Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor

8 reviews

bronzeageholly's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious 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

5.0

In one word? Masterful.

Paul/Polly’s character is so well crafted she/he could walk off the page and I wouldn’t know they weren’t real.

This is a book of personal journey, perfect for those who love a flawed protagonist. We drift with Paul/Polly as they tackle passion, grief, guilt, loss, gratitude. We are afloat in the heady haze of existence with them, learning (or not learning) about themselves along the way.

Change is omnipresent for Paul/Polly, most significantly in their gender fluidity but also in friendships, living situations, identity, jobs, relationships, music, and bars.

The short stories that were placed throughout the text were so enticing. They reminded me a lot of Jerome K Jerome’s ‘Three Men in a Boat’; the reader is left wondering whether there is something a little more we were meant to get from the tale, another moral left to find, an extra metaphor left to uncover.

All in all, this book is a stunning and unreserved tribute to community, to finding ourselves, to being aware of ourselves, to queer theory and queer love and queer freedom.

((definitely an 18+ read!))

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Drug use

addie's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious reflective tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Drug use

Moderate: Mental illness, Grief, and Sexual assault

Minor: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Death

packedjam's review against another edition

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: Alcohol and Sexual content

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

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: Sexual content, Alcohol, and Drug use

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

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

lucypratt7's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Alcohol

Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Death, and Terminal illness

iheartm4m's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad slow-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

3.25

This book has a lot of potential but Lawlor takes gender identity and sexuality to a literal and physical form that feels necessary for some of the plot but not all. the book pointed to understanding the world through different lenses (girl, woman, man, beta, alpha, lesbian, bisexual) and how a person that has flowed through the gender/sexuality spectrum can and will expirience these situations portrayed in the book throughout their younger years. 
This can be eye opening for those who are are cis/het/certain in their sexuality/gender, but for those who have always fell through the cracks when it comes to identity, this book is a bit obvious. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Homophobia, Grief, Cursing, Sexual content, Death, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Dysphoria, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Racism

Moderate: Classism, Xenophobia, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Gaslighting, and Biphobia

Minor: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Drug use, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Addiction, Blood, Eating disorder, and Infidelity

noahsingh's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

so so good, instant new favourite book. feel weirdly intensely grateful to Andrea Lawlor as a fellow trans person. can't actually express how much reading this meant to me as a trans bi guy, so nice to be able to read a coming-of-age-esque book with a character whose actually relatable to me as a queer trans person and really just can't wait to read whatever Lawlor writes next. love the fantasy bits intertwined with Paul/Polly's story and all the pretentious references and that the book ends so openly, but with the protagonist young, happy and living Queer life to the fullest, love that for him/her/them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Dysphoria, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Grief, Drug use, Transphobia, Death, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Sexism, and Alcohol

jameslyons's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Sexual content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Body horror

Moderate: Transphobia, Death, Grief, and Vomit

Minor: Lesbophobia, Animal cruelty, Dysphoria, and Terminal illness