#Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

#paul takes the form of a mortal girl #andrea lawlor #book poll #have you read this book poll #polls

[transbookoftheday]

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor

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 flaneur with a rich dating life. But Paul's also got a secret: he's a shapeshifter. Oscillating wildly from Riot Grrrl to leather cub, Paul transforms his body and his gender at will as he crossed the country––a journey and adventure through the deep queer archives of struggle and pleasure.

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl is a riotous, razor-sharp bildungsroman whose hero/ine wends his/her way through a world gutted by loss, pulsing with music, and opening into an array of intimacy and connections.

#paul takes the form of a mortal girl #andrea lawlor #genderfluid #nonbinary #trans book of the day #trans books #queer books #booklr #bookblr

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor

goodreads

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.

Mod opinion: I hadn't heard of this book before, but it sounds interesting.

#paul takes the form of a mortal girl #andrew lawlor #polls #trans lit #trans literature #trans books #lgbt lit #lgbt literature #lgbt books #contemporary fiction #magical realism #own voices #to read #genderfluid

[pityroad]

“It was June and like everyone else Paul made himself extremely busy going to queer art openings and queer punk shows and queer spoken word showcases and queer evenings of performance art. He was exhausted and broke from being queer.”

— Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor

#June #andrea lawlor #Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl #queer books #quotes #mine #queer stuff #pride month

[deermouth]

Paul had never met a transsexual guy before Franky... Paul briefly wondered if Franky was like him, but somehow he thought not. Franky knew what he wanted forever, Paul thought. That was the difference between them.

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl, Andrea Lawlor

#currently reading #paul takes the form of a mortal girl #andrea lawlor #words

[abookisafriend]

paul takes the form of a mortal girl, by andrea lawlor: three and a half out of four used rubbers

paul is a sexed-up shapeshifter bumming from one city's queer community to the next on a half-hearted quest for meaning … er … no, for sex. this is a sex book. there's sex stuff all through the book. don't read this book if you don't want to read about sex.

it has some depth to it! it's not just pornographic. (alternately: "it's not just pornographic!" :D ) the book delivers some real pragmatism in terms of bringing home the dangers of paul's choices while somehow never managing to come across as judgy … paul's adventures are fun and sexy, just … not all the time.

paul is not always a good person. i found myself rooting for him from the beginning through the mere momentum of his being the p.o.v. character, but he does some super questionable shit, and a lot of the book's material is slowly finding out how little paul really has his shit together … and kind of why. in the meanwhile you get a lavish and fabulous exploration of the queer scenes of three or four different centers of gravity during the ninties … there's almost a historian's attention to detail, and the extensive acknowledgements page shows that this author really did the research. andrea lawlor (who sneakily omits any gendered language from the author bio) deserves respect for this work, for the rich, textured detail that re-creates each of these settings for the mind.

#paul takes the form of a mortal girl #how does this book not have a tag yet? #queer literature #queer lit #andrea lawlor #book reviews #book review #review #reviews #fantasy #urban fantasy #borderline fantasy #slipstream

[ashtrayfloors]

Paul sat on his bedroom floor, circled by unsteady stacks of his and Christopher’s CDs and tapes. He wanted to explain something to Diane in the only way he knew how. Christopher’s music collection ranged from Patti Griffin all the way to Emmylou Harris, plus a few obvious disco compilations. Christopher was more of a lesbian than any actual lesbian Paul knew. He needed Jane for this. Paul packed up his stacks and headed over to Jane’s on Christopher’s bike.

     Jane wasn’t home, so he let himself in with her emergency key and plopped down on the ironic purple shag carpet in front of the stereo system. Much better. Jane had tape-to-tape, for one thing, and lots of vinyl, and everything the Pixies had ever released. Fags 0, Dykes 1.

     “Ooh,” he said into the empty apartment, fondling the Bikini Kill/Huggy Bear split LP before succumbing to the distraction of Jane’s mighty cassingle collection.

     Diane was definitely going to get the message: Paul was fun and intense. He lifted out his most precious mixtapes from his backpack and lined them up next to Jane’s music. Was it cheesy to pass Jane’s superior collection off as his own? Or was it a sign of his dedication? He could also go down to the club during the day and use some of the vinyl there, if he wanted dancier songs; that would be really intrepid but maybe too faggy? Yeah, too faggy. He wanted to give Diane things she couldn’t get herself, to turn her on to new things, to share his access, to provide, to shore up his girlfriendable-ness.

     He had 90- and 120-minute tapes, and Jane had some 60s, but you had to be really stuck to use a 60 anymore. And weren’t the 120-minute tapes supposed to be of inferior quality? He’d bought the most expensive ones available, German-made.

Side A:

I Am a Poseur - X-Ray Spex

Pretty on the Inside - Hole

Cherry Bomb - The Runaways

What’s Inside a Girl? - The Cramps

Rebel Girl - Bikini Kill

Pumping (My Heart) - Patti Smith

Golden Thing - Throwing Muses

Rid of Me - PJ Harvey

Touch Your Woman - Dolly Parton

If I Was Your Girlfriend - Prince

Beauty and the Beast - David Bowie

That’s Really Super, Supergirl - XTC

People Are Strange - Echo and the Bunnymen

     Paul was happy with Side A, though not entirely sure about that last track. Also, maybe “Me-Jane” would have been a better PJ Harvey track after “Golden Thing” because of the beat, but the lyrics weren’t romantic. Paul knew that some people didn’t consider the lyrics when making mixtapes, but he always did. Occasionally he’d choose a song for ironic purposes or to say the opposite of what the lyrics said or for litotes (for instance, “Rid of Me”) but always lyrics were involved in the decision. Paul disliked instrumental music. He wanted stories, all the time. He wished he could make a tape of all the moments from films he wanted to show her, but how was that even possible? Maybe if he hooked up Jane’s VCR to another VCR and rented all the movies… He felt that old familiar electricity surging up in him, a desire to accumulate and then display a complete collection. He imposed a small measure of self-control and returned his attention to the mixtape.

     He would listen to Side A to check the flow, to subject himself to its momentum before he started Side B. Start out strong, pumping, then go for counterpoint with Dolly, then take it to a sexy place, but not for too long (keep the tension), then—maybe the Bowie was too much? He wasn’t sure about any of the last three songs, really, but sometimes the songs you weren’t sure about were the genius choices. No, he couldn’t dismantle the tape now. He made a sandwich, leaving Jane with one slice of bread. She might not notice; she was kind of rich.

     Paul tried to imagine Diane listening to the tape on auto-reverse, driving down some street in Provincetown, maybe driving to her new job. Okay, what should the first song be on the second side? You’ve got that moment where the tape reverses, the antici…pation, and so the first song on the second side is the heart of the tape. By that point, you’re committed; you’ve listened to an entire side and you’ve entered the world of the tape—you’ve waited, and what are you waiting for? He decided to go for a declaration. Forget subtlety. His tape would be a manifesto of his readiness. He wanted to be Diane’s girlfriend, whatever that meant.

Side B:

Kinda I Want To - NIN

Birdhouse in Your Soul - They Might be Giants

Take Me With U - Prince

     Paul stopped. Something was wrong. He didn’t want to seem queeny, male, obvious. This side was all dudes so far. Jane had a few compilation CDs, so Paul scanned the track listings until he hit gold: Jane Wiedlin from the Go-Gos. Apparently she was a PETA person. He cued up the tape:

Fur - Jane Wiedlin

     Halfway through, Paul knew the song was too campy; Diane might think he was making fun of her feelings about animals. He rewound. He could do better. He retrieved a bag of Oreos from Jane’s cabinet and took stock of the situation.

Fur - Jane Wiedlin

     Paul considered a tape Tony Pinto had made him, so long ago. Two years ago. Was it entirely ethical to copy a song, or multiple songs, from a mixtape someone else had made you? What if you changed the order? What if the person who made you the mix had copied at least half of the songs from Just Say Yes, Volume III: Just Say Mao, which you later discovered while looking through their CDs? What if the person who made you the mixtape was in love with you but you weren’t in love with them? What if the person who made the tape was in love with you and you had been in love with them, maybe, but you weren’t anymore? Was it really even okay to copy any songs from a mixtape? Paul decided it was okay if the tape had been given to you in the spirit of true love and had then become part of who you now were. It was not just okay, it was in fact crucial, then, to share this with your new love, so they could understand you.  He put the Joan Armatrading on, wondering what Tony Pinto would say about Diane. Or about Paul’s new look. What would Diane say about Tony Pinto? Some things were perhaps best not discussed.

