Pageboy

A Memoir

Kindle, 268 pages

English language

Published June 6, 2023 by Flatiron Books.

ASIN:
B0B54L5MQW

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (18 reviews)

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.

“Can I kiss you?” It was two months before the world premiere of Juno, and Elliot Page was in his first ever queer bar. The hot summer air hung heavy around him as he looked at her. And then it happened. In front of everyone. A previously unfathomable experience. Here he was on the precipice of discovering himself as a queer person, as a trans person. Getting closer to his desires, his dreams, himself, without the repression he’d carried for so long. But for Elliot, two steps forward had always come with one step …

5 editions

Difficult read but very moving

4 stars

It's a very tough read/listen in places because unfortunately, Elliot Page had to deal with a lot of emotional abuse as a kid/teen and queerphobia later on. It was truly shocking to me to hear about the attitudes in Hollywood not that long ago. The book conveys the struggles and the difficult journey of trans persons really well, in an almost tangible way. In the end, I found myself cheering along when Elliot finally gets his top surgery. On a sidenote, I also learned a lot about Canada and Canadian history.

Review of 'Pageboy' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

This was a tough read but I’m finding it invaluable to read memoirs from other trans people. Elliot shares his battle with dysphoria in Hollywood and how ingrained the queerphobia and sexism is; but also the friendship and joy they have had on their journey:


> I was being told to lie and hide. It puzzled me to watch cis straight actors play queer and trans characters and be revered. Nominations, wins, people exclaiming, “How brave!”

> “Keep your personal life private, that is what I tell all my clients,” my manager would instruct me, while the same clients walked the red carpet with a spouse or came out as heterosexual in an interview. Being arm in arm walking down the street in paparazzi photos was a natural phenomenon, even encouraged for publicity. 

Review of 'Pageboy' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Highly recommended! Each chapter is a story, but the book jumps around in time. It's not a linear story because it reads like somebody telling their story; some chapters could have started with "That reminds me of the time...". While I'm non-trans myself, I remembered some similar situations in my life when I was told to shut down my authentic self so other people wouldn't be uncomfortable, so those moments in his life really connected with me.

Some of it was tough to read, and I had to take a few breaks after particularly emotionally charged chapters, but because I knew he finds himself in the end, I kept coming back. It definitely highlighted for me how fast the world is (and isn't) advancing toward inclusion and acceptance. It's emotional, and sometimes heartbreaking; but in the end, Pageboy is a triumphant story of a boy who slowly learned to love …

Review of 'Pageboy' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Raw, personal, and honest: a memoir of transition and survival by someone who has been in the public eye for most of his life but never really seen. There's no sanitized veneer to his writing, and my life is better for having read his story. I hope his life is better for having written it.

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