerzhaft sind.
Man merkt auch, dass er sich mit queerer Theorie und Aktivismus beschäftigt hat.

Die Zeitsprünge sind tatsächlich verwirrend. Dazu die ganzen Namen. Im Interview hatte er gesagt, er wollte seine Geschichte nicht chronologisch erzählen, sondern entlang der Reise, des sich selbst Näherkommens und Entfernen. Ich finde das ist gelungen. Die letzten Seiten habe ich mit einem Lächeln gelesen.

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thereadingchallengechallenge's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective tense slow-paced

3.0

This was a brutal read and not just in the ways I was expecting. I was prepared for Elliot Page to talk about the queerphobia and misogyny that he experienced growing up and going through Hollywood. But I wasn't ready for the brutal mistreatment he faced almost everywhere he turned. He doesn't pull punches as he describes it, or the mental health struggles that he experienced as a result. It was hard to read.

I also struggled a lot with the structure of the memoir. I found it hard to figure out what events happened in what order, where Page was at emotionally. And the tangents into aspects of local history weren't always especially interesting. But Page does write with a simple, straight-forward voice that makes wading through this emotional book a little easier. Even though the subject matter is sometimes hard to swallow, the writing never is.

If you've ever been interested in Elliot Page's career or his journey as a queer person, you'll find something to enjoy here, just please heed the content warnings because light reading this is not.

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cghegan's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.25

In this incredibly thoughtful and well-written memoir, Elliot Page deliberately meditates and threads together a narrative of pain and the most intense self-discovery. It was a good memoir, a beautifully crafted book, but extremely difficult to read. Page has rendered his agony and self-loathing so well that it’s difficult to sit with and parse with him as he cycles through nonchronological threads, looping over and over through small moments in time to piece together meaning. It is well crafted, a quilt in twenty nine shades of blues, but it is wave after wave of agony and sadness, and moments that linger on joy or relief or self discovery have less focus and the same breath of life that Page can write into his moments of darkness and loss. All this to say: I’m beyond grateful this narrative exists. It is going to save someone’s life. But I advise exercising care when reading.

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tiudragonfly's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

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erica_reads_things's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

A beautifully written account of Page's intensely personal story and path to living as his true self. It took me a little while to get into his writing style, but once it was familiar to me I could not get enough of this book. Highly recommend listening, as Page narrates it himself and I always love to hear memoirs from the person's own voice. So well done.

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