Paul takes the form of a mortal girl

by Andrea Lawlor

354 pages

English language

Published 2017

ISBN:: 978-0-9860869-9-1
OCLC Number:: 1002129413

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 …

4 editions

Enum & Valerie reviewed Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor

A Guide to US-American 90s Queer Cultures

2 stars

Damn this book felt long and boring. Mostly, nothing happens except that Paul/Polly moves around Iowa City/Michigan/Provincetown/San Francisco and fucks around. No tension, no bigger story. I do have to appreciate however, how this book visits quite some different sides and forms and subcultures of gay and lesbian communities. Paul's shapeshifting allows it.

Jaelyn 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 'Storygraph'

5 stars

A chaotic gender crisis through the power of Paul's/Polly's secret ability to shapeshift; blending himself to fit into other scenes to please others in underground 1990s gay bars as a true horny genderfluid figuring out his own identity among the vastness of queer life. It almost feels like a genderfluid coming of age story in the sense of having the true freedom to explore who you are deep inside, free of the constraints of appearence. I can't say I've encountered anything like this before!