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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
ils3's review against another edition
4.0
Very good book with a unique point of view. Starts a little slow but somehow the end went twice as fast.
scarlet_scribbles14's review against another edition
3.0
Gender is a sensitive topic. It always has been and I myself have a problem with it --- being a Psych major and all.
But this book was insightful and well-written. I admit, it was a bit predictable and had an optimistic ending but overall, I liked the story.
But this book was insightful and well-written. I admit, it was a bit predictable and had an optimistic ending but overall, I liked the story.
cocoonofbooks's review
2.0
This book has received a lot of positive reviews, and they tend to be some variation of "Isn't it great that teens are getting exposure to the idea of an intersex person through this book?" To which I say, fine, I will award you a star for doing something relatively new and introducing some people to AIS and other intersex conditions. Maybe it will inspire someone else to write a book about an intersex person that's actually good. But holy hell, I would not hand this book to an intersex teenager, and definitely not to a transgender one.
I don't even know where to start with everything I disliked about this book. The writing was like a bunch of plot clichés pasted together with every clichéd phrase ever created. But the author was a physician first, trying to give life to the story of her own intersex patient, so I will cut her a little slack there. Still, I found it horribly anti-trans (there was this constant undercurrent of "No, I'm not trans" like that would be a horrible thing to be), and actually somewhat anti-intersex. The main character, Kristin, constantly refers to herself as a "freak" and eventually decides she's lucky because every other type of intersex condition is even worse. The word "hermaphrodite," which today can be considered a slur, is not just used by Kristin's bullies; it's used by her doctor when she first tells her about her condition, then by Kristin herself when she tells her best friends, and repeatedly throughout the book when Kristin thinks about herself.
Here are some more assorted thoughts about the book, hidden for spoilers:
• It was never presented as an option that Kristin could just turn down having sex with Sam the second time. I mean, she spent practically the entire book lying to everyone about everything, sometimes for no apparent reason, but when having sex with him is possibly going to cause serious damage to her truncated vagina, she's just like, Well, I have to suck it up and do it.
• Speaking of which, how did Sam go from literally ejaculating into her vagina to being like, "You were secretly a man this whole time, get away from me"? I would have expected him to be really confused, but not immediately hostile to the point that he told all of his friends (because based on what we know about how he found out, that's the only way they all could have found out, right?) And the bullying was unnecessarily over-the-top, I felt, and another way the book was anti-trans — when she's labeled a "tr***y fa***t" she's not like, "I can't believe anyone would use those words," she's basically like, "No, that would only be true if I had a penis."
• Kristin's logic is nonsensical at times. She decides that Sam must have found out about her diagnosis because V told her mom and V's mom and Sam's mom know each other. But then when she goes over to Sam's house and Sam's mom treats her normally, she's like, "Oh, I guess he hasn't told her yet." Even though her whole rationale for being angry at V for the entire book was that it was via their moms that Sam found out.
• The time jumps in the book were confusing. She goes back to school on a Monday and gets bullied, so she immediately makes an appointment to get a gonadectomy the following Wednesday (which I thought was the following week, but maybe not), and then it cuts to the surgery. Did she go to school on Tuesday (or the whole next week if it was the following week)? What happened? If she stayed home, how did she get away with it? We also jump right from her making plans to meet Gretchen to meeting her without any of the days in between, even though we're typically treated to a blow-by-blow of every single thing she does each day.
• Why did she lie to everyone about what her surgery was for? I thought the whole reason she rushed into it was because of what everybody thought about her, but then suddenly she didn't want to tell anyone that she'd had her gonads removed.
• Also, what was the point of that whole plot line about the surgery? Her doctor tells her not to have the surgery, and Gretchen shames her later for having had the surgery, but it's not exactly a cautionary tale — her only negative side effects come from not starting estrogen right away like she was supposed to, and then once she does everything is fine. It's like the author wanted to get the message out there not to rush into surgery (via the other characters), but also thought it would fit better with Kristin's constant self-loathing if she went ahead and got the surgery anyway.
