Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

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

14 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

minaegg's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful sad fast-paced

4.75

Very vulnerable and heavy read with difficult subject matter. The book is still beautiful and uplifting, with some lovely humor. Jonathan shows that despite experiencing trauma and adversity, we all have the capacity to heal and thrive. Ultimately his story is about learning to love yourself and to forgive yourself, to care for yourself, to know that you matter, always. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Medical content, Homophobia, Mental illness, Blood, Eating disorder, Cursing, Fatphobia, and Grief

Moderate: Drug use, Addiction, Child abuse, and Terminal illness

emmehooks's review

emotional funny inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.75

A beautiful and honest memoir about JVN, largely before fame. Their journey through abuse, substance use, homophobia, and the continuing impacts of trauma was well written and narrated, didn’t shy away from the hard times, and was supplemented by things they learned from professionals. 

Jonathan’s personality and sense of humor is easy to love but I greatly appreciated the way they those to use their platform to also advocate for trauma care, recovery, destigmatizing HIV/AIDS, and learning to accept, love, and prioritize yourself even when it’s hard. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Misogyny, Homophobia, Addiction, Grief, Cancer, Death of parent, Rape, Mental illness, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Bullying, and Terminal illness

Minor: Medical content and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

stefhany's review

emotional funny informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Sexual assault, Cancer, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug use, Infidelity, Homophobia, and Drug abuse

kathrynhoss's review

3.75

This should only be consumed in audiobook form. I started reading a copy from the library and decided to wait for the audiobook to become available on Libby instead, because I knew the tangents would be far less annoying in classic JVN Voice (tm). 

They were. Many celebrities think people will want to read a memoir about their privileged lives, but JVN has actually gone through some stuff. His vulnerability and advocacy should be applauded. However, I was waiting for his sad story to be wrapped up in some kind of inspiring message at the end. What did he learn? Did he have some kind of epiphany that changed how he saw himself? Or is he still struggling with compulsivity, but that's okay, because everyone is a work in progress? Instead, the book goes straight from him learning he's HIV positive and dealing with that to getting a spot on Queer Eye and being suddenly famous, as if fame and success can fix everything (and we all know it can't.) Now JVN has new problems, like people wanting to take pictures with him and expecting him to be the most bubbly version of himself at all times, but what about the old problems? As he quotes earlier in the book, "Wherever you go, there you are." I felt like we just needed a little baby reminder of that fact. 

His voice could also get pretty judgy of himself and others, especially around food and weight gain, which I did not appreciate. Some of us are still fat and not gymnasts, and that's fine! He also Hates the midwest and Quincy, IL, which is valid for him to feel as a feminine nonbinary person who was relentlessly bullied there. But as a smalltown Midwesterner who was also bullied for my gender nonconformity, I wish my fellow queer people would stay and make it better instead of running away to a blue state.

Anyway, I still love JVN, think he's iconic, think he's changing America for the better. Queer Eye is changing a lot of minds and his presence on the show in flowy shirts and yoga pants is DESTROYING the gender binary. I love him, acknowledge that he is an imperfect human being, wish he had maybe taken on a cowriter for this book. Still think it's worth a read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Sexual assault

Minor: Medical trauma, Medical content, and Body shaming

blainereads's review

hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.75

I would probably only recommend reading to this one as an audiobook. While it's a fairly solid memoir, JVN's personality is probably what you've come for, and certainly why you'll stay. The pacing is kind of erratic in the way it jumps around from milestone to milestone; he moves on so quickly from what feel like huge moments that you can't help but feel a little unsatisfied by the lack of reflection. I think this would be an excellent memoir if it were to be written in a few years when he has a little more time to consider how to present his story—it just feels like it was probably rushed to capitalize on the Moment, which fair enough!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Medical content, Addiction, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Self harm

kayschwe's review

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Drug use, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Terminal illness

greatexpectations77's review

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.75

An absolute treat. I love how much work that Jonathan Van Ness has put in with his mental health that he can share all of this. And the audiobook is just so good. I would jump to read anything else that he publishes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Terminal illness, Addiction, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Cancer, Death of parent, and Child abuse

Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Bullying, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Dysphoria, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Religious bigotry, Body shaming, and Animal death

Could be helpful for survivors of trauma, who have done some processing, to show that things can and will get better

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

caseythereader's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Medical content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, and Vomit