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A review by jennp28
Pageboy by Elliot Page
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
“Let me just exist with you, happier than ever.”
This memoir is an incredibly intimate look into Elliot’s journey. It’s raw and sometimes hard to read in its depictions of dysphoria and self doubt and transphobia. But it’s an incredibly important story to be put in the world. And the moments of queer joy and gender euphoria that shine through are incredible too.
I read this book slowly, a few short chapters at a time, so that it did not become too much all at once. The chapters are bite sized and more or less self contained so you can pick it up and put it down like that without really losing anything of the narrative. It’s not a chronological story so much as snapshots that come together to show his journey overall.
Interwoven with this story are a lot of behind-the-scenes Hollywood anecdotes (most of them not as shiny as one would assume) showing how much of their tru self a famous person is hiding at any given time.
And of course, Nova Scotia and Halifax shine through as characters in their own right. I’d love to know what readers unfamiliar with the area think of those detailed passages describing the area but as someone who knows everywhere he references, it adds one more layer of connection to the story. And my beloved moon mist ice cream even gets a shout out.
Long story short: read this book.
This memoir is an incredibly intimate look into Elliot’s journey. It’s raw and sometimes hard to read in its depictions of dysphoria and self doubt and transphobia. But it’s an incredibly important story to be put in the world. And the moments of queer joy and gender euphoria that shine through are incredible too.
I read this book slowly, a few short chapters at a time, so that it did not become too much all at once. The chapters are bite sized and more or less self contained so you can pick it up and put it down like that without really losing anything of the narrative. It’s not a chronological story so much as snapshots that come together to show his journey overall.
Interwoven with this story are a lot of behind-the-scenes Hollywood anecdotes (most of them not as shiny as one would assume) showing how much of their tru self a famous person is hiding at any given time.
And of course, Nova Scotia and Halifax shine through as characters in their own right. I’d love to know what readers unfamiliar with the area think of those detailed passages describing the area but as someone who knows everywhere he references, it adds one more layer of connection to the story. And my beloved moon mist ice cream even gets a shout out.
Long story short: read this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dysphoria
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Medical content
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm