Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

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

6 reviews

cozy_academic's review

dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Addiction, Homophobia, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Cursing, and Pedophilia

_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

johannab's review

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Terminal illness, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Bullying, Drug use, Grief, and Homophobia

allisonwonderlandreads's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.0

JVN explained that one of his reasons for writing this book was to show more sides of himself to the world than we see on Queer Eye. I think he definitely met his goal. The stories he shares aren't the peppy go-getter side of himself we are most familiar with (although that still shines through in his sense of humor and enthusiasm about gymnastics and figure skating). He tells of his struggles growing up gay in the Midwest, dealing with childhood trauma, drug use, other self-destructive behaviors, and testing positive for HIV. He also recounts his professional triumphs, talks about the relationships that mean the most to him, and offers random but enthusiastic commentary on a variety of topics. Through it all, he preaches self-love and looking for people and situations that lift you up the way you deserve.

 

I listened to this book as an audiobook, which I highly recommend. Hearing his story in his actual voice made everything feel more personal and vivacious. You can look forward to his Moira Rose impersonation towards the end. What I most appreciated about this book was the way JVN spoke about how he wanted his experiences to make others feel seen, to show people there is hope for their dreams, and to correct harmful misinformation, particularly on the topic of HIV. You could hear his passion for every topic he covered and every loved one in his life. It was a joy to get to know him better even when certain parts of his story were anything but joyful.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Terminal illness

sheryl_macca's review

emotional reflective fast-paced

3.0

JVN takes us from childhood to Queer Eye S1 in this book with a heavy focus on their twenties. Overall Over The Top is a reflective, interesting and fun read with every JVN-ism you'd expect but in this part of JVN's life they are not the same person who we see on our TV.

Over The Top is, like most celebrity memoirs, not the most well written and very chatty in style  but the depth of insight we are given more than makes up for it.

There are sections of the book which are really dark and challenging but JVN goes there without any drama and without their guard up. They are honest, frank and unapologetic. There are lessons to learn and ways to grow from these experiences, JVN doesn't dwell or ask for sympathy. They are simply sharing for the benefit of anyone who needs to hear it and that's a beautiful thing.

The thing I will take away from Over The Top?
We are all made up of many and different parts and we have to accept all of them to be able to love ourselves or another person. Oh and anything can be turned into a figure skating metaphor!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Dementia, Pedophilia, and Sexual content

rosalind's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Medical trauma, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, Grief, Sexual content, Medical content, and Fatphobia

Minor: Body shaming, Terminal illness, and Suicidal thoughts