Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor

12 reviews

kmartro's review against another edition

challenging funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Incredibly hard read for me, it is full of consistent specific music and book references that I, as someone who did not live through the 90's queer scene, did not get at all. I found myself skimming often when it got particularly dense.

I liked reading Paul but didn't like him. I thought the author might do something developmental with him realizing he's too agreeable but he ends the same way he starts.

Even though Paul is a shape-shifter and he moves through queer communities as both sexes, his inner monologue is still that of a gay man, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone looking for the cis-lesbian experience specifically.

The smut was sharp and to the point, it doesn't stay long. Overall glad I read it, but I don't think I'll be rereading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcoholism and Dysphoria

Minor: Death, Vomit, Stalking, Outing, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

clarkg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed this book! At first blush, it's about shapeshifting, perception, queer life, and the refusal to be defined by any one thing--whether that be gender, genre, or subculture. Based on this premise alone, I worried that genderbending would be played for shock value, which would have been kind of tired as far as queer fiction goes. Lawlor's prose quickly burned away my misgivings and delivered a sharp, complicating, and tender tableau of queer desire and community. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Transphobia, Vomit, and Abandonment

Minor: Hate crime and Cultural appropriation

sarah984's review

adventurous emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was an interesting portrait of a tumultuous time, but the pov character (and most of the other characters honestly) was almost unbearable to read about, and the ending felt like it kind of petered out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Vomit, and Grief

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

imaginaryisobel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Transphobia, and Vomit

Minor: Racism and Classism

artstitute's review

adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was slow, quiet, and reflective, and I was happy to settle back and be along for the ride. Paul's kind of a dick, but I have a soft spot for him anyway. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Terminal illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Homophobia, Vomit, and Stalking

The AIDS epidemic is referenced and discussed.

ramreadsagain's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is such an interesting book and definitely one to reread at some point.

I truly feel like it defies categorisation - it's slice of life but action-packed but just vibes but completely alien but mundane.

Paul as a character is obnoxious and self-obsessed but in a way that is so obviously because he feels lost within the world and within himself that you can't help but love him. The book follows about a year of his life in the early 90's, and while I wasn't around back then to confirm, the time and place felt so vibrantly captured. 

It's a very compelling book, though slow at times and I think either a bit more plot or a bit more character development would have given it a higher rating from me.

Also as a warning, it's one of those books with a lot of sex but none of it is particularly pleasant to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Death and Vomit

packedjam's review

adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

i think this book was very good at what it set out to do. unfortunately for me, what it set out to do drove me up the wall

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Vomit, Grief, and Lesbophobia

levtitticus's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Outing, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

beanwa's review against another edition

emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

I really struggled to get into this book. I bought it last year, read the first chapter, put it down. Then picked it up again four months ago - reread the first chapter, put it down. Then a week ago, I decided I just had to soldier on and get this book over with. And I ended up fucking loving it!!!!

The first chapter is sex scene after sex scene, which was a bit off-putting, but I'm really glad I stuck with it in the end. I love Paul, love Jane, I love how delightfully camp, cool, overly romantic, and pretentious Paul is - while still remaining vaguely self aware. The book often pokes fun at Paul's youthful romanticism, which I really enjoyed. 

I rated this five stars because of how much fun I had reading it and how much I loved the concept (especially as a non-binary/gender fluid person!!) - but I did find the ending a bit unsatisfying + I found the artsy snippets (fairy tale-esque, mythical, etc.) a bit boring. Mostly because I wanted to get back to Paul! The ending felt open ended, which on one hand makes sense as Paul is in his very early 20s but I wish he'd gotten a better ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Vomit, and Alcohol

lenin_lover_69's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The premise (a nb/gender fluid person is able to physically change their body at will) was executed so well and it was also a great companion book to Mario Mieli's Towards a Gay Communism that I had just finished. I did just find I wanted more from the narrative, and although the book was fairly consistently compelling it was like I wanted more time w characters or to understand their motives. For example, I didn't really buy into Paul's relationship with Diane - why did he love her? And all the build up to the meeting with Robin...but maybe that's just how it goes with these things.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Vomit

Moderate: Transphobia