I’m Lucky - Joan Armatrading

Caribou - The Pixies

(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman - Carole King

Kangaroo - This Mortal Coil

Hounds of Love - Kate Bush

Witchcraft - Book of Love

Freedom ‘90 - George Michael

Kool Thing - Sonic Youth

     The last song fit exactly on the tape. If that wasn’t a sign, Paul didn’t know what was. Diane was a Kool Thing. She did walk like a panther. They both were like fuck you to male white corporate oppression. Paul thought about how hot they looked together in the Polaroids they’d taken at Michigan. He couldn’t believe he was one of the hot girls in the pictures but there he was, four times a lady.

     He played the finished tape all the way through one last time while hunched over Jane’s kitchen counter with an X-acto knife, rubber cement, and a 1955 Playboy, collaging two tiny Bettie Pages onto a campfire scene for the tape cover. He listed the song titles on the cassette itself, as he’d seen art students do, using a fine-point silver paint pen, and on the outside of the case he carefully printed the words “Volume One.” He immediately second-guessed this title and swapped out the case for a fresh one, on which he carefully printed the words “For Diane.” Better not to be quite so obvious, he thought.

—Andrea Lawlor, from Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl (Rescue Press, 2017)

#quotations #andrea lawlor #paul takes the form of a mortal girl #mix tapes #music #90s nostalgia #was just thinking about this book again and remembering this section #and how it’s one of the best descriptions of making a mix tape for a crush ever #and also how there are so many songs on paul’s track list #which I definitely put on mixes for crushes at some point or another

[batsandemptybatteries]

i have this list of books on goodreads that i resonate with / mean a lot to me and … there’s a theme there (the theme is i’m trans and mentally ill)

#stone butch blues #middlesex #paul takes the form of a mortal girl #what belongs to you #goodreads #she who became the sun #the other books are in my native language so i won’t list them

[bi4bihankking]

Camp Damascus Summary:

horror @ the conversion camp!!!

Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl Summary:

Paul is a shape shifter able to change his body and his gender. He does this throughout the book as he explores different queer scenes in 90s America.

#camp damascus #chuck tingle #paul takes the form of a mortal girl #lgbt books #lgbt literature #queer books #queer literature #lgbtqia #poll

[zombiesun]

What was sex but newness? And sensation and conquest and intrigue and desire and romance and fantasy, and specific people sometimes, sure, but not always.

Andrea Lawlor, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

#bookshelf #andrew lawlor #paul takes the form of a mortal girl

[nyx-b-log]

was very distracted and almost forgot to do this! whoops.

i did finish paul takes the form of a mortal girl and don't really have anything to add beyond what i said last week. orlando is on my reserved list at my library, so be interesting to see what i think of that!

also finished the city we became, which was very much a fun time. it manages to do horror and humour and social commentary and like, comic book hero all equally well without sacrificing the value of any of those pieces individually. even when i wasn't necessarily vibing with it, i could appreciate what it was doing. also as someone who doesn't know new york very well i found it mostly accessible, but that's with years of unintended cultural osmosis so idk. don't currently have book two but it's definitely on my tbr!

have pushed on a bit with mortal coil but idk, either i'm getting burnout on these or it's the culmination of the plot points i don't like (caylan, fletcher, the looming stuff with the teenagers), or even that this one isn't read by rupert degas for some reason. think i'll take a break and come back to them either in print or at some other time.

this morning i also started maurice by e.m. forster, so i'm maybe 20 minutes in? it's a queer classic written in 1913-14 about two separate relationships in the titular maurice's life (one unhappy as a young adult and one more relaxed as an adult). interesting enough so far, with some very well written lines and laying down of ideas for later. some period-typical racism but so far no more egregious than i was expecting. the guy reading it pronounces his name like 'morris' which caught me off guard but i'm getting used to it now.

feel weird counting it (since i skipped the inter-chapter sections) but i did technically read two-thirds or so of volume two of my brother's husband (i finally have the rest!) but i don't think i can spare the time to really come back to it until i've finished ace attorney investigations 2 (which will be soon, i swear). it's still excellent btw, thoroughly recommend.

that's it for this week, will update again next week! for people who have it, enjoy the bank holiday!

