Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Pageboy by Elliot Page

18 reviews

lspbooks's review against another edition

I read 115 pages or 42% but never became invested and didn't enjoy the pace or style. Many negative anecdotes and painful recollections including recounts of trauma/violence experience. See content warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

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

stevia333k's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

4.25

The last 3rd was good, and i say this because the first 2 thirds were violent as hell. I had to learn that he was in a lot of action movies basically in order to handle it & i also could only listen 10 minutes at a time at triple speed. 

Anyways, after a while certain parts about being trans were like oh good my transfemme self isn't alone. 

The relationships though & the shadow work kinda went over my head because I'm aromantic but the workplace accident (because of how wreckless the directors were to black & queer lives) helped connect me to the kind of stuff he meant, so I am thankful he included workplace incidents like that.

Also the memoir isn't told as chronologically, so basically if you're taking notes then I recommend trying to make a character list sort of glossary since the time dimension doesn't sort them, but some segments are like public letters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

rainbowbrarian's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Outing, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Pandemic/Epidemic

emma_b_rhodes's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Deadnaming, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dysphoria, and Pandemic/Epidemic

bumblemee's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad

I'm very glad Elliot wrote this book - he says in the beginning that he has "nothing new to say", but it doesn't have to be new to be impactful. I hope this book reaches a lot of people who need it.
I liked the writing style (read in German though), it was easy to read and felt very close to a thought process. However, sometimes it felt like too much of a thought process to me. It was hard to follow at times because the book didn't have much of a timeline. Sometimes a chapter starts with something in current day, then goes back to something that happened a few years ago, only to go back into Elliots teenage years and back again. It was a little hard for me sometimes to keep up with all the names and places and figuring out which year we were in, as well as piecing together what happened at the same time.
Other than that, I was emotionally involved and it was very interesting to have an insight into Elliots life and his long way to self acceptance. 

Must say though that you should take the content warnings into consideration and also beware that most of this book describes a person basically constantly suffering on some level. Idk, I think you have to be in the right mindset to read this, even if it ends on a hopeful note.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Stalking

Moderate: Drug use, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This was the memoir I didn’t know I needed in my life. Elliot Page’s reflections contained so much Canadian content that I haven’t seen in many books, and loved being able to recognize so many places or cultural touchstones growing up in a similar era. Memoirs are an incredible format to let people in to your lived experiences and takes a lot of courage to write and share. That is no exception in this memoir, and I appreciate the rawness, vulnerability and emotional honesty that Page expresses. I think that if you liked I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy, you’ll enjoy Page’s memoir and his reflections on the entertainment industry, challenging family dynamics, mental well-being, love, and finding and expressing one’s identity in the spotlight.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol

thriftstoreclown's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Transphobia, Stalking, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, and Outing

Minor: Deadnaming, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Some of these subjects are kind of par for the course when contextualized with what we know about Elliot publicly already (as a public figure who came out as a lesbian in 2014 before eventually coming out as trans) such as lesbophobia, transphobia, religious bigotry, mentions of (potential) hate crimes. But Elliot’s story is also full of history not only around the Canadian landscape of his youth, but also of characters that he has played, and he does not shy away from sharing all of the gory details of

a local explosion that devastated Nova Scotia, or even the way that one of his film characters was murdered.

, which are mentioned in great detail. There are also several instances mentioned in detail where Elliot describes being

sexually assaulted

, and he also describes other instances of verbal abuse, often closely linked.

kate_ka's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

Sehr intimes Buch. 
Der Schreibstil ist ziemlich nah am der Art, wie er spricht. Das find ich schön. Macht das Lesen zu einem persönlichen Gespräch. An einigen Stellen musste ich das Buch weglegen, weil seine Erlebnisse so schmerzhaft sind. 
Man merkt auch, dass er sich mit queerer Theorie und Aktivismus beschäftigt hat.

Die Zeitsprünge sind tatsächlich verwirrend. Dazu die ganzen Namen. Im Interview hatte er gesagt, er wollte seine Geschichte nicht chronologisch erzählen, sondern entlang der Reise, des sich selbst Näherkommens und Entfernen. Ich finde das ist gelungen. Die letzten Seiten habe ich mit einem Lächeln gelesen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Torture, Transphobia, Outing, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Deadnaming and Stalking

braveprincess11's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Dysphoria

Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Alcohol