Description
Struggle and ecstasy entwine in Lawlor’s breath-taking debut that combs through 1990s’ queer identity politics with the unique story of shapeshifter Paul Polydoris.
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 lesbian 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, 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.
Andrea Lawlor's debut novel offers a speculative history of early 90s identity politics during the heyday of ACT UP and Queer Nation. Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl is a riotous, razor-sharp bildungsroman whose hero/in Ewends his way through a world gutted by loss, pulsing with music, and opening into an array of intimacy and connections.
Number of pages: 320
Dimensions: 197 x 130 x 21 mm
