“Symptoms of Being Human” is a 2016 YA novel by author Jeff Garvin. It tells the story of Riley Cavanaugh, a genderfluid teenager who experiences immense societal pressure from their peers and, in order to cope, begins a blog about their genderfluid experience.
Upon reading through the summary on the back cover, I was ecstatic to read about an experience that—fingers crossed—could be similar to my own. Unfortunately, upon finishing the book, I felt misrepresented and frankly more disparate from society than I had before I opened it.
The first red flag should have been the lack of any sort of mention or confirmation of Riley’s birth gender. Garvin’s intentions were clear, and the message he wanted to send was admirable and true, but he did it in all the wrong ways. Birth gender should be something that is owed to nobody, but for Garvin to make it totally and completely irrelevant to a story that is literally centered around gender fluidity and dysphoria makes for an unrelatable read and an unrealistic representation.
In addition to that, Riley doesn’t disclose their pronouns either. Nobody refers to them as anything but their name, and their parents only refer to them as their ‘kid.’ This would be understandable and accurate if their parents knew they were genderfluid—but they don’t. They know Riley is ‘different,’ but they aren’t aware of any sort of genderqueer identity. For them to immediately jump to the neutral for Riley is unrealistic.
Dysphoria is also grossly glossed over. All Riley talks about is certain aspects of their body feeling ‘wrong,’ but they never go into what about them is wrong. Sometimes they wish they were less angled or more soft, but that’s about as deep as it goes. There’s only talk of feeling ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine,’ but no mention of actually wishing they were a girl or a boy.
In addition to this, the storytelling is weak. The plot is predictable, and the characters are basic stereotypes (jock bullies, outcast friends).
All in all, it’s easy entertainment, but if you’re looking for something meaningful, relatable, and realistic, I wouldn’t recommend wasting your time.