• At one point, she says that something Mrs. Diaz tells her is as surprising as if she'd said she believed in "Immaculate Conception." So first of all, she's probably misusing that term to mean virgin birth, like a lot of people do, because the Immaculate Conception specifically refers to Mary being conceived without origin sin, not a general thing that might happen to people. And secondly, why would it be that shocking to her that someone believed in that? There are millions of Catholics in the world who believe that. That's like saying, "I couldn't have been more shocked if she'd said she was Catholic." Which would actually not be that surprising at all for an apparently Latina character, except that all of the ethnic diversity Gregorio put in this book seems to be very superficial, like she just wrote a bunch of white characters and then changed the names of a couple minor characters to sound Asian or Latina. Well, except for the Asian woman at the clinic who's so tiny that her hospital gown looks "like a muumuu."
• Throughout the book Kristin is constantly wondering if other people can tell she's "part-man" or if they think she looks "mannish," even though literally the definition of her condition is that her body was insensitive to the hormones that would have caused her to develop male characteristics. But then she seems to get that idea from the horribly rude and judgmental section where she and her dad watch Caster Semenya give a TV interview.
• Kristin is very anti-adoption throughout most of the book. I understand that some women have to go through a grieving process when they discover they can't birth children, but she seems to dismiss adoption out of hand as an inferior option. Then, the one character in the book who challenges her and defends adoption says that it's actually better because you're parenting a child who would otherwise be "unloved." I'm sorry, no, don't you f-ing tell my son that his birth mother went through the entire process of placing him for adoption because she didn't care about him. That is the exact opposite of his and most other adoption stories.
• When talking to Gretchen, Kristin asks what it means that most intersex people identify as female. That would be a great opportunity to talk about gender identity and how people tend to have an inborn sense of gender, which is why trans people typically seek to align their outward appearance with their own gender identity. But no, she talks about how gender is a social construct, basically implying that you can be whatever gender you want because it's all just a bunch of made-up social ideas anyway. Which is the opposite of a helpful idea for the many intersex people born with ambiguous genitalia whose parents decided to surgically force them into a binary gender with which they eventually decide they don't identify.
• I can't believe Gregorio had Kristin and Darren making jokes about rape whistles and trigger warnings. Especially given that Kristin is basically assaulted in an alley later in the book!
Clearly I had a LOT of thoughts on this book. I really do hope that it becomes more common for YA books to include intersex characters and narrators, because this book certainly should not be held up as the gold standard.
I don't even know where to start with everything I disliked about this book. The writing was like a bunch of plot clichés pasted together with every clichéd phrase ever created. But the author was a physician first, trying to give life to the story of her own intersex patient, so I will cut her a little slack there. Still, I found it horribly anti-trans (there was this constant undercurrent of "No, I'm not trans" like that would be a horrible thing to be), and actually somewhat anti-intersex. The main character, Kristin, constantly refers to herself as a "freak" and eventually decides she's lucky because every other type of intersex condition is even worse. The word "hermaphrodite," which today can be considered a slur, is not just used by Kristin's bullies; it's used by her doctor when she first tells her about her condition, then by Kristin herself when she tells her best friends, and repeatedly throughout the book when Kristin thinks about herself.
Here are some more assorted thoughts about the book, hidden for spoilers:
Spoiler
• The love story was not even remotely a surprise, because literally from the moment Darren was introduced, it was in such a clichéd way (accidentally brushing hands with him at the food table at Homecoming) that there was no other way the book could have ended. Plus he kept showing up at the most convenient times, like preventing her from walking out into the street. But what pissed me off the most is that Kristin never seems to come to terms with her identity in any sort of positive way, until the last few pages of the book where Darren kisses her and she's suddenly like, OMG, if someone else can love me then I must be an OK person after all.• It was never presented as an option that Kristin could just turn down having sex with Sam the second time. I mean, she spent practically the entire book lying to everyone about everything, sometimes for no apparent reason, but when having sex with him is possibly going to cause serious damage to her truncated vagina, she's just like, Well, I have to suck it up and do it.
• Speaking of which, how did Sam go from literally ejaculating into her vagina to being like, "You were secretly a man this whole time, get away from me"? I would have expected him to be really confused, but not immediately hostile to the point that he told all of his friends (because based on what we know about how he found out, that's the only way they all could have found out, right?) And the bullying was unnecessarily over-the-top, I felt, and another way the book was anti-trans — when she's labeled a "tr***y fa***t" she's not like, "I can't believe anyone would use those words," she's basically like, "No, that would only be true if I had a penis."
