A review by tbrnichols
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I found this book to be a really interesting mix of nostalgia that feels alien to me and that I long for and cultural themes that resonate with me today. Nostalgia for the cheap rent and dark rooms, with the  recognizable erotics of mutability and sameness, the dark cloud of the plague in mind but leaving our main characters untouched. Similarly youthful nostalgia for the formation of community through sexual ties, contrasted with the mature condescension towards the directionless wander of Paul's life without conventional desires. Nostalgia for a time when trans people were not as commonly a target of political fervor, combined with the liberatory joy of sexual transformation. It's hard for me to read this book and not feel less than, that my less raucous life has been a subset of the depicted, familiar with the put on vegetarianism for romantic connection, but unfamiliar with surviving as a dirt bag bartender in a small but still extant gay scene. But Lawlor's depiction of the glamour and insecurity of Paul's sexual escapades, unable to distinguish what will be soaring highs and ignominious lows provides both a compelling propaganda for cruising and a relief to return to one's own post-adolescent stability.