Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

Posted on 14 January 2017 by Andrea Lawlor

It s 1993 and Paul Polydoris tends bar at the only gay club in a university town thrumming with politics and partying He studies queer theory, has a dyke best friend, makes zines, and is a fl neur with a rich dating life But Paul s also got a secret he s a shapeshifter Oscillating wildly from Riot Grrrl to leather cub, Women s Studies major to trade, Paul transforms his body at will in a series of adventures that take him from Iowa City to Boystown to Provincetown and finally to San Francisco a journey through the deep queer archives of struggle and pleasure. Best Download eBook Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl author Andrea Lawlor – kino-fada.fr I loved, loved, loved this novel A nostalgic trip back to the queer 90s wrapped up in a speculative temporal space odyssey that inspires a meditation on gender, sex, identity, home, atmosphere, place, and love Because what else is there I got to read the manus...I wrote this as an introduction to Andrea s reading for the NYC book launch at Bureau of General Services Queer Division, November 2017 I first met Paul the novel s protagonist in Philadelphia in 2005 or 2006, in one of my first workshops in Temple s graduate creative writing program It was a short story at that time and though, as a young still presumably straight person there was much I didn t yet understand about the live queer world it captured, I remember being struck by Paul s alive I wrote this as an introduction to Andrea s reading for the NYC book launch at Bureau of General Services Queer Division, November 2017 I first met Paul the novel s protagonist in Philadelphia in 2005 or 2006, in one of my first workshops in Temple s graduate creative writing program It was a short story at that time and though, as a ...Every page of this PTTFOAMG sparkles with sly, clever wit and sharp insights, both sociological and psychological The novel is delightfully free of the tediously tidy character arcs or contrived plot complications so common to middlebrow fiction these days instead, readers are treated to an amusingly rakish protagonist s meandering adventures In other words, it s a true picaresque And speaking of the protag, Paul, the promo for the novel highlights his shape gender shifting, but that s Every page of this PTTFOAMG sparkles with sly, clever wit and sharp insights, both sociological and psychological The novel is delightfully free of the tediously tidy character arcs or contrived plot complications so common to middlebrow fiction these days instead, readers are treated to an amusingly rakish protagonist s meandering adventures In other words, it s a true picaresque And speaking of the protag, Paul, the promo for the novel highlights his shape gender...Holy shit I read this in one giant gulp Partway through a friend dropped by unexpectedly, and there I was standing in the hallway unable to speak coherently She took one look at me and said, whatever that book is, go back to it It s ok I ll see you later So I lay back down on the sofa, day turned to night and I did not do anything else until I d finished it The funny thing is, it was one of those books where you re unwillingly seduced You re thinking, huh, it s good but maybe too dense Holy shit I read this in one giant gulp Partway through a friend dropped by unexpectedly, and there I was standing in the hallway unable to speak coherently She took one look at me and said, whatever that book is, go back to it It s ok I ll see you later So I lay back down on the sofa, day turned to night and I did not do anything else until I d finished it The funny thing is, it was one of those books where you re unwillingly seduced You re thinking, huh, it s good but maybe too den...w its body shifting protagonist, most folks will likely interpret this through the lens of the malleability of gender, sex and identity But I found myself thinking just as much if not so about queer lives chronologies trajectories biographies as circuitous interrupted episodic, about the picaresque w...This was fun Especially if you actually remember and liked the 1990s Especially the gay 90s Also, it s a clever way to write about some of the differences between gay men and lesbians.Usually books that meander and don t have a strong plot drive me crazy, but in this book it completely worked It was super atmospheric, slice of life, and weird kind of like a book version of a Sophia Coppola movie I loved Paul as a character, loved the window the book gives into 90 s queer culture, loved the way it makes you think about gender sexuality relationsh...I enjoyed this book on many levels, I love the writing, and I appreciated the underground cultural references It also reminded me of a short story I published in the early 1980 s and some of my early writing even though it is very much of our moment which was very satisfying.This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers To view it, click here This book is AN EXPERIENCE Just the queer read I needed to start the year You can see a lot of biases in Paul Polly and I think that s what makes this such an honest while often times over the top book.While Paul Takes The Form of a Mortal Girl is an engrossing read, it doesn t delve as deeply into gender identity as it maybe thinks it does Although set in the 90 s, Paul could just as easily be a modern day millennial as he she they navigate the streets of Iowa City, Chicago, and San Francisco, aimless save for an insatiable libido The unapologetic and graphic sexuality is commendable especially in a genre that tends tooften than not play it safe to appeal to a wider straight audie While Paul Takes The Form of a Mortal Girl is an engrossing read, it doesn t delve as deeply into gender identity as it maybe thinks it does Although set in the 90 s, Paul could just as easily be a modern day millennial as he she they navigate the streets of Iowa City, Chicago, and San Francisco, aimless save for an insatiable libido The unapologetic and graphic sexuality is commendable especially in a genre that tends tooften than not play it safe to appeal to a wider straight audience, but the character development left me wantingWhich may be precisely what Andrea Lawlor was going for Paul is the everyman and everywoman, literally conforming to what he believes the world wants from him He wantsbut cannot seem to admit that to himself The ending is too open ended for my t...

English
14 January 2017

Andrea Lawlor