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A review by anneklein
Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor
funny
lighthearted
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I enjoyed this book! I'm not sure it will stay with me for long and it definitely hasn't changed my life the way I feel it could change someone's life if they were trying to define their own gender, or figure out exactly how they'd like to express their gender, but I see the appeal and I love that it's got the hype it deserves.
Sometimes the book got extreeeemely American, in that so many of the references were so specific to the US. And I actually don't mind specificity in novels, what I didn't like was that the specificity was done only by namedropping, and most of the namedropping was US-specific things.
But the main character and supporting cast were lovely and tridimensional people, all endearing in their own silly ways; Paul's character arc was realistic and despite him being a 21-year-old who most definitely acted like it (read: lost and immature often, and trying to compensate it by being pretentious), he was at his core full of heart, and the novel was endearing to the point it made you want to side with him no matter how many stupid decisions he made.
I also appreciated a detail that the author included where, with two characters whose gender is never specified, no pronouns are ever used to refer to them. Frog (we only know Frog's a lesbian because Jane, the main character's sidekick best friend is one and she hooks up with Frog at one point in the book) and Robin (only ever referred to as "the youth" or by name) are never referred to using any pronouns or other gender markers, and I loved that detail. It made me appreciate the prose more.
Sometimes the book got extreeeemely American, in that so many of the references were so specific to the US. And I actually don't mind specificity in novels, what I didn't like was that the specificity was done only by namedropping, and most of the namedropping was US-specific things.
But the main character and supporting cast were lovely and tridimensional people, all endearing in their own silly ways; Paul's character arc was realistic and despite him being a 21-year-old who most definitely acted like it (read: lost and immature often, and trying to compensate it by being pretentious), he was at his core full of heart, and the novel was endearing to the point it made you want to side with him no matter how many stupid decisions he made.
I also appreciated a detail that the author included where, with two characters whose gender is never specified, no pronouns are ever used to refer to them. Frog (we only know Frog's a lesbian because Jane, the main character's sidekick best friend is one and she hooks up with Frog at one point in the book) and Robin (only ever referred to as "the youth" or by name) are never referred to using any pronouns or other gender markers, and I loved that detail. It made me appreciate the prose more.