THE INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Winner of the 2023 Libby Book Award for Best Memoir and Autobiography
The Oscar-nominated star who captivated the world with his performance in Juno finally shares his truth.
“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 back.
With Juno’s massive success, Elliot became one of the world’s most beloved actors. His dreams were coming true, but the pressure to perform suffocated him. He was forced to play the part of the glossy young starlet, a role that made his skin crawl, on and off set. The career that had been an escape out of his reality and into a world of imagination was suddenly a nightmare.
As he navigated criticism and abuse from some of the most powerful people in Hollywood, a past that snapped at his heels, and a society dead set on forcing him into a binary, Elliot often stayed silent, unsure of what to do, until enough was enough. Full of behind the scenes details and intimate interrogations on sex, love, trauma, and Hollywood, Pageboy is the story of a life pushed to the brink. But at its core, this beautifully written, winding journey of what it means to untangle ourselves from the expectations of others is an ode to stepping into who we truly are with defiance, strength, and joy.
"[Pageboy] is an intense, emotional read, delivered in image-drenched prose. ... "'Let me just exist with you,' he writes, 'happier than ever.' Reading those words nearly made me cry. Page’s plea is small. It also feels very big." — Washington Post
"Brutally honest ... Powerful." — New York Times Book Review
"Raw, harrowing and often heartbreaking to read... Page’s book arrives, as if on cue, in a moment when the trans community is facing even more danger than when he started writing it just over a year ago." — Los Angeles Times
"The emergence of our true selves is all of our life's work. Pageboy helps chart the course." — Jamie Lee Curtis
"Searing, deeply moving, and incredibly poignant... This isn’t simply a book on what it means to be trans, it’s about what it means to be human." — Alok Vaid-Menon
“Pageboy is like listening to a friend... It’s impossible to miss the truth in his words: 'I wouldn’t be typing this right now if it weren’t for you and your care.' ... Now is an excellent time to read this humanizing and well-written memoir." — Associated Press