Insufferable couple awaken with bodies swapped. One goes to find the other, the other has taken off to explore life in this new body. Book doesn't go as deep as it should.

This book was amazing and really made me think. What a great exploration of lgbtqia issues and a genius idea that I've never heard of in a book before.

One morning, Eli leaves his Bulgarian apartment and leaves for work, only to discover that he is somehow in his wife Elizabeth’s body, and she is nowhere to be found. As he tracks her down, we look at how men and women are treated differently in society today. Will Eli be able to find Elizabeth? If so, what will happen to their marriage? Can they get back to their own bodies?

This story was a unique twist to the Freaky Friday scenario; the switching of bodies is about the only thing those two stories have in common. It was entertaining to see Eli realize how different the world is when you inhabit a woman’s body. This was definitely one of the weirdest books I’ve read this year, and I’m not sure how I felt about the end. If the premise of the book sounds intriguing to you, I recommend checking it out.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book.

People Collide, by Isle McElroy is a thought-provoking and mind-bending novel about relationships and identity. Eli awakens in the body of his wife, Elizabeth, to find that she has gone missing in his body.

This is a novel of questioning one’s identity and sense of self and also contemplating relationships and how we inhabit not just our bodies but the world around us. As Eli watches Elizabeth inhabit the world in his own body, he is jealous, although he was jealous of her success in her own body as well. Elizabeth experiences the freedom to leave her past and to start anew with the privilege of a male body.

The conclusion is fascinating as they are reunited with their parents and the feelings they bring to the disappearance and the seeming abandonment by Eli. It is a multilayered look at parents and how they view their children, how they believe they know them deeply intuitively, and how they would be shocked to know the truth of the matter.

The narration on the audio is masterful in its dual narration and helps add clarity to the voices of the novel.

Isle McElroy is an author I discovered at the library when I found their debut work, The Atmospherians, which I loved and thought was criminally under read. I am so excited to preview their second novel here. People Collide, is a sort of "Freaky Friday" storyline, but make it super gender aware and also have realistic consequences for a completely fantastical premise.

I was thoroughly entertained from the beginning when Eli wakes up in his wife's body and has to figure out how to navigate his new circumstances while also feeling like he owes his wife's body a level of respect he never gave his own. This novel is filled with spot-on observations about everything from gender roles to parenthood and marriage that really reflect a deeper understanding of humanity on the part of the author. There are so many quotable moments, and also one of the most confusingly steamy open door romantic scenes I have ever read.

The plot does seem to suffer in exchange for the themes McElroy is attempting to cover. There is at least one character whose existence doesn't seem to serve the novel in anyway, and while the settings chosen for the novel seem very intentional (locations in Europe) those locations don't really serve the novel, either. I also found the closing chapters really unsatisfying. Overall, though, a really entertaining read with plenty of food for thought packed in.

I did enjoy the casted audiobook narration for this novel and would recommend the audiobook for listeners like myself.

I’ve been sitting on this review for a few weeks and I just don’t know what to say. This book was very strange and kind of felt like a fever dream, which is normally not a problem for me (truly the weirder the better). But, this one was like a cat and mouse game, only to find out in the end the race was pointless?!

That being said if I recommend this to someone I’d definitely recommend the audiobook (this was the way I read it) because it seemed somehow easier to understand what was going on and the voice actors were great!!

It just lind of stinks that I’ve read books that had a similar premise that were executed much better…and I was hoping I could add this to the list!

2.75⭐️

Special thanks to Harper Audio for the ALC for review purposes!!

This book swept me up and carried me away. I could not stop listening once I started, because I had to know what happened. The multiple narrative voices are done perfectly by the narrators and only enhance the already great writing. What are you waiting for?! Listen to this!

The premise of this book is familiar: a man suddenly, inadvertently swaps bodies with his wife. But what McElroy does with PEOPLE COLLIDE makes this trope feel truly new and innovative, almost as if this were the first time it was done well. What are the implications of a man waking up in a woman’s body, and vice versa? When removing bioessentialism from the question and infusing it with queer and feminist theory, and then rendering it in the form of fiction—well, you might end up with something a little more interesting. But even then, I’m making it sound too didactic, which the book isn’t at all. What PEOPLE COLLIDE does is so much more than that—it presents us with two compelling characters grasping with the reality of living with a new gender, the possibilities unlocked as well as the difficulties faced, all while they are trying to mend their broken relationship, contend with living in a new country, and deal with their parents’ involvement in their lives.

I got to listen to the audiobook, which was excellent, but I’m excited to buy a physical copy that I can read over and over.

Read this book!

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the advance copy of the audiobook.

