a rant about gender (mostly. also other aspects of a book.)
I recently finished the book Symptoms of Being Human, and before I say anything else, I just want to say that I loved it. That book was absolutely brilliant, and I highly recommend it. While it is a work of fiction, I think that there are concepts in that book that are very real. For example, being a blogger, the anxiety that comes with being a blogger, as well as the hate that comes with it. Riley’s fear of coming out is something so real, and while I’m not personally gender fluid, I am bisexual, so that fear still lives deep in my gut, heavy like bricks. I could ramble about all the amazing parts of this book for hours and hours on end. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about. Maybe some other time. (beware!! semi-spoilers ahead!! they aren’t really spoilers, per se, just concepts in the book, but I just wanted to warn ya)
There are a few things I probably would’ve changed about the book, but that comes along with reading any work of fiction, I think. Overall, I’m in love with it, but there are two things that really stick out for me. One is how much Riley underappreciates Solo. It really made me mad. Solo was very clearly a true friend who did all he could for Riley, and Riley didn’t seem to appreciate it. All Riley could focus on was Bec, who wasn’t there when Riley really needed her. This happened on multiple occasions, and every time, Solo was there.
But what I really wanted to focus on was the way the author referred to any person as “he or she” or “he/she” when Riley wasn’t sure what gender they were. I realize that this wasn’t necessarily the author doing that, and by that I mean the author could just have wanted Riley to be that way and to have those views. That seems unlikely, though, considering how Riley is gender fluid and pronouns are never once used for Riley. In fact, Riley gets absolutely pissed when people ask “boy or girl,” so it appalled me that this kept happening. Even after Riley realizes that it isn’t good to assume someone’s gender and try to figure out what gender they are, it continues to happen. It just seems ridiculous that “they/them” wasn’t used instead of “he/she.” And it pissed me off, because it’s kind of disrespectful to do that. As I said, I’m not gender fluid, so I can’t speak on behalf of all gender fluid and nonbinary people, but I do have a couple gender fluid friends. From what they’ve told me, it pisses them off, too. I think that might have been the biggest flaw in the book.
