Symptoms of Being Human

Written by Jeff Garvin

Narrated by Tom Phelan

A sharply honest and moving debut perfect for fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Ask the Passengers.

Riley Cavanaugh is many things: Punk rock. Snarky. Rebellious. And gender fluid. Some days Riley identifies as a boy, and others as a girl. But Riley isn't exactly out yet. And between starting a new school and having a congressman father running for reelection in über-conservative Orange County, the pressure—media and otherwise—is building up in Riley's life.

On the advice of a therapist, Riley starts an anonymous blog to vent those pent-up feelings and tell the truth of what it's really like to be a gender fluid teenager. But just as Riley's starting to settle in at school—even developing feelings for a mysterious outcast—the blog goes viral, and an unnamed commenter discovers Riley's real identity, threatening exposure. And Riley must make a choice: walk away from what the blog has created—a lifeline, new friends, a cause to believe in—or stand up, come out, and risk everything.

From debut author Jeff Garvin comes a powerful and uplifting portrait of a modern teen struggling with high school, relationships, and what it means to be a person.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Feb 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9780062447258

Jeff Garvin

Before becoming a writer, Jeff Garvin acted in films and TV and was the front man of a nationally touring rock band. He is the author of Symptoms of Being Human, which was a Lambda Literary Award finalist and was also named one of the YALSA Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, was an ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults selection, and was on the 2017 Rainbow Book List, and The Lightness of Hands. Jeff lives in Southern California, surrounded by adorable, shedding beasts.

Reviews for Symptoms of Being Human

[abby · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Breathtaking. So compelling and genuine. The best depiction of an enby character in media I have encountered

[Rhiannon Glaser · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I’ve never felt so many emotions reading a book. Incredible!

[Domii Quezada · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Una historia cautivadora. No pude despegarme de este audiolibro hasta terminarlo! Me gustó mucho la narración honesta, frustrafa y juvenil de Riley. Me dio una nueva perspectiva sobre el tema identidad de género, lo cual agradezco mucho.

Con humor, sarcasmo, honestidad y un genial narrador, este audiolibro trata sobre el camino que recorre Riley, una persona adolescente de género fluido, hasta llegar a aceptarse a si mism@ tal como es. Recomiendo este libro a cualquiera que quiera pasar un buen rato escuchando sobre el mundo tras la perspectiva natural (pero desconocida) de alguien de genero fluido.

Terminé de escucharlo con una sonrisa en mi cara. Agradezco a todes quienes hicieron posible este hermoso y valioso trabajo.

[Ana Richardson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is so important. My nephew recommended I read it and I’m so happy I did. It helped me understand

[Rehema · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It is what it is. It had the potential to be more....

[howifeelaboutbooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Riley is genderfluid, and as part of therapy, has to start keeping a blog. The blog starts off as a positive place where people come to Riley for advice, and Riley finds a community, but when someone from school starts threatening Riley, things take a dangerous turn.

[booksonshelves · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This is a well-written book but has an overabundance of information sharing. This unfortunately makes it read like a book not written for people who identify as gender-fluid, but instead as something designed to educate cis people. The focus on coming out (and the implication that this will make everything okay for the main character) is worrying, as is the fact that all Riley's friends have little purpose in the life other than to help Riley get to the coming out stage. I wish I could have loved this story more but it really fell short for me.

[Shay King · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a really great introduction to the concept of gender fluidity. I liked that you couldn’t tell the narrator’s assigned gender throughout the book, and I hope we’ll see more books like this that validate a variety of gender expressions to go along with nonbinary identities as well!

[TreenaNewton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was one of the best queer books I’ve ever read and that is substantial! An LGBTQIA2S+ must read. I only wish Jeff Garvin had more books published now so I could continue learning his truths. For anyone interested in the realities of or identifying as non binary, genderqueer or gender fluid, this book is a gift.

[theloft-415490 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Eye-opening exploration of what gender can and does mean for different; I didn't even know what gender fluidity was before this.

[dairyqueen84 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I couldn't put this book down. It captured gender dysmorphia and fluidity well (I think!). Riley and supporting characters were well developed.

[barnesbookshelf · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I greatly enjoyed the book. I found Riley to not be the most likable protagonist at the start, but I recognized that a large part of that was where they started and that they would grow, which they did, exceptionally. The one thing I wish I had had some warning about was the assault, which was jarring for me and could be very triggering for some people. I did feel that it was handled with care, however, with the fact that we don't get many details and the story quickly moves on to the aftermath. I would still recommend giving anyone you recommend this book a heads up about it. Overall, I feel that the book gives some great insight into some aspects of life that genderfluid people encounter.

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

teen fiction (vegan genderfluid teen with politician dad living in conservative Orange County).

[tonifgmamtc · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I like how this book is bringing attention to what it is to be gender fluid. I'm not an expert, but to me, it does a good job of helping the reader to understand the character. I do wish there would have been a little more going on that wasn't about gender identity.