Eli and Elizabeth are married Americans living in Bolivia due to Elizabeth’s job teaching Bolivian students about America. They both hope to be riders and although Elizabeth is more talented and has published more short stories than Eli he is still the one who stays home “riding“ while she teaches he does go to her school every day however for two hours helping her as a teachers assistant and on this day he is late like always I’ll wait to arrive and see Elizabeth’s mentor teaching her class instead. It isn’t until that moment when he notices his hands which are not his hands at all but Elizabeth eventually when he makes it back to his apartment he doesn’t know what to do this will begin the journey of them searching for each other Eli as Elizabeth even goes to meet her parents and her mother is worth reading this book alone for C is a character NAF this is a brilliant story it was funny and so smartly done I enjoyed the narrators if you love a book with great adventure and an international fun flair then you will definitely love People Collide bye I’ll McElroy you don’t always get smart and funny in the same book but you definitely do with this one I absolutely enjoyed it and I’m so glad I got to listen to it. I want to think the publisher and net galley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

What an interesting concept for a book. I truly enjoyed this audiobook and felt that it was a quick listen. I did find myself constantly rewinding to fully understand what was going on. A lovely story, overall.

People Collide by Isle Mcelroy is truly unique!

This book has everything: Bulgaria, pizza ovens, paranoid german men, a pair of hotel slippers, snooping neighbors

I don’t know what I was expecting when I started reading this book, but what I didn’t expect was to be taken on an emotional and mental rollercoaster of a “no-plot, just vibes” self-discovering journey. This book has a little bit of everything, from mystery, to gender commentary, to heartbreak, sex, and everyday life. There are a few scenes I still think about from time to time.

Thank you NetGalley & Harper Audio for the ALC. A special thanks to Isle McElroy! All opinions are my own.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

Not really what I was expecting but still good? I didn't completely connect with the characters but still enjoyed it, and it kept my attention enough. The narrators were good.

....what?! Did I read the same book as y'all? Because man oh man, this was just not for me at all. There's nothing wrong with the writing or the plot, I just didn't personally connect with the story on any level.

Elizabeth and her husband Eli mysteriously switch bodies one morning, and Elizabeth (in Eli's body) has vanished into thin air, without a trace. When Eli gets a tip that his wife is in Paris, he sets out to find her, and their reunion is honestly so freaking strange. And then we randomly get a POV of Elizabeth's mom? I don't know, this added nothing to the story for me and was confusing. And why are both main characters so wretchedly unlikable? Is it just me? Am I having a bad day?

Anyway. Maybe this is a moving portrait of love and identity, but I completely missed that part of the book. Some of my friends whose opinions I trust enjoyed this, so please don't take my word as gospel if you're interested in a more mature Freaky Friday scenario (and when I say "mature" I also mean there's quite a hefty dose of spice halfway through).

Thank you to BookSparks for my physical copy, and HarperAudio/NetGalley for my audio copy.

A very compelling and beautiful queer story. I loved the narrator and the writing style of the novel itself.

This was an interesting read, certainly for one who grew up watching all those body-swapping movies of the 80s! It was much more literary than silly but still an enjoyable, sometimes perplexing, read. The ending was unexpected and almost made me wonder if more swapping might be on the horizon. Only time will tell...

Um...

I’m queer. I primarily read queer books. I requested this book from NetGalley bc it was listed with the other LGBTQIAP+ books on offer.

But…no one in this book is queer?

Is the author meaning to imply that when a cis man is inexplicably transported into a cis woman's body, that body’s genitalia determines the occupant’s gender? Bc that's an old and extremely problematic narrative that the community is fighting to eradicate. I'd also like to believe a non-binary author would never be so transphobic.

I will say there was an interesting opportunity here to explore sexuality. If two cishet people, each with a different binary gender, somehow swap bodies, if they have sex with each other in their new bodies, what, if anything, does that imply about their sexuality? But even though the question is raised, it is not explored.

There were also opportunities to explore the impact of misogyny and how different genders experience the patriarchy differently. Shallow observations were made, but time and again the author redirects the narrative rather than explore those observations. It was almost like they were afraid to look at it. But then why write this book?

And because I don't understand what this book was trying do, I don't know how to rate it.

E for effort?

3.75 stars. McElroy delivers a creative novel with a clean, clipped writing style. I didn't disappear into the story, but I remained consistently intrigued throughout. The audiobook performances were excellent.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review!

When husband and wife switch bodies and one goes missing, they learn a lot about how different the world looks from the other side.

While I am not normally one for a body swap book, I was drawn to this one and so glad I was. There were so many layers to this one. I loved how thought provoking and deep it could get without sounding to forced. This one really exceeded all of my expectations in the best way.

4.5/5

I am so bummed this book didn't work for me. I loved the blurb and also hell yes for anything gender-bending. This one fell flat with the writing style, not for me!

Isle McElroy's "People Collide" has taken me on a journey! The story of Eli and Elizabeth, a married couple who switch bodies. I know, you are probably thinking this has been done so many times. It has, but not at all like this.  When Eli discovers that he is in Elizabeth's body, Elizabeth is missing. It turns into a trip across Europe searching for her, while maintaining a facade for inquiring family and friends wondering where HE ran off to. 
    With the new perspective on the body swapped relationship, will it survive? This book examines sex and gender roles, relationships with one another and our families, who our true selves really are, and has what has to be the most unusual sex scene I have encountered in recent times. 
    I was graciously given an audio copy of this book, and Daniel Henning and Aida Reluzco do a fantastic job in telling these stories and nailing the various accents from Bulgarian to French