Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

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

7 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

sblisberg's review against another edition

Just not mentally in the right headspace to hear how dark his story goes. I’m so happy he is out and thriving and will finish one day. This story is worth listening to, just not after a family
Member dies

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, Death, and Alcoholism

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

itstheconnorsbookclub's review

dark emotional funny informative inspiring sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Self harm, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Blood, Hate crime, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

uhhlexiconic's review

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

3.25

For better or worse, this book is exactly in JVN's voice, which has a different quality read than heard. Full of references to the media he consumed, Over the Top truly allows you into Van Ness' head, to parts inspiring and to parts that feel like inside jokes.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, and Rape

jc_wb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

I don't think it's fair to review this - it's JVN's story. It's intense - check the content warnings before reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Terminal illness

Minor: Child abuse

stormwise's review against another edition

emotional funny informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: Eating disorder, Homophobia, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Grief, and Infidelity