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starwitness's review against another edition
4.0
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
e11en's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Deadnaming, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Transphobia, Stalking, Car accident, and Lesbophobia
elijah__'s review against another edition
3.5
It's hard not to compare this book to I'm Glad My Mom Died, which is written in a similar voice, is another memoir by an actor, and shares several themes and topics -- and, frankly, McCurdy is simply the better writer. When Page jumps back and forth between periods of his life, it doesn't feel intentional or logical; while stories need not be presented in chronological order to be understood, the jumps are constant and confusing in Pageboy, as Page often leaves little to no indication that the setting has changed. While two editors are credited, I felt that the novel could've been combed over and cleaned up a bit more thoroughly. It feels like a friend telling you a convoluted, twisting story -- with all the errors and confusions that entails -- but with flowery language and metaphor thrown in, often without an apparent benefit to the prose.
That being said, I think the bones of a good memoir are present; Page has lived an interesting life and has interesting things to say about the film industry, love, and queerness, even if I don't think these things are expressed as well as they could be.
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Lesbophobia, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Car accident, and Sexual harassment
tigger89's review against another edition
4.5
As far as the queer memoir side of things go, this was a satisfying, illuminating read. Obviously Page's experience isn't everybody's experience. He admits that he's privileged in many ways, but he isn't ashamed — nor should he be — in recounting his lived experiences. I was particularly interested in his depiction of life as a closeted queer person, secretly dating women while working in the film industry, as well as how his childhood experiences shaped how he interacted with the world as an adult. I would caution readers that there are many passages — particular pertaining to sexual assault and gender dysphoria — that read as incompletely-processed trauma. There's not a lot of shielding on the emotions. Page provides content warnings at the front of the book, so please, take them seriously.
For the celebrity side of things, I don't really feel qualified to judge. I primarily know Page from his activism, and also I watched Juno. So mostly I was interested in how the celebrity stuff interacted with the queer stuff, and all the names just washed over me. The experience worked for me, but I can also understand someone who might want more anchoring being frustrated at the lack of explanation of who most of these people were. And of course there was the obligatory discretion, where "a member of crew" or "an acquaintance" did horrible things. I have no idea who those people were. In a way, the facelessness works. They could be anybody and we wouldn't know, which is the reality, since we know the list of people who have faced consequences for their behavior is woefully limited.
I personally loved the nonlinear format. The chapters are each gathered around a theme, concept, or state of mind, though it's not always obvious when you start off. Sometimes I had to flip back through, looking at the chapter title, before I spotted the connection and understood why the things were arranged the way they were. Another thing that will bother some people is Page's writing style. He frequently emphasizes or describes by stringing together several short sentence fragments. Distinct, painting a picture, individually striking. While Page is guilty of blatant comma abuse, I actually liked it. But I completely understand why it made some readers' skin crawl.
Important question time: do the dogs die?
Graphic: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Stalking, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, Outing, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic
chris_reads's review against another edition
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Blood, and Car accident
Minor: Bullying, Drug use, Transphobia, Excrement, Religious bigotry, and Pandemic/Epidemic
julesadventurezone's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Sexism
Minor: Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Torture, Xenophobia, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Classism
hullomoon's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Stalking, and Dysphoria
Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Car accident, and Alcohol
honeybeewitched87's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Biphobia, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Transphobia, Medical content, Stalking, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cursing, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
laketwentytwo's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Homophobia, Self harm, and Transphobia
Moderate: Bullying, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Stalking, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Excrement and Car accident
jessthanthree's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Medical content, Stalking, Lesbophobia, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Deadnaming, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Gore, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Colonisation