• Kristin's logic is nonsensical at times. She decides that Sam must have found out about her diagnosis because V told her mom and V's mom and Sam's mom know each other. But then when she goes over to Sam's house and Sam's mom treats her normally, she's like, "Oh, I guess he hasn't told her yet." Even though her whole rationale for being angry at V for the entire book was that it was via their moms that Sam found out.
• The time jumps in the book were confusing. She goes back to school on a Monday and gets bullied, so she immediately makes an appointment to get a gonadectomy the following Wednesday (which I thought was the following week, but maybe not), and then it cuts to the surgery. Did she go to school on Tuesday (or the whole next week if it was the following week)? What happened? If she stayed home, how did she get away with it? We also jump right from her making plans to meet Gretchen to meeting her without any of the days in between, even though we're typically treated to a blow-by-blow of every single thing she does each day.
• Why did she lie to everyone about what her surgery was for? I thought the whole reason she rushed into it was because of what everybody thought about her, but then suddenly she didn't want to tell anyone that she'd had her gonads removed.
• Also, what was the point of that whole plot line about the surgery? Her doctor tells her not to have the surgery, and Gretchen shames her later for having had the surgery, but it's not exactly a cautionary tale — her only negative side effects come from not starting estrogen right away like she was supposed to, and then once she does everything is fine. It's like the author wanted to get the message out there not to rush into surgery (via the other characters), but also thought it would fit better with Kristin's constant self-loathing if she went ahead and got the surgery anyway.
• At one point, she says that something Mrs. Diaz tells her is as surprising as if she'd said she believed in "Immaculate Conception." So first of all, she's probably misusing that term to mean virgin birth, like a lot of people do, because the Immaculate Conception specifically refers to Mary being conceived without origin sin, not a general thing that might happen to people. And secondly, why would it be that shocking to her that someone believed in that? There are millions of Catholics in the world who believe that. That's like saying, "I couldn't have been more shocked if she'd said she was Catholic." Which would actually not be that surprising at all for an apparently Latina character, except that all of the ethnic diversity Gregorio put in this book seems to be very superficial, like she just wrote a bunch of white characters and then changed the names of a couple minor characters to sound Asian or Latina. Well, except for the Asian woman at the clinic who's so tiny that her hospital gown looks "like a muumuu."
• Throughout the book Kristin is constantly wondering if other people can tell she's "part-man" or if they think she looks "mannish," even though literally the definition of her condition is that her body was insensitive to the hormones that would have caused her to develop male characteristics. But then she seems to get that idea from the horribly rude and judgmental section where she and her dad watch Caster Semenya give a TV interview.
• Kristin is very anti-adoption throughout most of the book. I understand that some women have to go through a grieving process when they discover they can't birth children, but she seems to dismiss adoption out of hand as an inferior option. Then, the one character in the book who challenges her and defends adoption says that it's actually better because you're parenting a child who would otherwise be "unloved." I'm sorry, no, don't you f-ing tell my son that his birth mother went through the entire process of placing him for adoption because she didn't care about him. That is the exact opposite of his and most other adoption stories.
• When talking to Gretchen, Kristin asks what it means that most intersex people identify as female. That would be a great opportunity to talk about gender identity and how people tend to have an inborn sense of gender, which is why trans people typically seek to align their outward appearance with their own gender identity. But no, she talks about how gender is a social construct, basically implying that you can be whatever gender you want because it's all just a bunch of made-up social ideas anyway. Which is the opposite of a helpful idea for the many intersex people born with ambiguous genitalia whose parents decided to surgically force them into a binary gender with which they eventually decide they don't identify.
• I can't believe Gregorio had Kristin and Darren making jokes about rape whistles and trigger warnings. Especially given that Kristin is basically assaulted in an alley later in the book!
Clearly I had a LOT of thoughts on this book. I really do hope that it becomes more common for YA books to include intersex characters and narrators, because this book certainly should not be held up as the gold standard.
lexilovesbooks1's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
classygigi's review against another edition
4.0
* 4.5 stars!
I ended up LOVING this so much more than I anticipated! This was an incredibly important story that was done SO well. It handled every topic realistically, but always with this thread of hope.
The first like quarter of the book was a little slow-moving for me, and I think the writing was definitely weaker in this beginning. However, once the story started picking up and became a little more #deep, the writing seemed to flow better, and the MC's perspective was more enjoyable.
The only other flaw was the ending. It was lovely, but it felt SO rushed. It was all this build of relationships and self-discovery and then BOOM it was all resolved in one night and like 20 pages.
Overall though, this was such a great and important story that was enjoyable, inspiring, and thought-provoking. Definitely recommended for people of all ages.
I ended up LOVING this so much more than I anticipated! This was an incredibly important story that was done SO well. It handled every topic realistically, but always with this thread of hope.
The first like quarter of the book was a little slow-moving for me, and I think the writing was definitely weaker in this beginning. However, once the story started picking up and became a little more #deep, the writing seemed to flow better, and the MC's perspective was more enjoyable.
The only other flaw was the ending. It was lovely, but it felt SO rushed. It was all this build of relationships and self-discovery and then BOOM it was all resolved in one night and like 20 pages.
Overall though, this was such a great and important story that was enjoyable, inspiring, and thought-provoking. Definitely recommended for people of all ages.
oliviadyd's review against another edition
2.0
"That was when I realized that life was a multiple-choice test with two answers: Male or Female. And I was None of the Above".
Plot Summary: This book is about a teenager, Kristin who is figuring out who she is. She has just been crowned homecoming queen instead of one of her best friends, Vee. She has her first sexual experience with her longtime boyfriend Sam and it leads to her going to the ob-gyn's office where she finds out that she is intersex. Throughout this book, we see Kristin figuring out her feelings about her identity, who her true friends are and figuring how how she can go to a judgmental school.
My Opinion: This book was bland and very slow. I have also been reading that it did not represent intersex people well. This was not an own-voices story. The author of this book is a practicing surgeon who was inspired by an intersex patient who she worked with. I wish that we got to see Kristin go back to school. I feel like a lot of this book was unnecessary rambling which could have been conveyed better. I thought the Author's Note in the back was interesting where I.W. Gregorio explained the real-life inspiration behind Kristin and she talked about intersex surgery.
Do I Recommend this book? No, I would not recommend this book. I know that there are other books written by intersex authors that are fiction and non-fiction. This book had alright friendship elements but, it also showed toxic friends who aren't accepting. It had a beautiful relationship between Kristin and her single father.
Plot Summary: This book is about a teenager, Kristin who is figuring out who she is. She has just been crowned homecoming queen instead of one of her best friends, Vee. She has her first sexual experience with her longtime boyfriend Sam and it leads to her going to the ob-gyn's office where she finds out that she is intersex. Throughout this book, we see Kristin figuring out her feelings about her identity, who her true friends are and figuring how how she can go to a judgmental school.
My Opinion: This book was bland and very slow. I have also been reading that it did not represent intersex people well. This was not an own-voices story. The author of this book is a practicing surgeon who was inspired by an intersex patient who she worked with. I wish that we got to see Kristin go back to school. I feel like a lot of this book was unnecessary rambling which could have been conveyed better. I thought the Author's Note in the back was interesting where I.W. Gregorio explained the real-life inspiration behind Kristin and she talked about intersex surgery.
Do I Recommend this book? No, I would not recommend this book. I know that there are other books written by intersex authors that are fiction and non-fiction. This book had alright friendship elements but, it also showed toxic friends who aren't accepting. It had a beautiful relationship between Kristin and her single father.
wingedcreature's review against another edition
5.0
I loved None Of The Above, and I have the feeling it's going to end up on my end-of-year favorites list!
I really felt for Kristin, and there were points were I was really angry at her classmates for how they acted. Granted, it's not surprising, and it seems like they don't care to know more about it, because they certainly have a lot of misconceptions. They were just so cruel, and I couldn't help but be angry on her behalf. I loved the relationship she had with her dad, who was really supportive.
