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A review by luhos
Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I really wanted to like this but in the end, I didn't.
In Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl we follow Paul who has the ability to change his body at will. Paul is finding himself and a bit of a mess, and we follow him as he moves between cities and between lovers.
I felt like so many characters were unresolved, including Paul. The beginning two thirds especially felt incredibly fragmented and the whole thing felt burdened by queer cultural references. I did enjoy the latter third of the book a bit more, but still, it seemed to go on a bit much with not a lot of plot or character development.
Paul's shapeshifting quality felt almost pointless to me - I ask myself, would this book be any/much different without that? and I think that no, it wouldn't. I was excited by the premise but ultimately disappointed by the execution.
And one more thing that grinded my gears with this one - why the hell are the chapters so disparate in length? The penultimate chapter is 10 pages, and the final chapter is almost half the book. This is so inconsequential but it still really annoyed me, especially because I don't like to break in the middle of a chapter.
In Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl we follow Paul who has the ability to change his body at will. Paul is finding himself and a bit of a mess, and we follow him as he moves between cities and between lovers.
I felt like so many characters were unresolved, including Paul. The beginning two thirds especially felt incredibly fragmented and the whole thing felt burdened by queer cultural references. I did enjoy the latter third of the book a bit more, but still, it seemed to go on a bit much with not a lot of plot or character development.
Paul's shapeshifting quality felt almost pointless to me - I ask myself, would this book be any/much different without that? and I think that no, it wouldn't. I was excited by the premise but ultimately disappointed by the execution.
And one more thing that grinded my gears with this one - why the hell are the chapters so disparate in length? The penultimate chapter is 10 pages, and the final chapter is almost half the book. This is so inconsequential but it still really annoyed me, especially because I don't like to break in the middle of a chapter.