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A review by hazelwood
Pageboy by Elliot Page
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.5
This was a very interesting and reflective read for me, I was surprised how open and honest Elliot was able to be with his audience, especially about very sensitive and personal moments in his life. It really felt like a friend who was telling you about his life. And I related to a lot of what he went through in regards to being transgender.
That said, I haven't read many memoirs in my life, so take this with a grain of salt: I didn't really like the way the book is written with the events all out of order. It was confusing and tended to give me metaphorical whiplash. But maybe that's just the way memoirs are. I also wish that Elliot had gone into more about his transition and his feelings about it. The whole thing felt rushed into at the end of the book, with only a few sentences about taking hormones. I get it if he wants privacy about his current life, but considering how depressing the rest of the book's events are, I feel like readers could benefit from seeing more of the light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps the memoir could have been left to simmer for a few years while Elliot got used to his "new" life, giving him more moments of trans joy to write about?
That said, I haven't read many memoirs in my life, so take this with a grain of salt: I didn't really like the way the book is written with the events all out of order. It was confusing and tended to give me metaphorical whiplash. But maybe that's just the way memoirs are. I also wish that Elliot had gone into more about his transition and his feelings about it. The whole thing felt rushed into at the end of the book, with only a few sentences about taking hormones. I get it if he wants privacy about his current life, but considering how depressing the rest of the book's events are, I feel like readers could benefit from seeing more of the light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps the memoir could have been left to simmer for a few years while Elliot got used to his "new" life, giving him more moments of trans joy to write about?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Deadnaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, Lesbophobia, Outing, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria