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A review by queerkegaard96
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor
5.0
If books could change your life, this is one of them for me. It made me realize I was contorting myself into the shape of whatever got me the most respect, but I sanded off parts of me to fit into a square peg that didn’t make me comfortable all the time. I love Paul, I am Paul, I want to be like Paul.
Paul Polydoris belonged to all of the genders. Meet a genderfluid shapeshifter in 1993 as he traverses across the US from Iowa City to Chicago to ProvinceTown to San Francisco. Time travel to queer punk subcultures, leather bars, dyke music festivals, and so much more. Feel the magic, the longing, the eroticism, the belonging/not-belonging.
A quote that gets me every time: Paul meets another genderfluid shapeshifter, Robin, and he asks what they are. Robin responds, “We’re just like everyone else, only more so.”
I am like everyone else, not in a respectability politic kind of way, but in a way that I know I’m not alone….even when it feels like no one can understand me.
Something really important about this book is also how EROTIC it is. There’s a lot of sex that happens and I think it’s beautiful, refreshing and something that I need in a book about queer subcultures. There’s something about sex where you can’t hide yourself - not really. It’s some of the most raw & vulnerable states you can be in and where you feel aligned and loved, and respected - it changes you.
Paul Polydoris belonged to all of the genders. Meet a genderfluid shapeshifter in 1993 as he traverses across the US from Iowa City to Chicago to ProvinceTown to San Francisco. Time travel to queer punk subcultures, leather bars, dyke music festivals, and so much more. Feel the magic, the longing, the eroticism, the belonging/not-belonging.
A quote that gets me every time: Paul meets another genderfluid shapeshifter, Robin, and he asks what they are. Robin responds, “We’re just like everyone else, only more so.”
I am like everyone else, not in a respectability politic kind of way, but in a way that I know I’m not alone….even when it feels like no one can understand me.
Something really important about this book is also how EROTIC it is. There’s a lot of sex that happens and I think it’s beautiful, refreshing and something that I need in a book about queer subcultures. There’s something about sex where you can’t hide yourself - not really. It’s some of the most raw & vulnerable states you can be in and where you feel aligned and loved, and respected - it changes you.