Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

Pageboy by Elliot Page

82 reviews

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

Rating: 5/5 stars

A memoir from Academy Award nominated actor Elliot Page about his life, including his career and his journey to coming out as trans.

I’ve been on a huge celebrity memoir kick lately, and this is one of the best I’ve read all year. Pageboy is raw and vulnerable and honest, and made me simultaneously so sorry for all Elliot has gone through and so glad he can now live his truth.

The narration of the audiobook was also fantastic, and delivered in a way that really added to the presentation of the story. Overall, if you’re interested in memoirs, I highly recommend this one.

CW: transphobia; homophobia; eating disorder; body horror/dysmorphia; sexual content; drug use; mentions of suicidal thoughts and self harm

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

brynalexa's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.25

Don’t skip the acknowledgments. If you’re not crying from the last two chapters you will be from those. A brutal depiction of gender dysphoria and the effect it takes on us. It was fun to identify with Elliot among his queerness but also his literature and music interests. He includes on honest statement of privilege that was sincere and right on point. It was non-linear and I’m not sure it worked. I think the pacing could have been better if it was more of a timeline, with a few flashbacks here and there. I loved hearing Elliot read it and hearing the emotion come through. I was surprised at the amount of sexual content (consensual and not) through I think it’s important for queer folks to be able to identify with the violence, confusion, and joy that are often associated with our sexual experiences. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Medical content, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Lesbophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Abandonment, Alcohol, Car accident, Homophobia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Stalking

hannahduda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Abandonment, Homophobia, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Addiction, Blood, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Dysphoria, Medical content, Misogyny, and Sexual violence

lauren_shilling's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I'm going to keep this review short, because memoirs are hard to rate and review. It is a person telling their own story how they feel is best, and that is very hard to critique. I will mostly leave my review at saying that this book is incredibly well written, and there were so many quotes that I was underlining and marking. I also really loved a lot of the stylistic choices he made, including the non-linear timeline. He says in the beginning that he chose to structure it in this way because he felt like the process getting to where he is today, including his transition, wasn't entirely linear, and I really respect that choice, and I think it works really well. I absolutely loved this book, and I would highly highly recommend it!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Self harm, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Stalking

Minor: Alcohol and Pandemic/Epidemic

theverycraftyvegan's review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

“It’s not trans people who suffer from a sickness, but the society that fosters such hate.” - Elliot Page

A wonderfully hopeful yet sometimes heartbreaking book about life as a trans person as told by a trans person. And not just any person but a celebrity. Because of this book I now know how horrible things were for Elliot before he came out, when he first came out, and when he came out again.

The chapters where he reflects on his parents, their reactions, and how they treated him broke me into a million pieces. I love my children and always will; no matter who they are or grow up to be. 

Elliot describing what it felt like to finally be able to be his true self and feel comfortable in his skin was so powerful. I’m glad the world has him and this memoir. 

Though will say, speaking as a Canadian myself, Elliot talks about ketchup chips a lot. I’m surprised he didn’t bring up Tim Hortons more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Bullying, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Lesbophobia, Dysphoria, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, Alcohol, Body horror, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Self harm, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Stalking, Infidelity, and Drug use

annaofjesup's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Dysphoria, and Homophobia

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Deadnaming, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Transphobia, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Rape, Vomit, Medical content, Mental illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic

pearlisarobot's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Hate crime, Abandonment, Bullying, Stalking, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Lesbophobia, Dysphoria, and Cursing

Moderate: Alcohol and Drug use

Minor: Pedophilia

thriftstoreclown's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Murder, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Rape, Self harm, Stalking, and Torture

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Deadnaming, Pregnancy, Vomit, and Excrement

Some of these subjects are kind of par for the course when contextualized with what we know about Elliot publicly already (as a public figure who came out as a lesbian in 2014 before eventually coming out as trans) such as lesbophobia, transphobia, religious bigotry, mentions of (potential) hate crimes. But Elliot’s story is also full of history not only around the Canadian landscape of his youth, but also of characters that he has played, and he does not shy away from sharing all of the gory details of

a local explosion that devastated Nova Scotia, or even the way that one of his film characters was murdered.

, which are mentioned in great detail. There are also several instances mentioned in detail where Elliot describes being

sexually assaulted

, and he also describes other instances of verbal abuse, often closely linked.

raptorq's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Transphobia, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Body shaming, Sexism, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Sexual content, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Religious bigotry

fluffyfox's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, Body shaming, Sexism, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Biphobia, Bullying, Homophobia, Outing, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Drug use, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Rape