Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl

hardcover, 320 pages

Published April 18, 2019 by Picador.

ISBN:: 978-1-5290-0766-4

(1 review)

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 flâneur 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. Andrea Lawlor's debut novel offers a speculative history of early '90s identity politics during the heyday of ACT UP and Queer Nation. Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl is a riotous, razor-sharp bildungsroman whose hero/ine wends his way through a world gutted by loss, pulsing with music, and opening …

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 flâneur 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. Andrea Lawlor's debut novel offers a speculative history of early '90s identity politics during the heyday of ACT UP and Queer Nation. Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl is a riotous, razor-sharp bildungsroman whose hero/ine wends his way through a world gutted by loss, pulsing with music, and opening into an array of intimacy and connections.

4 editions

harun el rashid reviewed Paul takes the form of a mortal girl by Andrea Lawlor (Open prose series)

Review of 'Paul takes the form of a mortal girl' on 'GoodReads'

4 stars

Joyful, adventurous and sexy. Paul is the ultimate queer fantasy--a shapeshifter who can take any form. The book doesn't get deep into Paul's gender, which I actually find refreshing. Instead he just cavorts around sleeping with any and everyone. The backdrop of queer theory references was tongue in cheek and funny for me, but might be alienating for some.

Overall, a fun and sexciting read. I would have given it 5 stars but it just ends abruptly in a really ambivalent and unsatisfying way.

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