I really felt like I got to experience the journey with her, and it really opened my eyes to what it's like to be intersex. (Much more than Golden Boy, and I think this one is the better of the two). I also loved that Gregorio had an author's note at the end of the book about why she wrote None Of The Above, and she even had a recommended reading list at the end- granted, it's only a few books, plus a few articles and websites to check out. Reading None Of The Above, it felt like the story was really important (and it definitely is, because I really believe it's a story that needs to be told) but that author's note really made me believe it was important for her to tell Kristin's story.
I also thought that the other relationships were interesting- particularly with her two best friends. I wish I could remember their names right now, but one gets blamed for telling the entire school, when it wasn't her fault. And there's her other friend, who mentioned it to Sam, Kristin's ex (she thought he knew), and that was how it spread to the entire school. Given how supportive she was, it did seem like she was involved somehow, like she was trying to make up for something. I don't blame her for it, because she really didn't mean to, but at the same time, so much happened because of it. And that character being kind and sweet...I had a hard time seeing it because I had a hard time seeing it as who she really was, instead of the way I saw it: as trying to make up for accidentally telling someone.
My Rating: 5 stars. This book is really special, and I loved it!
I really felt for Kristin, and there were points were I was really angry at her classmates for how they acted. Granted, it's not surprising, and it seems like they don't care to know more about it, because they certainly have a lot of misconceptions. They were just so cruel, and I couldn't help but be angry on her behalf. I loved the relationship she had with her dad, who was really supportive.
I really felt like I got to experience the journey with her, and it really opened my eyes to what it's like to be intersex. (Much more than Golden Boy, and I think this one is the better of the two). I also loved that Gregorio had an author's note at the end of the book about why she wrote None Of The Above, and she even had a recommended reading list at the end- granted, it's only a few books, plus a few articles and websites to check out. Reading None Of The Above, it felt like the story was really important (and it definitely is, because I really believe it's a story that needs to be told) but that author's note really made me believe it was important for her to tell Kristin's story.
I also thought that the other relationships were interesting- particularly with her two best friends. I wish I could remember their names right now, but one gets blamed for telling the entire school, when it wasn't her fault. And there's her other friend, who mentioned it to Sam, Kristin's ex (she thought he knew), and that was how it spread to the entire school. Given how supportive she was, it did seem like she was involved somehow, like she was trying to make up for something. I don't blame her for it, because she really didn't mean to, but at the same time, so much happened because of it. And that character being kind and sweet...I had a hard time seeing it because I had a hard time seeing it as who she really was, instead of the way I saw it: as trying to make up for accidentally telling someone.
My Rating: 5 stars. This book is really special, and I loved it!
inkphoenix13's review against another edition
4.0
Wow. Just wow.
Let say right off the bat that I rarely, very rarely cry when reading a book or watching a movie. I get invested in it, really I do, I'm just not an emotional person. And I knew I would at least enjoy this book, with everyone give it such high ratings - but I didn't realize how hard it would pull at my heartstrings and make me want to cry openly; in public. It's probably why my collection of contemporary books in very small compared to my fantasy - I want action and adventure, not high school drama.
High school. (shudders)
And yet I devoured this book in less then a day, and in the time between my morning college classes and for a a few hours afterward, I really connected with our main character, Kristen. I felt for her and my heart broke for her as she went through the horror of being outed on something you're not ready to share yet. Especially with that being intersexual, something that a lot of people don't understand clearly yet.
In this case, her entire school. Very few people treat her kindly through this book, and while a lot of people just ignore Kristen of give her strange looks, there's always those people that just want to hate. I wish that I had been inserted into the book myself sometimes, just so I could go in and give Kristen a hug. Maybe punch someone in a very sensitive place as well.
I have to admit, the reason this story might have hit me so hard is that while I'm not intersex like Kristen is, I'm going through my own hard time with something not a lot of people understand, and I fear what will happen to me if this is revealed before I'm ready. But just like Kristen, I hope that no matter what happens, real friends and family will still be there for you.
My Feelings in a Gif:
Let say right off the bat that I rarely, very rarely cry when reading a book or watching a movie. I get invested in it, really I do, I'm just not an emotional person. And I knew I would at least enjoy this book, with everyone give it such high ratings - but I didn't realize how hard it would pull at my heartstrings and make me want to cry openly; in public. It's probably why my collection of contemporary books in very small compared to my fantasy - I want action and adventure, not high school drama.
