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?
Spoiler
Page owns two dogs over the course of the book. The first is alluded to as passing offscreen, and the second is still alive and well as if the end of the book.Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Child abuse, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Transphobia
Moderate: Car accident, Alcohol, Cancer, and Outing
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, and Animal death
julesadventurezone's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Medical content, Self harm, Sexual content, Bullying, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Religious bigotry, Violence, Vomit, Dysphoria, Hate crime, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Excrement, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Child abuse, Drug use, and Mental illness
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Bullying, Misogyny, and Sexism
Minor: Car accident, Lesbophobia, Murder, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Classism, Torture, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Cancer, Child death, Drug abuse, War, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis