Symptoms of Being Human

by Jeff Garvin

• ISBN10: 0062382861
• ISBN13: 9780062382863
• Publish Date: 2 February 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 4.5 Stars

This book was really amazing. Even if Garvin had omitted the senseless acts of violence and aggression against those who are "under the umbrella", it still would have had a huge impact, and it was because of Riley. Riley's voice was so wonderful, and they did an incredible job helping me understand their views on gender. Very emotional. Very touching.

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[Heather]

Riley is a congressman's child in a conservative part of California.  The congressman is pushing for educational reform so Riley is taken out of private school and put in a public one for the first time.  First day jitters are worse because Riley is gender fluid and is unsure of how to present on the first day of school.  Within minutes of arriving at school, Riley overhears people guessing, "Is that a boy or a girl?" and one person decides to use "It" instead of any pronoun.

As part of Riley's therapy after a suicide attempt, the psychologist recommends starting a blog.  The second post goes viral.  (Yeah, right.)  Riley becomes an online star and eventually is outed publicly.  It is a huge problem because Riley's parents didn't know.

An interesting aspect of the book is that the gender that Riley was assigned at birth is never stated.  The author never uses any pronouns to refer to Riley.  I'm extra impressed by this because it was hard to write this review without pronouns, let alone a whole book.  (Some reviews I've read have taken issue with this because pronouns are a difficult part of life for some people.)

This is a very character driven novel.  Riley and friends are the focus more than the plot.  Bec is a new friend at school.  She's a social outcast and she's in a band.  She befriends Riley and becomes a potential love interest.  Solo is a former outcast turned athlete who befriends Riley.  This causes tension with his friends on the football team.

There is a lot of violence and abuse hurled at Riley in the book.  Several characters have either committed suicide or have attempted.

Symptoms of Being Human does a great job of introducing gender fluidity to an audience who may not be familiar with the term.  The author is not gender fluid but obviously did a lot of research into the subject.  I've only seen one review by a person who identified as being gender fluid on Goodreads and that was a positive review for the book.  The feel of this book reminds me a lot of None of the Above.  The intent of the book is to educate on the subject.  Large information dumps don't bother me at all but some people get annoyed by it.

I think this book is a good one for people to read especially if they aren't familiar with gender fluidity.  Riley has a unique voice and perspective on the world.This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story

[bestmessever]

It just makes my heart so happy that this book exists.

[Angie]

If you want to learn more about gender fluidity and read a great story about self acceptance and the power of the internet, then I'd highly recommend Symptoms of Being Human. Riley has recently started identifying as gender fluid: some days they feel more feminine and other days more masculine. However, Riley is not "out." With a politician for a father, Riley's family is always in the spot light and that's not what Riley wants at all. They just want to blend in, especially at their new school. Although blending in does cause Riley to stick out.

Symptoms of Being Human is all about Riley dealing with anxiety and their identity. As part of that, their therapist recommended starting an anonymous blog to share Riley's experience with learning that they're gender fluid, what that actually means, and how day to day life is for them. Riley's blog is funny, sad, enlightening, and just real. Of course, we also get to see how the internet is not always a nice, accepting place which becomes evident when Riley gains a stalker who know who is really behind the blog which threatens Riley's safe space.

I do have to admit that in the beginning I was wonder what gender Riley was assigned at birth. It's never revealed. Any references to Riley's birth gender/sex are danced around with neutral words. But at about 100 pages in, I realized that I wasn't even wondering anymore. I was just immersed in Riley's story and wanting to know what would happen next as they start making friends and find a community to be a part of. However, there was one point where keeping gendered words out felt forced and more like a way to keep up the "mystery." I didn't like that at all.

Symptoms of Being Human was a great read. It was hard at times, because Riley does go through some very tough moments which broke my heart and upset my stomach. But it's not an overall sad book. It's very hopeful and informative, while still having an interesting story that I think a lot of people can relate to, no matter what their gender identity is.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[whisperingchapters]

I had seen this book around but never really paid attention to it until my lovely co-blogger Gaby reviewed it a while back (you may check her review here because it's awesome!). Her review definitely made me want to read this book so I was excited when I got the chance to review the audio-book. This was a ride! Since my co-blogger reviewed it and covered all of the aspects, I will keep this short.

Symptoms of Being Human opened my mind to something I was very closed off on, but listening to this story helped me understand the LGBTQ community. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I got a lot more than what I bargained for. The author never revealed if Riley was a boy or a girl. NEVER! There were times when I really thought Riley was a girl, and others when I thought Riley was a boy. The author didn't use pronouns when referring to Riley. I was so sure it was going to slip somewhere and I was so very attentive but nope! So kudos to the author for keeping me guessing because the writing process must have been tough.

This book deals with diversity, bullying, depression, and suicide. All of these topics combined are bound to make for a very memorable and eye-opening story.

AUDIOBOOK IMPRESSIONS: Tom Phelan was fantastic as Riley. His voice worked perfect and it was hard to identify the voice as either a girl or a boy because it could fit for both. He brought Riley to life.