Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love by Jonathan Van Ness

8 reviews

tieflingmom's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Cancer, Rape, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Addiction, Homophobia, Death, Fatphobia, Medical trauma, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Child abuse, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Animal death, Biphobia, Dementia, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, and Self harm

pacifickat's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

I'm not sure I could have read a memoir about someone with more different life experiences to my own, but here's to a year of reading broadly! 

The audiobook absolutely made this book work for me as a reader. There were so many jokes and moments that relied on anticipating the correct voice intonation in order to completely land, and it was fun hearing JVN's humor come through in the audio narration. Plus, I would have hopelessly butchered all the Russian pseudonyms in my head.

Lots of trigger warnings could be applied to this book (childhood trauma, sexual content, drug use, self harm, bullying, etc.), but I have rarely heard more accurate or compelling descriptions of addictive behaviors and the self-destructive-yet-all-consuming mental state behind them than here. This felt like an extremely honest and open account of the author's most formative life experiences, and I can't help but admire that. 

I also really appreciated learning a bit about AIDS/HIV stigma, treatments, and current positive prognoses when caught early and managed carefully. This kind of information is truly a public service to get out there in the open.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Bullying, Chronic illness, Self harm, Addiction, Death of parent, Drug use, Cancer, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Dementia, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Death, Sexual assault, and Alcohol

Minor: Eating disorder and Fatphobia

bebidocrimes's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring fast-paced

This captures Jonathan's voice so so well, it feels like we were just chatting at a coffee shop. I have been told time and time again, directly or indirectly, that I am too loud, I'm too much, I won't stop rambling on and on when I'm excited about something. It just feels so good to be reminded that I can find people who will love me for all that I am. Looking forward to getting my hands on his next book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Grief, Homophobia, Mental illness, Cursing, Death, Sexual assault, Vomit, Bullying, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

streberkatze's review

emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Homophobia, and Drug use

itstheconnorsbookclub's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative inspiring sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Self harm, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Blood, Hate crime, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

rainbowjawn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Bullying

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Sexual assault

Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Eating disorder

_inge's review

hopeful inspiring medium-paced

3.0

This feels very authentic. It’s clearly written by Jonathan, so that does mean it’s not structured as nicely or does anything special, but you can tell so much thought and effort has been put into it. Jonathan explains issues within the LGBTQ+ community because JVN feels they’re important to share, not because the publishers wanted to put them in. I’d especially recommend the audiobook, I really can’t imagine this coming across as well on paper. 

This audiobook was genuinely a hopeful one. We all mess up in life, we might not immediately achieve our goals, but if you stay true to who you are despite what others might say or do, you’ll get there in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Grief, Death, and Addiction

Moderate: Pedophilia, Self harm, Body shaming, Bullying, Kidnapping, and Vomit

alishamegan's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Death of parent, Drug use, and Homophobia

Minor: Child abuse, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts