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A review by writtenontheflyleaves
Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
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? No
4.75
Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor πΊ
ππππβ¨
πΊ The plot: Paul Polydoris is a shapeshifter bouncing around the queer scene in the US in 1993. Able to transform his body at will, he uses his powers to hedonistically explore sexual experiences with the men and women he meets. However, when he falls in love with a woman - as a woman - he's pitched head-first into heartbreak and a reckoning with who and what he is.
The best kind of magical realism for me is one that feels liberating to read because it allows you to tunnel out of (and critique!) the rigid structures of reality, and this book did that with the gendered body. Paul's magical powers don't invent a fluidity that doesn't exist when it comes to gender or identity, they just make it literal, as well as illuminating how artificial the categories we impose upon bodies are. Though Paul undoubtedly experiences things differently when presenting as Polly vs as Paul, this doesn't mean he's two people - he is one changeable person, full of possibilities.
As well as critiquing rigid gender categories, the book also takes aim at compulsory heterosexuality. All bar, I think, two of Paul's sexual encounters in the novel are queer, and I found myself dreading the conclusion of his encounter with a straight man when he was presenting as Polly. After the free flow of his earlier encounters, each explorative and variously fulfilling, not fitting any one mold, the sudden encounter with heteropatriarchal roles (my English degrees are jumping out here lmao) was jarring, and spoke volumes about the limited possibilities of sex within this system. It's a book that is a huge fuck-you to binaries and I loved it.
πΊ Read it if you love plotless novels, books where almost every character is queer, and critiques of the gender binary. Also if you want to read about absolute shedloads of sex lol
π« Avoid it if you need a plot or a definitive ending - the loose ends fly free at the end of this novel!
ππππβ¨
πΊ The plot: Paul Polydoris is a shapeshifter bouncing around the queer scene in the US in 1993. Able to transform his body at will, he uses his powers to hedonistically explore sexual experiences with the men and women he meets. However, when he falls in love with a woman - as a woman - he's pitched head-first into heartbreak and a reckoning with who and what he is.
The best kind of magical realism for me is one that feels liberating to read because it allows you to tunnel out of (and critique!) the rigid structures of reality, and this book did that with the gendered body. Paul's magical powers don't invent a fluidity that doesn't exist when it comes to gender or identity, they just make it literal, as well as illuminating how artificial the categories we impose upon bodies are. Though Paul undoubtedly experiences things differently when presenting as Polly vs as Paul, this doesn't mean he's two people - he is one changeable person, full of possibilities.
As well as critiquing rigid gender categories, the book also takes aim at compulsory heterosexuality. All bar, I think, two of Paul's sexual encounters in the novel are queer, and I found myself dreading the conclusion of his encounter with a straight man when he was presenting as Polly. After the free flow of his earlier encounters, each explorative and variously fulfilling, not fitting any one mold, the sudden encounter with heteropatriarchal roles (my English degrees are jumping out here lmao) was jarring, and spoke volumes about the limited possibilities of sex within this system. It's a book that is a huge fuck-you to binaries and I loved it.
πΊ Read it if you love plotless novels, books where almost every character is queer, and critiques of the gender binary. Also if you want to read about absolute shedloads of sex lol
π« Avoid it if you need a plot or a definitive ending - the loose ends fly free at the end of this novel!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Homophobia and Death