Reviews with content warning for Blood - Pageboy

This was a deeply moving and often heart wrenching memoir. I have a physical copy of the book, but I love listening to author's read their own memoir so I did the audiobook (also then you can hear his charming Canadian accent). I also saw Elliot Page at an author event so I knew a little about this book before going in. I think as far as celebrity memoirs go this one is really up there with some of the best, the stories are engaging and told with heart and care, they are interesting and personal, and sometimes give background information that tells you more about a moment in time- a movie, or fame, etc, that is actually interesting. Additionally, his journey is one a lot of queer and trans people can relate to and I'm really grateful this book exists for younger folks to connect to. It can be quite heavy at times, definitely check content warnings.

One thing to note about this memoir is that it is told in a non-linear way- he notes this at the beginning of the book and the reason for this - that our stories and our healing are non-linear. I understand and appreciate this stylistic choice, but I will say it was often challenging and took me out of the moment. Sometimes he would start an essay and plant you in time and place and other times you were dropped into the moment in time and sort of had to just wait to get your bearings until he revealed how old he was or what movie he was working on, sometimes I'd google when a movie came out or when his coming out speech was because I couldn't really get my bearings as to when something was happening. I think I was able to stay connected to his story as a queer and nonbinary person, and as a fan, but I can see how this would be too challenging for some folks to stay engaged, I do think it's worth continuing and listening to his story, but it's definitely a challenging style choice.

Content warnings: homophobia, transphobia, eating disorder, self harm, sexual assault, stalking, suicidal thoughts, abusive parents, childhood trauma

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laurenkimoto's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

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olivia_piepmeier's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful reflective fast-paced

4.0

As someone that has respected Page for a long time, this felt like required reading. I really enjoyed his narrative approach - stream of consciousness feels real while may be hard to track as a reader, but I don't think "tracking" is really needed with this. He's clearly a thoughtful and introspective writer. Some stuff was hard to read, as expected. As I knew little about him before this, it was interesting to get a clearer picture on why I felt some sort of connection to him. Certainly recommended for folks who enjoy his work, like memoirs, and/or LGBTQ+ stuff (though arguably everyone needs to get some sort of understanding of what folks are going through!).

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kelly_e's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.25

Title: Pageboy: A Memoir
Author: Elliot Page
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 4.25
Pub Date: June 6, 2023

T H R E E • W O R D S

Moving • Important • Fearless

📖 S Y N O P S I S

“Can I kiss you?” It was two months before the world premiere of Juno, and Elliot Page was in his first ever queer bar. The hot summer air hung heavy around him as he looked at her. And then it happened. In front of everyone. A previously unfathomable experience. Here he was on the precipice of discovering himself as a queer person, as a trans person. Getting closer to his desires, his dreams, himself, without the repression he’d carried for so long. But for Elliot, two steps forward had always come with one step back.

With Juno’s massive success, Elliot became one of the world’s most beloved actors. His dreams were coming true, but the pressure to perform suffocated him. He was forced to play the part of the glossy young starlet, a role that made his skin crawl, on and off set. The career that had been an escape out of his reality and into a world of imagination was suddenly a nightmare.

As he navigated criticism and abuse from some of the most powerful people in Hollywood, a past that snapped at his heels, and a society dead set on forcing him into a binary, Elliot often stayed silent, unsure of what to do, until enough was enough. Pageboy is the story of a life pushed to the brink. But at its core, it's a winding journey of what it means to untangle ourselves from the expectations of others is an ode to stepping into who we truly are with defiance, strength, and joy.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Pageboy was one of my most anticipated memoirs of 2023, so I was excited when I was able to score a copy on release day being first-in-line at my library. As a fellow Canadian, I've been an Elliot Page fan from his time in Juno and have been following his journey ever since.

While there have been many criticisms on the structure of this memoir, in my opinion, the writing style mirrors the journey - one step forward, two steps back. An ongoing journey. It's for this reason that the jumping around seemed intentional. I do typically prefer a linear cohesiveness, in this one I felt as though it worked as a literary tool.

He delves deep, giving the reader a full behind-the-scenes glance into the intimate details of his life - touching on sex, love, trauma and Hollywood. At times I felt it was more sexually vulgar than I'd been anticipating, but this is more a matter of personal preference than anything else.

It's obvious that Page has a love of books and I absolutely love how he details the ways in which books have helped him, and that it's his hope in penning his own story that it can help someone in their own journey. In my opinion, this is necessary reading for everyone. Page explains in his author's note, Pageboy is his story. How one person's story is one person's story, but this book will help expand a growing wealth of trans literature.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• memoir lovers
• everyone!

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"I’ve spent much of my life chipping away toward the truth, while terrified to cause a collapse."

"But the answer was in the silence, the answer would only come when I chose to listen."

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