Reviews tagging 'Grief'

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

27 reviews

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

amoremeg's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

5.0

This book was so informative and deeply JVN. I learned so much about them and all of it through the most original and self-loving perspective. Truthful, compassionate, and funny the whole way through

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Cancer, Drug abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Addiction, and Chronic illness

Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, and Gun violence

minaegg's review

dark emotional funny hopeful sad fast-paced

4.75

Very vulnerable and heavy read with difficult subject matter. The book is still beautiful and uplifting, with some lovely humor. Jonathan shows that despite experiencing trauma and adversity, we all have the capacity to heal and thrive. Ultimately his story is about learning to love yourself and to forgive yourself, to care for yourself, to know that you matter, always. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Medical content, Homophobia, Mental illness, Blood, Eating disorder, Cursing, Fatphobia, and Grief

Moderate: Drug use, Addiction, Child abuse, and Terminal illness

bebidocrimes's review

emotional funny inspiring fast-paced

This captures Jonathan's voice so so well, it feels like we were just chatting at a coffee shop. I have been told time and time again, directly or indirectly, that I am too loud, I'm too much, I won't stop rambling on and on when I'm excited about something. It just feels so good to be reminded that I can find people who will love me for all that I am. Looking forward to getting my hands on his next book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Grief, Homophobia, Mental illness, Cursing, Death, Sexual assault, Vomit, Bullying, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

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

omissacat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

JVN does a wonderful job of portraying his life in an upbeat tone, even when dealing with difficult topics. 

Only dropped the rating by one star because his writing imitates that of a straight white cis man writing a teen girl in the early 2010s and it got on my tits a bit

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Addiction, Death of parent, Drug use, Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Mental illness

emmehooks's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.75

A beautiful and honest memoir about JVN, largely before fame. Their journey through abuse, substance use, homophobia, and the continuing impacts of trauma was well written and narrated, didn’t shy away from the hard times, and was supplemented by things they learned from professionals. 

Jonathan’s personality and sense of humor is easy to love but I greatly appreciated the way they those to use their platform to also advocate for trauma care, recovery, destigmatizing HIV/AIDS, and learning to accept, love, and prioritize yourself even when it’s hard. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Misogyny, Homophobia, Addiction, Grief, Cancer, Death of parent, Rape, Mental illness, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Bullying, and Terminal illness

Minor: Medical content and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

_inge's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring medium-paced

3.0

This feels very authentic. It’s clearly written by Jonathan, so that does mean it’s not structured as nicely or does anything special, but you can tell so much thought and effort has been put into it. Jonathan explains issues within the LGBTQ+ community because JVN feels they’re important to share, not because the publishers wanted to put them in. I’d especially recommend the audiobook, I really can’t imagine this coming across as well on paper. 

This audiobook was genuinely a hopeful one. We all mess up in life, we might not immediately achieve our goals, but if you stay true to who you are despite what others might say or do, you’ll get there in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Grief, Death, and Addiction

Moderate: Pedophilia, Self harm, Body shaming, Bullying, Kidnapping, and Vomit

ladieswholunch's review against another edition

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual assault, Cancer, Grief, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Drug use

bethsbooketlist's review against another edition

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

4.0

✒"My suffering did not undo my joy" 

🌟🌟🌟🌟-  I already loved JVN from Queer Eye and his podcast but this book had me appreciating his honesty, his ownership of identity that has taken a journey to uncover, and his fight for the vulnerable. He tackles some very difficult subjects about his life and, even with a bit of sass, does not try to lighten the darkness and shadow of what transpired. He can be brutal, exposing some of his past shame and decisions without excuse. But he also expresses an overwhelming amount of love and compassion for himself and others, something we should all strive to have in our own lives. The audio by JVN himself drew me in, I don't think it would of been the same reading without the sassy voice of this queen guiding us through. I thoroughly enjoyed and will repeatedly come back to some important reflections about my own life from this, such as the quote above that struck such a chord❤️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Death of parent, and Drug use

Moderate: Sexual assault, Homophobia, Grief, and Toxic relationship