[readingbeader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Everyone deserves to be accepted and treated like a real human being.

[ainjel-3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There was a lot of good in this book, but there was also a lot of... not so good.

Good:
- Riley. As a character, I found Riley to be really great. They're super engaging and kind of unlikable, which makes you like them more. Sometimes they're kind of whiny and annoying, but they're a teen with some major anxiety, so I get it.
- Ambiguity. I LOVE that Riley's "biological" sex is never revealed because it's really... kind of irrelevant.
- Solo. Another fantastic character. Ugh, I love him. What a guy.

Not-S0-Good:
- Bec. I really disliked her as a person. She... I don't know. I got some bad vibes from her and some of the things she did made me kind of squirmy.
- Internet Culture. ???????????????????????????????? It felt super idealized but also like it only existed as a plot device. I don't really mind the unrealistic internet culture but sometimes it made me roll my eyes a bit.
- The bullying. Listen. Listen. A lot of the "bad" characters in this book existed purely as villains and had no exterior motivations or fears, and were incredibly flat. And I get the book wasn't about them, but it could have *really* been elevated with some character development in this department. Also the *thing* that happens felt really out of place and unnecessary and I get that it happens in real life, but did it really have to happen here ?????????

All in all, I *really* liked Riley and Solo which made the rest of this book tolerable, and I like the message it sends and how it goes about gender fluidity, but it does come off kind of preachy and sensationalist at times.

But I liked it! I swear I did!

[rahkan-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Thought this was book was really good! Funny, sharp, and readable. And the form fits the content. Garvin does a great job of hiding the protagonist's assigned-at-birth gender in a way that doesn't feel forced: that mechanism by itself does a lot to hold up a mirror to the reader's own preconceptions. Book was filled with warmth and understanding, I blew through it a morning.

(I got an advanced reader copy of this book through an ARC tour for debut authors, but the copy carried no expectation or requirement that I review the book).

[sheilacornelisse · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A genuine read about what it is like to be a teenager questioning their gender identity. Riley's struggles to understand who she is and how to reveal this to her friends and family are depicted with honesty and respect by the author. This book is a highly recommended read for all teenagers, whether they are LGBTQ or not.

[brainannex · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Riley is all of the above, none of the above, and that is just fine with Riley, who identifies as genderqueer. Unfortunately, Riley's father is a congressman up for reelection and Riley has started a blog (anonymously of course) which serves as part journal, part therapy. Happily, this doesn't feel like an "issue" book, just a story of a kid trying to make their way in the world.

[thoughtbox-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The story of a genderfluid kid's coming to terms with themself as well as the world around them. It alternates between seeming very real and seeming very fictional, if that makes sense. Riley's (the main character) emotions and feelings definitely come across as authentic, but you're going to need some gloves to make your way through the kitchen sink of plotting.

[lycomayflower · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Riley Cavanaugh is a gender fluid teen struggling with the pressures of starting a new school, trying to decide how to/who to/when to come out, clinical anxiety, and being the child of a congressman whose re-election campaign puts his family in the spotlight. I loved this book. Riley is both snarky and funny, and following them while they make new friends, figure out how to talk to their family, and discover their voice (both on- and off-line) was wonderful. Garvin writes the whole book without ever identifying what gender Riley was assigned at birth or using any personal pronouns to refer to them. The narrative is in first person from Riley's point of view, so this is easier than it might sound at first, but even so, that Garvin does this almost seamlessly is no mean feat. That Riley's parents (to whom Riley is not out) never refer to them with any gendered language seems a bit odd at first, but it really didn't bother me much as I was reading. The only moments when I really saw the seams of this narrative decision was when Riley would talk about formal clothes their mom had picked out for them that they hated wearing because they were so gendered. It's very obvious here that the narrative is intentionally not telling the reader what kind of clothes they are (suit? dress?), but even then, since the narrative is from Riley's pov, it's easy to read this as information Riley simply doesn't choose to share. (And in presenting the clothes this way, it subtly emphasizes that it is okay that Riley doesn't share that information; that if Riley doesn't want others to know that about them, then it isn't our business.) And the effect of not knowing how Riley is seen by others (like his parents) is that the reader see's Riley as gender fluid instead as a human with x genitals who identifies as y. The reader has no choice but to read Riley as both instead of as one or the other. In addition to being a great YA story about all kinds of teenaged problems as well as gender identity, The Symptoms of Being Human is an excellent exploration of gender and why/whether/when it matters. Recommended.

[susan.macura · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Step into the world of teenager Riley Cavanaugh, gender fluid teen, as he/she makes his/her way in the world. This is a wonderful and insightful look at an endearing character who tries to make sense of his/her identity while navigating the often confusing world of a typical teen in a typical high school. This is a great, great book!