Can you imagine gender-bending body switching done well? A novel in which both bodies and minds are taken seriously, even amid the most impossible of circumstances?
Isle McElroy, who also identifies as non-binary, manages to capture the necessity and insignificance of gender in this brief, genius novel. The premise – a newly wed couple in their later 20s, living in Bulgaria, wakes to find themselves inhabiting one another’s bodies. We exist primarily in the perspective of Eli, who discovers that while his thoughts are his own, his body is that of his wife Elizabeth. He must literally take the perspective of his wife, who is off enjoying the freedom of his body – but where?
Eli was a waiter when he met Elizabeth – and from their earliest days, they realize how well he fits into her life, even if the reverse seems harder to imagine. She was from an upper middle class family who instilled in her the sense of her superiority – and in turn she became the embodiment of virtue. Elizabeth is the sort of person who believes deeply in developing her talents and giving patiently to others (even if she is often impatient at home). On the other hand, Eli was primarily raised by a tired single mother who could do little to instill in him his own virtue. He wants accolades and success as a writer – but he also doesn’t really understand how to do much more than passively want things.
In the wake of their swap, Eli confronts what it means to embody his love. The novel’s premise invites the reader to take the entire thing a little less seriously, enabling us to be present with the honest moments as they arise. Over and over again, lovers quarrel and then find one another’s hands, moving away from and back into safety. Parents and children separate and find each other anew. Friends open windows into their lives and then close them again.
This short novel was a great fit for a weekend read, may it find its way into your book queue soon!