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Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love
Jonathan Van Ness
269 pages | Published by HarperOne
Sassy and bright Jonathan Van Ness is one of the breakout stars of the Netflix reboot of Queer Eye. In this memoir, he details the struggles of his childhood, early adulthood, and how those experiences have shaped him into the JVN that we all know and love.
Jonathan asks at the beginning of this book if you would still love him if you knew everything about him - and for me, the answer is an enthusiastic YAS. There's so much courage in opening up the way that JVN did in this book.
JVN's voice is clear in his writing but he writes with a much more serious tone than you might think - which is part of the point - everyone assumes he's all joy and wit all the time, but like everyone is a multi-faceted human with more traits than just "sassy."
This memoir is so open and honest. He really didn't hold back, even when his stories didn't paint him in the best light. It would be easy to censor yourself and cut out the grit, but JVN is real and owns up to the things in his past that he's done and gone through.
I think his story is going to be a tremendous help for so many people - those in the LGBTQ+ community, anyone dealing with trauma, or someone struggling with body issues. JVN's gone through a lot and managed to learn from his experiences and beautifully translate them here.
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