Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Pageboy by Elliot Page

16 reviews

daisymoffit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

Extremely well written, Elliot has a talent when it comes to describing things that feel wordless. A brave telling of a tumultuous life

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

imscrem's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

2.5

I appreciate that Elliot Page took the time to write down his story. I listened to the audiobook, and found it difficult at times to understand what time period in his life he was writing from due to the somewhat jumpy narrative.  I didn’t enjoy hearing about his sexual escapades or the many, many times he was sexually abused, but I have to acknowledge that these are true parts of his story and the book would not have been complete without them. It was uncomfortable to hear about who licked what while I rode the subway. Overall, I this book definitely wasn’t what I expected — I thought it would be a more uplifting take on the trans experience, but came out thinking it’s more of a dismal array of all the ways that people can be horrific to someone for being different. I wish the world was kinder. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Stalking, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Deadnaming, Death, Physical abuse, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit, Car accident, and Pandemic/Epidemic

thistle_rose's review against another edition

emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

An interesting look into Elliot Page's life with a writing style that jumps between times to connect themes, occasionally in a way that seems incoherent. 
Read if you want to know Elliot's story and his transition, not if you want an exploration of transness.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, and Transphobia

azaline's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexism, Excrement, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Outing, and Gaslighting

dafni's review against another edition

inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

2.75

I hold a lot of admiration for Elliot Page and I was really looking forward to reading this book. Maybe my expectations were surprisingly high, but I thought this would be a brilliant book. Until it wasn’t. 

Elliot has shared in his interview that transness is not linear, and this conceptualisation formed the basis for presenting his story in a non-chronological order. I respect that, but it did not work for me at all. I found the writing to be all over the place, jumping around and going back and forth to the point that was extremely confusing and unpleasant. Elliot was not just jumping between past and present, but even between past and past or present and present, so there was absolutely no coherence in the writing. He did not contextualise the lived experience at the beginning of each chapter and as a reader I found myself often halfway through a chapter to understand we are back at his teenage years or a different point in time. 

I appreciate the pain of identity concealment, parental rejection, homophobia and transphobia. This memoir acts as an account of Elliot’s pain and struggles, but only scratched the surface. I felt Elliot did not dive deep into the felt experience and lacked reflections of his own privileges in this battle. 

The narration of the audio book was colourless and with no expression in his voice, which made the experience of listening difficult and disengaging. 

Should you read the book? Unsure.
Would I recommend it? Unsure too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Transphobia

Moderate: Eating disorder and Dysphoria

Minor: Drug abuse

vixenreader's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.25

A structure based on the journey towards self-love, this memoir is deeply poignant, unflinching, and vulnerable, and a honest experience about how wilful ignorance and prejudice ultimately perpetrates the bigotry experienced by the trans community. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Be aware that there are themes of parental neglect, rejecting a trans child, bi-erasure, putting actors in harm’s way, the influence of the internet, tension within unhealthy relationships, unhealthy polyamory, heartbreak, threats towards trans and queer folks, nudity in film, erasure of queer identity, and being forced back into the closet.

alexayres47's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Transphobia

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Self harm, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Vomit, and Religious bigotry

clarelou07's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

• The chapters feel like short stories, scattered throughout Elliot's life
• There is a lot about sex and relationships (which makes sense given Page's coming out as gay paving the way to be himself). However, there are some sex scenes from their younger years which read as sexual abuse. Beware if this is a trigger.
• As a Southern queer nonbinary person, Elliot's reflection on sexuality and gender was refreshing to read. I wish the world were kinder to exploration like this, and I'm happy Page exists publicly to share his story.
• While wanting to love this, the book was okay for me. I'm generally not a memoir person, but wanted to give this a shot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Dysphoria, and Pandemic/Epidemic

starwitness's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Body shaming, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Car accident, and Death of parent

carriepond's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.25

Pageboy is the memoir of actor Elliot Page. Although it is a celebrity memoir in the sense that it recounts some of his experiences working as an actor, including relationships with fellow actors and all manner of abuse from fellow actors or directors, it is not a sensationalist or "tell-all" type of account. Rather, the touchstone of Page's memoir is the toll that remaining closeted about his sexuality and gender identity had on all aspects of his life, making it difficult to forge meaningful relationships or to ever truly relax within himself, and taking him to some dark places-- self-harm, disordered eating, suicidal ideation.

This book has a lot of really gut-wrenching, sad moments and others that will piss you off. But there are also so many beautiful moments where Page describes being held up by those who loved and supported him over the years and the feeling of ease, euphoria, and completeness that emerged once he stepped into his truth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Stalking, Lesbophobia, Outing, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

Minor: Deadnaming