Symptoms Of Being Human Book Report

I just read Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin. The main character of this novel is Riley Cavanaugh. Riley is shy, rebellious, and gender fluid. Being gender fluid means that someone feels masculine, feminine, neither, or both. Riley goes through endless amounts of bullying, but she has her two friends to look out for her, Solo and Bec. Solo is a giant fan of Star Wars (that’s how he got his nickname), but he is also on the football team. Bec is a mysterious girl that Riley has a love interest in. The main theme of Symptoms of Being Human is to never judge a person about what they look like because their personality may be very different on the inside. In Symptoms of Being Human, Riley is severely bullied. People judge Riley for how he/she dresses. But, people don’t know that Riley is a sweet person who needs to be loved. Riley finally finds an accepting community when Riley starts an anonymous blog on the internet. Riley talks about the struggles of being gender fluid. On Riley’s blog, people support Riley’s decisions and they even ask her/him for advice. But, this loving community crumbles when an …show more content…
In this book, Riley deals with anxiety, panic attacks, and suicidal thoughts. To make it worse, Riley’s dad is a congressman and Riley has to deal with the media. Riley is forced to wear clothes that make him/her feel uncomfortable. Jeff Garvin wrote about an experience Riley had about having a bad panic attack at one of her dad’s dinner parties. I would recommend Symptoms of Being Human to people I know that are not that sensitive. Symptoms of Being Human is a book about a sensitive topic that some people may not be able to handle. The book is very emotional and anyone who reads it is bound to cry at least once. Even though the book is emotional, it is a great book that goes through a short period of Riles life while she/he is finding