Pageboy / Elliot Page

December 23, 2023 8:18 AM

"Full of intimate stories, from chasing down secret love affairs to battling body image and struggling with familial strife, Pageboy is a love letter to the power of being seen. With this evocative and lyrical debut, Oscar-nominated star Elliot Page captures the universal human experience of searching for ourselves and our place in this complicated world." -- MacMillan

"Page's honesty and vulnerability is striking, and watching him find happiness as he grows into his true self is inspiring." -- Library Journal

"If you listen to one celebrity memoir this year, make it this one." -- Audiofile

"Brutally honest" -- NY Times

"Eloquent and enthralling" -- Washington Post

posted by johnofjack (1 comment total)

I listened to this over the last two days. It can be a very difficult read/listen in places. That said, I really liked it.

Many spoilers/content warnings

This is not an easy read/listen, by any means--there's self-harm and relationships which from the outside seem destined for (self-?)destruction; there are many partners who have a poor understanding of (or respect for?) consent; there's verbal abuse and a general lack of support from Page's family, except for from Page's stepmother who is just consistently hostile (seriously, Linda, chill, Jesus); there are hostile photographers and crew members who are eager to enforce their notions of "proper" dress and/or behavior on relative strangers; there's a terrifying encounter with a stalker; there's a (very credible) threat of a gay bashing from an irascible pedestrian and an even more terrifying Hollywood A-lister who thinks that lesbians don't exist and who repeatedly threatens rape to "prove" it... The whole thing has an air of oppressiveness to it which is genuinely exhausting and enraging. That said, there are also moments of joy and affirmation, friends who just get it and work to help, the joy of arriving finally at who you always were, of living your truth openly...

Again, I liked it a lot, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone.
posted by johnofjack at 8:31 AM on December 23, 2023 [1 favorite]