#jeff garvin

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.

Quick Review: The Lightness of Hands by Jeff Garvin Rating: 5/5

I was hesitant to pick up another Jeff Garvin book but I'm so glad I gave The Lightness of Hands a go.

It's a story with a lot of sharp edges but with a beautiful heart at its centre. The characters are rough but fascinating and I couldn't look away as they trundled into impossible situation after impossible situation. I loved the look into the world of working magicians and it was really interesting to read an #OwnVoices representation of bipolar II disorder.

"And when I handed in the first fifty pages to my writing groups, they enthusiastically urged me to continue—but first, they wanted to know if being gender fluid was 'a real thing.'

That's when I knew I HAD to write this book." Perfectly copied except had was italicized and I am too tired to figure out how to do that on my phone.

Anyway, this novel has made me feel seen. Seeing it in Barnes and Noble that day made me cry. I had to have it. I begged my friend to get it for me as a b-day present (I visit Barnes and noble for books on my b-day) since I couldn't ask my mom for it since she's transphobic. My friend agreed. I felt so anxious out of pure excitement. Reading this book has made me feel seen. Riley's experience with gender isn't exactly like me (especially since I'm genderfluid too), but still. They even make points about how they're clinging to old ideals, how they try to put other nonbinary gender folks into a box because they experience their gender on a spectrum of male to female. And so much more. It makes me so happy. The coming out scene made me cry when they came out to the LGBTQ+ support group and effectively her friends in that scene.

The Symptoms Of Being Human

By Jeff Garvin

Pages: 330

My own summary:

Riley is a genderfluid teen starting at a new school part of the way through their junior year. Riley's father is a congressman and Riley hates being used for publicity because no matter how much they love their dad it's not worth it. They go into school trying to blend in and do the opposite. Riley's therapist recommended writing an anonymous blog so they do just that, and it all spirals from there.

The good:

This book opens up and builds a pretty good starting point for conversations surrounding mental health and gender identity. The main character Riley suffers from anxiety due to many things, one of which being Riley's identity which happens to be gender fluid.

The not so good:

While being a junior in high-school and is said to have done extensive research about gender and gender identity, Riley is written to still not really understand it. That's ok at first but throughout the book it is written as a big deal whenever Riley genders someone wrong in their head, I have never met a trans person who did that and while I have no doubt that they exist, it didn't have to be made such a big deal.