It's 1993, and by all appearances, Paul Polydoris is having the time of his life. He's a bartender at the only gay club in Iowa City, immersed in the college town's queer scene. He makes zines, has perfected the art of the mix tape and can have any man he wants--and usually does. "Why did people think Paul was so strange, so easy, so lucky?" the author wonders. "He wasn't. He was just willin', like Linda Ronstadt." But there's one thing in Paul's arsenal that few people know: he's a shapeshifter who can change gender at will.
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl follows Paul on a genderqueer odyssey across America. He changes into Polly and joins his best friend Jane at a Womyn's Music Festival in Michigan where he meets Diane, an animal rights activist. The intense sexual chemistry they share is matched by their love for each other. Together, they go to Provincetown, but it all falls apart; heartbroken, Polly changes back to Paul and takes off for San Francisco to start over. Old habits die hard as Paul struggles to come to terms with the things he's deftly avoided in his young life so far: connection, stability and identity.
In Paul/Polly, Andrea Lawlor has created a character who is both supernatural and completely familiar and accessible. Paul's quest for intimacy is universal, and his sexual prowess across the gender spectrum blurs the lines of masculinity and femininity. Infused with magical realism, panache and healthy doses of sex, Lawlor delivers a wild coming-of-age tale that will leave readers breathless. --Frank Brasile, librarian