ember_is_gay's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
i did really like the concept, and there were parts where i was engaged, plus it was a very interesting commentary on queerness especially outward expression of queerness. the gender fluidity of paul was so interesting, although i wish the feelings we discussed more (there did seem to be a lack of emotion in all the characters).
it just didn’t keep me very engaged and the first 100 pages and the last 100 pages felt like they dragged and i was just trying to push through which i’m super upset about as i did like it. i’m not sure if it was the writing style or the lack of a consistent plot (which i personally need in a book) but there was just something that made it hard for me to get through.
it just didn’t keep me very engaged and the first 100 pages and the last 100 pages felt like they dragged and i was just trying to push through which i’m super upset about as i did like it. i’m not sure if it was the writing style or the lack of a consistent plot (which i personally need in a book) but there was just something that made it hard for me to get through.
eloiseh's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
libraryfiend21's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
gcbf's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Fine. Didn't feel like I got anything from this.
ellaxkeller's review against another edition
5.0
truly delicious and immaculate. i’m instantly going to buy a physical copy of this. also i want whatever paul has going on with his gender and dear god his character is just so dear to my heart now. i kinda wanna be friends with paul, but not really because he’s shit at that whole thing, but i just wanna talk to him about his thoughts and life and stuff, which he’s also shit at so i don’t know how that would work out. but i just wanna like coexist with paul.
halschrieve's review against another edition
5.0
I have been telling everyone I know to read this book, and everyone I know who has read it has really deeply enjoyed it. Bisexual gender bender shapeshifter plus realistic satire of queer nineties culture is a great premise on its own, but the execution of this book takes the cake. It’s sexy, gripping, easy to read, smart, and tricks the reader into becoming very intensely invested in the central character’s accumulating depth and vulnerability.
For the first third of this book, Paul the protagonist has a lot of fun fucking people in Iowa City. While he is mostly a stylish superfag, wearing cute coords while bartending or picking up girls and boys at parties in large farmhouses occupied by gay college students , Paul sometimes changes his body so he looks like a dyke and has hot lesbian sex with butches from out of town. While he uses his shapeshifter powers relatively frequently —to adjust the size of his balls or the length of his hair or the shape of his hips to suit each lover—he is also nervous about being discovered, because his powers are unprecedented and unusual and he isn’t sure that everyone can be trusted with his secret. He discloses only to his friend Jane and to a frat boy who is too high on acid to believe that the powers are real after the comedown. This whole section is a seductive romp, a series of beach readable, read-aloudable one night stands that are as well paced and crowd pleasing as they are erotic. Paul is at the top of his game, competent, able to read and manipulate every situation to get laid in the best possible way. It’s very affirming to read if you’re any sort of gay! Paul talks a lot about queer theory in between fucking different lovers, but whenever he shows up to class he is vapid, slack-mouthed, and incapable of doing anything but making notes on people’s outfits. I have friends at Iowa who recognize the landmarks in the first third of this book, but this isn’t primarily a queer wink-wink for literature nerds. It’s sexy fun for everyone.
What I love about the rest of the book is that after this initial impressive run of incredible sex, Paul starts to encounter situations that leave him unsure or that start to have a real effect on him. When he goes to Michfest in the guise of a fem dyke, he loses some of the suave know-how that he is used to relying on to read social situations. People aren’t as into Paul as they normally are, even though (thank g-d) there are no Man On The Land freakouts and Paul passes seamlessly as a baby dyke. He still gets laid, but ends up crushing hard and then falling in love with the soft butch vegan he meets who fucks him in the woods with her hands. When he goes back to Iowa, he still can’t get over her, and he makes her mixtapes until she invites him to Provincetown and doms him into becoming a vegan. Paul doesn’t want to leave and finds himself desperate and lovelorn even as he finds himself in a lesbian relationship that has serious problems (problems which mostly have nothing to do with his shapeshifter nature and have more to do with dildo politics, Diane’s militant veganism, and the way Paul’s working-class background grates on New England trust fund lesbians). Confused and sad, Paul eventually flees for San Francisco, where he tries to get back to his old power-faggot games, but he finds that in this new city he is only sometimes able to read the room and do things right, and anyway he is becoming more interested in friends and sustainable communities than one night stands. As Paul is haunted by a mysterious youth whose shapeshifter powers resemble his own, his gay teen past also comes back to him in the form of phone calls from his first boyfriend, who is HIV+ a few years before the introduction of antiretroviral therapy and who is seriously sick. Paul has to address the fact that whether or not he is a lesbian or a gay man, he’s vulnerable and stupid and has a heart capable of extremely strong attachments .
