Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love by Jonathan Van Ness

31 reviews

lisettemarie's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

daphnehumming's review against another edition

funny hopeful sad medium-paced

4.0

JVN / Jack is charming and vulnerable. At times it feels so painful to watch him make mistakes, but it feels validating to hear the story of someone who didn’t always handle situations perfectly. He is very funny and the audiobook has a lot of personality. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, Death of parent, Cancer, and Addiction

Moderate: Sexual assault and Child abuse

recreated's review

dark emotional medium-paced

3.25

Read for book club. The book was fine if one is interested in learning his story, some of which was insightful.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use and Sexual content

tieflingmom's review

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Cancer, Rape, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Addiction, Homophobia, Death, Fatphobia, Medical trauma, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Child abuse, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Animal death, Biphobia, Dementia, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, and Self harm

_alicereadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

4.0

JVN was always my favourite in Queer Eye. Their bubbly personality and their ability to make anyone feel seen and loved is incredible. I didn’t know much about their backstory before going into this book. 

The challenges and hurdles and experiences that they have faced throughout their life were sometimes hard to read. I am always amazed by the way people can come through trauma like that and be such a joyous and loving person, both to themselves and others. 

I do wish I had listened to this as an audiobook as I think I would have enjoyed it even more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Addiction

Moderate: Rape, Homophobia, Death of parent, Child abuse, and Sexual content

pacifickat's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

I'm not sure I could have read a memoir about someone with more different life experiences to my own, but here's to a year of reading broadly! 

The audiobook absolutely made this book work for me as a reader. There were so many jokes and moments that relied on anticipating the correct voice intonation in order to completely land, and it was fun hearing JVN's humor come through in the audio narration. Plus, I would have hopelessly butchered all the Russian pseudonyms in my head.

Lots of trigger warnings could be applied to this book (childhood trauma, sexual content, drug use, self harm, bullying, etc.), but I have rarely heard more accurate or compelling descriptions of addictive behaviors and the self-destructive-yet-all-consuming mental state behind them than here. This felt like an extremely honest and open account of the author's most formative life experiences, and I can't help but admire that. 

I also really appreciated learning a bit about AIDS/HIV stigma, treatments, and current positive prognoses when caught early and managed carefully. This kind of information is truly a public service to get out there in the open.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Bullying, Chronic illness, Self harm, Addiction, Death of parent, Drug use, Cancer, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Dementia, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Death, Sexual assault, and Alcohol

Minor: Eating disorder and Fatphobia

mothjor's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

4.5

its the first memoir i've ever read, but its honestly so good! the whole book has the classic "jvn-tone" that everyone loves. i kinda regret not listening to the audiobook version of this just because the way it is written is very much him.
the content is also so engaging and beautiful, we get a whole new side of jvn that is not showed in other contents often, it's intimate and honest without leaving behind the brilliance and positivity of his personality

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Sexual content, Homophobia, and Bullying

asummrox's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Death of parent, Sexual content, Death, and Eating disorder

officialdani's review

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.25

I love JVN and loved this book! I respect so much him sharing his past struggles with such a mass audience, owning all parts of himself, and celebrating his wins. As he mentions the goal of writing this book, I genuinely believe it will help so many young LGBTQ+ 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Self harm, Addiction, and Cancer

Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Bullying, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Drug use, and Death

Minor: Infidelity, Homophobia, and Grief

emmak788's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Infidelity

Moderate: Drug abuse