Elliot Page gave us a gift by sharing this memoir about his life and his struggle to come to terms with who he is. The story chronicles aspects of his career but mostly focuses on his struggles with his own body and his understanding of himself. I’ve seen many of Page’s films and I’ve watched some of Umbrella Academy; I would say I’m a fan, but I don’t really know very much about him apart from knowing that he is trans.

The prose of this memoir was conversational and personal. The story is sometimes painful; make sure you have tissues around if you’re someone who is prone to tears. But it is also uplifting and funny in places. I’m not really a memoir reader, but I’m glad I read this. Seeing someone else be apologetically themselves and hearing about how hard it was to do something that seems so basic is a real balm in the world where we often only see outcomes and never see struggles. When you’re going through something hard or you’re working through something, it can sometimes feel that the work of digging through the muck isn’t worth it. The stories in this memoir are a reminder that it is worth it to understand and make peace with things. I am immensely glad that I read it.

This is another book that I got from my local library.