I make it sound soft and sappy, and I promise it isn’t —but it is heart-opening and full of visceral pleasure and sympathy. An antidote to desperate trauma memoirs, this is a story about queer life sustained by connection, sex, friendship and love , even in the face of things that are often ridiculous or alienating.
For the first third of this book, Paul the protagonist has a lot of fun fucking people in Iowa City. While he is mostly a stylish superfag, wearing cute coords while bartending or picking up girls and boys at parties in large farmhouses occupied by gay college students , Paul sometimes changes his body so he looks like a dyke and has hot lesbian sex with butches from out of town. While he uses his shapeshifter powers relatively frequently —to adjust the size of his balls or the length of his hair or the shape of his hips to suit each lover—he is also nervous about being discovered, because his powers are unprecedented and unusual and he isn’t sure that everyone can be trusted with his secret. He discloses only to his friend Jane and to a frat boy who is too high on acid to believe that the powers are real after the comedown. This whole section is a seductive romp, a series of beach readable, read-aloudable one night stands that are as well paced and crowd pleasing as they are erotic. Paul is at the top of his game, competent, able to read and manipulate every situation to get laid in the best possible way. It’s very affirming to read if you’re any sort of gay! Paul talks a lot about queer theory in between fucking different lovers, but whenever he shows up to class he is vapid, slack-mouthed, and incapable of doing anything but making notes on people’s outfits. I have friends at Iowa who recognize the landmarks in the first third of this book, but this isn’t primarily a queer wink-wink for literature nerds. It’s sexy fun for everyone.
What I love about the rest of the book is that after this initial impressive run of incredible sex, Paul starts to encounter situations that leave him unsure or that start to have a real effect on him. When he goes to Michfest in the guise of a fem dyke, he loses some of the suave know-how that he is used to relying on to read social situations. People aren’t as into Paul as they normally are, even though (thank g-d) there are no Man On The Land freakouts and Paul passes seamlessly as a baby dyke. He still gets laid, but ends up crushing hard and then falling in love with the soft butch vegan he meets who fucks him in the woods with her hands. When he goes back to Iowa, he still can’t get over her, and he makes her mixtapes until she invites him to Provincetown and doms him into becoming a vegan. Paul doesn’t want to leave and finds himself desperate and lovelorn even as he finds himself in a lesbian relationship that has serious problems (problems which mostly have nothing to do with his shapeshifter nature and have more to do with dildo politics, Diane’s militant veganism, and the way Paul’s working-class background grates on New England trust fund lesbians). Confused and sad, Paul eventually flees for San Francisco, where he tries to get back to his old power-faggot games, but he finds that in this new city he is only sometimes able to read the room and do things right, and anyway he is becoming more interested in friends and sustainable communities than one night stands. As Paul is haunted by a mysterious youth whose shapeshifter powers resemble his own, his gay teen past also comes back to him in the form of phone calls from his first boyfriend, who is HIV+ a few years before the introduction of antiretroviral therapy and who is seriously sick. Paul has to address the fact that whether or not he is a lesbian or a gay man, he’s vulnerable and stupid and has a heart capable of extremely strong attachments .
I make it sound soft and sappy, and I promise it isn’t —but it is heart-opening and full of visceral pleasure and sympathy. An antidote to desperate trauma memoirs, this is a story about queer life sustained by connection, sex, friendship and love , even in the face of things that are often ridiculous or alienating.
sydstein92's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
georgiahb's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
rob_howard's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75