Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Pageboy: A Memoir

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Pageboy: A Memoir by Elliot Page

16 reviews

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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inkerly's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

4.0

3.9 ish stars

The memoir broke me. Literally. My heart would break in every chapter or my jaw would drop . Im not an Elliot Page fan but I enjoy movies he’s been in (Juno, Inception), and I like that he is one of the more relatable celebrities. Elliot has been through a lot in his 37 years of living and he was failed multiple times by the adults around him. I thought I would be reading a book about the inspiring journey of a transman coming into his identity but what I’m left with is the story of a man who is still trying to pick up the pieces of his life and resolve undue childhood trauma while breaking barriers and staying true to himself. I think the fact that Elliot’s journey is still “to be continued” makes this book raw and real, but at the same time reading it also felt like reading a sequence of disjointed events (all sad) that didn’t provide complete closure. Based on recent articles and photos of him I sense that his journey with his body dysmorphia is not completely over. I support Elliot and hope that this new chapter of his life makes him stronger and better than he can ever imagine.

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stevia333k's review against another edition

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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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matildamercury's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative reflective relaxing medium-paced

2.5

This book made me feel warm and fuzzy a lot simply because I came of age as a lesbian with Elliot’s movies and coming out. I also really liked the descriptions of Canada and, as always, the dyke drama tea.

However after completing it, I realised I really disliked it.

This memoir finished with no actual introspection, self realisation or broader contextualisation. The closest thing we got was the pitiful chapter on his top surgery. He basically talked about how amazing it was and how relieved he felt but that he felt a need to express his gratitude bc of his privilege (eg lots of trans men don’t have the money, community supports etc to access top surgery) - before ending it with a “but it’s my basic rights and I shouldn’t have to feel grateful because I deserved it” ? And that was pretty much it in the way of acknowledging broader contexts for his life. Which included things such as: anorexia, self harm, emotional abuse by a parent, having a pedophilic stalker as a teenage girl, large scale homophobia and transphobia, and the list goes on !!! I was truly expecting these struggles to be rooted by Elliot societally and acknowledge the wider traumas of growing up in a patriarchy, and maybe solidarity with other gnc/trans/gay people but no. Nothing. Really disappointing.

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