Reviews with content warning for Blood - Pageboy

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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hmetwade's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

2.75

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av0universe's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense

3.5

Honestly, how do you rate a non-fiction book? Especially one that it's a memoir, like it's someone else's life ? (anyway I'll think about it and maybe come back to rate it-or maybe not)

So, this book is my first non-fiction ever. It's was a wild ride and it was amazing, difficult to read but so full of emotion and lessons. As a non-binary young person, reading about Elliot's long journey to acceopt themselves reminded myself how lucky I am to be in a safe space to come out and how lucky I am to have figured it out so early in my life.

As I said, this book is difficult to read/listen. I felt so seen but so fucking enraged and sad at the same time, no one deserves to go through what Elliot went through on his childhood on top of the constant feeling of not belonging as the person other people suppose you are.

Please, check trigger warnings if you're inclined to read this, it touches some topics in depth.

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emmajh91's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

4.0

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snootle's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.0

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cghegan's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.25

In this incredibly thoughtful and well-written memoir, Elliot Page deliberately meditates and threads together a narrative of pain and the most intense self-discovery. It was a good memoir, a beautifully crafted book, but extremely difficult to read. Page has rendered his agony and self-loathing so well that it’s difficult to sit with and parse with him as he cycles through nonchronological threads, looping over and over through small moments in time to piece together meaning. It is well crafted, a quilt in twenty nine shades of blues, but it is wave after wave of agony and sadness, and moments that linger on joy or relief or self discovery have less focus and the same breath of life that Page can write into his moments of darkness and loss. All this to say: I’m beyond grateful this narrative exists. It is going to save someone’s life. But I advise exercising care when reading.

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larzhagen's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.5

Let me preface my review by saying that I am so incredibly happy for Elliot Page for finding joy in his authentic self.

As a long-time fan of Page, I was eager to read PageBoy (I pre-ordered a signed copy). We need more transmasculine stories! That's why it hurts to share that I didn't enjoy PageBoy very much.

Reason 1: Rather than following a linear narrative, Page recounts moments in his life seemingly at random. So, then, his timeline is incredibly challenging to piece together. It's difficult to keep track of his relationships, living situations, etc.

Reason 2: PageBoy is heavily solemn with no breaks (aside from maybe ch.Buckets). It reads like a catalog of Page's hardships, sometimes diving into graphic depictions of assault/violent situations. Page loves to write about shit and blood.

Reason 3: PageBoy centered predominantly around Page's romantic relationships and sexual experiences. I may be off base, but it seems Page is still attempting to unhealthily gauge/validate his masculinity by retelling these situations.

Now the positive: I'd say PageBoy succeeds as an art piece. Elliot includes many excerpts from speeches, books, songs, movies throughout his nonlinear structure. PageBoy is a wonderful collage-esque expression of self-healing and reflection.

Ultimately, PageBoy is a testament of trans courage. While it didn't align with my expectations, I still feel incredibly fortunate to have a signed copy, and I did resonate with it quite a bit. In the end though, I will be reserved when recommending it to others.

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