#bookblr #books #reading #paul takes the form of a mortal girl #the city we became #mortal coil #maurice #my brother's husband #弟の夫 #kana deserves the world she really does #did i mention last week i'd started mortal coil? #ah well i did #scheduled

[perlukafarinn]

just finished reading paul takes the form of a mortal girl and i am obsessed with this book.

it is the queerest fucking thing you'll ever read and it has so much to say about identity, the way it's structured or assigned, the pressure to pick one, all the superficial forms it takes (the title character is obsessed with imagery signifying types but he also defies categorization himself).

it's also not just about queer characters but the community as it existed in the us in the early 90s and all the various subcultures within it, plus it's really funny and quotable. definitely read it if you can find it!

#paul takes the form of a mortal girl

[quotation--marks]

Paul went back to the house thinner, brushed his teeth, took a shower, and walked over to the Mineshaft before happy hour ended. Whatever there was for him tonight was outside, was another mystery, this mysterious universe with its mysterious purpose. He leaned his corduroy hips against the long wooden bar and ordered a Negroni, Tony’s drink, adopted after watching the young Warren Beatty down them in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone. Tony had thought Negronis classy and European. Paul savoured the Campari as if it were Tony’s blood, as if he were a vampire and could drink Tony to death. He understood that he had failed the test. What do you do after you fail the test and you’re still alive?

Andrea Lawlor, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

#paul takes the form of a mortal girl #andrea lawlor #2017 #2010s #21st century #american literature #queue pierce my soul

[kvothes]

finished one of the queerest books i’ve ever read in my life today. paul takes the form of a mortal girl. loved it a whole goddamn lot.

#books #personal #shapeshifting and avoiding one’s problems and being midwestern and queer in the nineties #paul takes the form of a mortal girl

[jaeden-and-his-terrible-opinions]

Paul takes the form of a mortal girl

I read this book only a week ago but it immediately became one of my favourites, even before I finished it. The story centers around Paul Polydoris, a queer 22 year old living in America in the 90′s, making his way through different queer communities and trying to fit in. He has a high awareness of people’s places within the queer community and tries to fit into his place as best he can.

Paul is not perfect. And I really think that’s one of the reasons I love him so much, he lives an unpredictable life, he has strong opinions and he tries to cover up aspects of himself to appear to fit the role he’s taken on, whether that’s an openly gay man, a lesbian, etc. 

Paul has many, many sexual encounters throughout the book. Usually, I would think ‘ew this is losing all the plot to sex’ but somehow, the way it’s written just shows how important sex is to Paul, how sex is way he cements his identity and finds himself.

Music also plays a really big part in the story, lots of songs and artists are mentioned throughout the book, Paul even going on a rant about song covers and gender (pages 36-39). The music used in the book gives you a better idea of the setting and the characters, plus they’re all really good songs!

Some of my favourite songs mentioned in Paul takes the form of a mortal girl:

Patti Smith - Gloria

Dear Prudence - Siouxsie and the Banshees

O Stella - PJ Harvey

I Am a Poseur - X-Ray Spex

Kangaroo - This Mortal Coil

Hounds of Love - Kate Bush (anything by kate bush is awesome, really)

Break on Through - The Doors

#book #transgender #queer #paul takes the form of a mortal girl

[goodpark]

Even in the fantasy, you couldn’t have her. Anyone could see her vulnerability but it wasn’t for you. To watch her was to watch the girl you loved fantasize about someone else.

Andrea Lawlor, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl 

#Andrea Lawlor #Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl #quotes #words #Linda Evangelista