I am Smart Chapter 24 Discussion

So basically, the MC's main struggle is that she woke up one day and had something similar to massive brain damage, goes from 200 IQ genius to a swingset licker overnight.

And it's interesting to read how they describe becoming dumber. Rather than just being s*upid all the sudden and doing s*upid things, instead thinking too hard causes her debilitating pain, and she quickly gets used to avoiding thoughts. For example there's a scene right at the start where she tries to add two four digit numbers in her head and literally just about faints and collapses in the street from the headache it causes. So she becomes a 'no thoughts, head empty' airhead in a really believable way - it doesn't just like, delete her intelligence, instead it hurts too much and she stops applying herself.

BUT in return, she gains near super human athletic talents. But not muscles - she gets the kind of althetic skills that having a different brain might provide. Incredible kinetic vision, flawless hand eye coordination, extremely precise fine motor skills and near precognitave spatial awareness. Dead on aim. Keen intuition like an apex predator might have. All the mental, perception type athletic skills.

I think it's really cool how the author makes the getting dumber transition sound so plausible and follow a kind of consistent logic all throughout. And how the brawn part of "all brawn no brains" she picks up is also mostly a mental change.

And at the same time she's struggling with her cognitive abilities dropping off a cliff, she's simultaneously dealing with an involuntary s*x change and all the mental and physical consequences of waking up a girl one day. She has to buy pads and hair ties. Her taste buds changed and she no longer enjoys her favorite foods. She now has an insatiable sweet tooth. Her hormones are all out of whack and her different feelings subtly cause personality changes. She struggles with impulse control when it used to be easy (hormones are super important for decision making!), getting addicted to video games and losing the ability to manage her finances (she blows it all on her sweet tooth). Now a woman, her social group changes because she's more comfortable hanging out with other girls. Guys leer at her on the street. She loses job opportunities but also gains different ones. Etc etc

The story sneaks in dozens and dozens of "her life is different because she's a woman now" moments and slips them in so casually you don't even notice. That's something not a lot of gender bender stories don't even try to do, usually they might as well have just written a girl from the start, right? The bending tag is often pretty pointless. But this one really does something with it, legitimately exploring the gender changes and doing it gracefully.

I wouldn't be confident enough in my irl knowledge to claim that it's realistic, or even accurate to how this would go irl. But I will claim that it is *convincing*. Everything is presented in a way that's believable, logical, and sounds plausible, with plenty of well thought out details to really sell it. And all so smoothly you don't even think about it it while you're reading. I think the author did a really good job portraying how she adapts to her core identity changing in various ways, and just wanna leave a review to point out and appreciate the craftsmanship.