Sorry for the late post, there will be a blog post on Friday as well, but I apologize. Please forgive me, and let’s get on with the show.
Today’s book review will be Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin.
Symptoms of Being Human is about a young teenager named Riley Cavanaugh. Riley not only deals with the normal issues of being a teenager (high school and bullies), Riley has to deal with their dad being a Congressman for Southern California and anxiety attacks.
Now, I know you noticed I said “their'' when referring to Riley. This is because Riley (on top of everything else), is Gender Fluid. In simple terms, being Gender Fluid means sometimes Riley sometimes feels like a girl, and sometimes they feel like a boy. As they refer to it in their own words, their gender is like a dial. The needle sometimes points closer to “girl” and sometimes points closer to “boy”. I'll be posting a more in-depth blog post about non-binary genders on Friday.
Riley, from the advice of their counselor, starts an anonymous blog under the username “Alix”. This blog unexpectedly explodes in popularity after Riley gives a suicidal trans girl advice that saves her life, but sends her back home where she's almost beaten to death by her father.
Riley now not only has to deal with the issues mentioned earlier but now they have to deal with the guilt of their blog causing that girl harm. Its mentioned in the story that the girl is not only alive, but she also thanked Riley for the advice. Even though the girl is ok with everything and even encourages other trans people to come out, Riley still feels guilty.
This would all be overwhelming if it weren't for Riley's two new friends, Solo and Bec.
Riley tries to stay anonymous and in the closet as long as they can but can Riley manage to stay that way?
Symptoms of Being Human is the first book I've ever read with a non-binary main character. As a non-binary writer/person, this was refreshing. The only problem I had with this book is the lack of “they/them” pronouns. Using “they” are a pronoun is extremely common for non-binary people (this isn't the ONLY pronouns used, but the most common).
This book was written by a cis male (which is another problem I had, but he at least did a decent job representing the community). The other issue I saw was the main character reinforces the stereotype that non-binary people are teenagers who run a blog (all too familiar to the stereotype of non-binary people being SJW Tumblr users). I'm 28 years old, married with a child, and proudly non-binary.
If you're non-binary or want to change up your usual cis, white male reading list, give Symptoms of Being Human a try.
4.5 out of 5 stars.
Come back on Friday to read more about non-binary people, what it means, and other facts.
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