Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

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

January 1, 2020.
Requested by Rob.

Join us!

How far are you Rob?

I just finished and loved reading it. I read the whole thing with Jonathan's voice in my head! I bet the audiobook is great, I might get it and reread!

I think the audiobook would be awesome. I'm just 52 pages in and "Steve" has started "sleeping over" and stopped Jonathan from sleeping in his mom's bedroom. Yes, his voice is definitely in my head as I read it. The note from his mom regarding the edit of that section was priceless :)

Rob wrote: "I think the audiobook would be awesome. I'm just 52 pages in and "Steve" has started "sleeping over" and stopped Jonathan from sleeping in his mom's bedroom. Yes, his voice is definitely in my head..."

Hahaha i loved the note from his mum too! Excellent :D

Almost done - getting to the positive/life-improving portion of his life. Quite the ordeal he went through and am a bit annoyed with my eleven-year-old for having read this book without permission. We will be having a sit-down book discussion to see what went over her head and what did not :)

Rob wrote: "Almost done - getting to the positive/life-improving portion of his life. Quite the ordeal he went through and am a bit annoyed with my eleven-year-old for having read this book without permission...."

Yeah sounds like a good plan. I'm sure most of it will have gone over her head though. :)

It really was quite the ordeal wasn't it. So much self destructive behaviour. 1 step forward 2 steps back for so long, bless him.

About to join this... I saw some top reviewers say that JVN's personality doesn't translate well into print, but I figure the fact he narrates his own book should solve that... I think people narrating their own memoirs is pretty much expected these days, right?... especially if they're TV personalities of any type (comedians, actors, etc)

Yea, this book's hilarious (when it's not being serious)...

The Illinois references are right up my alley... I work in Springfield... pretty much every reference is up my alley... Super Market Sweep, etc...

Not realizing what Steve's "sleepovers" were about until 30 was hilarious...

Not sure this would be as funny without JVN's timing...

Classic Steve...

I dunno that getting called a faggot in the Illinois school system is a "reference", but it definitely feels like one, from my childhood spent reading instead of caring about sports/etc...

I always found that aspect of elementary school weird in pseudo-hindsight, since those were the same kids teabagging one another in the locker rooms and bragging/laughing about it in Study Hall... irony, much?

I've rambled all over the place in this thread... almost done now...

JVN's gender identity can make the audio/book confusing at times... dunno if this is because I've only watched one episode of the show, so far...

But to a certain extent, this quirk of the book reminds me of the ship captain in The Toll, where the gender pronouns switched every couple pages/chapters...

NOTE: Part of this is probably my listening speed... I dropped from 3x to 2.5x to accommodate for JVN's varying delivery, but that's still a pretty big speedup...

Finished now... I feel like I expected JVN's life to settle down around the time the show came out, but it didn't really... still had his/her ups and downs...

I finished it yesterday. I feel rather mixed about it. Certainly far from the best autobiography I've read, but I have to admire him for sharing everything that he did. I also think if you read this book without having seen queer eye or gay of thrones, you wouldn't pick up on Jonathan's style of speaking/translation. If you know it going in, then it's you can understand the ramble/train of thought better. I suspect that listening to the audio would be the best way to do this book so you get all of his intonations.

Definitely not the end of the story for someone with so many ups and downs.

Timelord Iain wrote: "Classic Steve...

I dunno that getting called a faggot in the Illinois school system is a "reference", but it definitely feels like one, from my childhood spent reading instead of caring about spor..."

Oh yeah, so much irony!

Timelord Iain wrote: "I've rambled all over the place in this thread... almost done now...

JVN's gender identity can make the audio/book confusing at times... dunno if this is because I've only watched one episode of t..."

Wow, JVN talks so fast I think I'd need to listen 1x! I'd love to get this on audiobook actually.

Rob wrote: "I finished it yesterday. I feel rather mixed about it. Certainly far from the best autobiography I've read, but I have to admire him for sharing everything that he did. I also think if you read thi..."

Yes I think you're right that his story will still have a long way to go. Maybe we will get a sequel one day!

Timelord Iain wrote: "About to join this... I saw some top reviewers say that JVN's personality doesn't translate well into print, but I figure the fact he narrates his own book should solve that... I think people narra..."

I actually read the whole thing with his voice and intonation and timing in my head, so it translated perfectly well for me. Maybe it depends how familiar you are with his personality.