High school. (shudders)
And yet I devoured this book in less then a day, and in the time between my morning college classes and for a a few hours afterward, I really connected with our main character, Kristen. I felt for her and my heart broke for her as she went through the horror of being outed on something you're not ready to share yet. Especially with that being intersexual, something that a lot of people don't understand clearly yet.
In this case, her entire school. Very few people treat her kindly through this book, and while a lot of people just ignore Kristen of give her strange looks, there's always those people that just want to hate. I wish that I had been inserted into the book myself sometimes, just so I could go in and give Kristen a hug. Maybe punch someone in a very sensitive place as well.
I have to admit, the reason this story might have hit me so hard is that while I'm not intersex like Kristen is, I'm going through my own hard time with something not a lot of people understand, and I fear what will happen to me if this is revealed before I'm ready. But just like Kristen, I hope that no matter what happens, real friends and family will still be there for you.
My Feelings in a Gif:
stormydawnc's review against another edition
4.0
Wow, I had hopes for None of the Above and the book totally took my expectations and ran with them. None of the Above navigated the line between telling a good story and being educational with ease. At the beginning of the book, readers are introduced to Kristin–track star, Homecoming Queen, friendly and popular. She already has a scholarship to a school for the next year, a strong group of friends, and a caring boyfriend. Things take a turn, however, when Kristin and her boyfriend Sam decide to take the next step in their physical relationship–and it’s bad and painful for Kristin. She decides to make a doctor’s appointment as a precaution. She’s expecting she might get a bit of bad news, but she’s not expecting to be told she’s intersex. In Kristin’s case, she has a particular condition in which she has XY chromosomes, some male organs, and lacks a uterus. Suddenly, everything seems to have changed.
From there the story is a whirlwind of Kristin figuring out what this means for her, research into her condition and others like it, and trying to figure out how to tell those around her. Unfortunately, that last aspect is taken out of her hands and soon her diagnosis has spread to the entire school. Her boyfriend breaks up with her, she loses a friend, her locker gets trashed, and some particularly mean-spirited students start cyber-bullying her. She’s temporarily suspended from the track team, and soon she fears losing her scholarships.
The strength of None of the Above is how Kristin is forced to examine her life and truly think about what in her life has changed because of her diagnosis–and what is exactly the same. Kristin starts to come to terms with her self and realize that she’s still the same person she was before she knew any of this, even if the people around her perceive her differently. It’s tough and sometimes people are cruel, but Kristin realizes she can’t hold herself responsible for how other people react.
And y’all, some of the things that Kristin goes through are downright heartbreaking. People can be cruel, and None of the Above isn’t idealistic in how it treats the portrayal of those who bully and intimidate Kristin. When her classmates find out about her diagnosis, the reactions range from casually accepting to hesitantly tolerant to thinly veiled disgust to mean-spirited comments to outright bullying. The spectrum of how the characters in the book reacted felt incredibly realistic even when it was tough to swallow. At one point Kristin is the victim of an attempted hate crime and the way it was written and Kristin’s reaction to it put me in the story like few other books have in a very terrifying manner.
What made me root for Kristin, however, is how she began to build her life back together. She regains some friends(and loses others for the betterment of everyone), comes to terms with herself, finds herself learning to move on from her ex-boyfriend, and figuring out how to live with her new information. It’s a nice balance of Kristin learning that really she’s the same–her personality, her characteristics, her interests–but that doesn’t mean her life has stayed stagnant. There’s an incredible layer of growth there, especially since Kristin is so confused and scared of her diagnosis at first.
None of the Above reads as super informative and educational without ever giving off the impression of trying too hard. I had a vague idea of what intersex meant, but I didn’t realize the variety of how people could be intersex or what it might mean. Before reading I had trouble with the idea that Kristin could be seventeen and not know this about herself already–it seemed the kind of thing that would have been found in a physical or blood test prior to the age of seventeen–but after reading it totally made sense and I learned that some intersex people don’t find out until even later in life. None of the Above was super educational in this manner, but it didn’t read as a PSA–it still read as a story, which for me is the mark of a great contemporary book.
None of the Above is a book I believe will be talked about a LOT in the coming months, and it’s absolutely deserved. While it lacked the final OOMPH I need to give a book five stars, there really are no faults and I think Kristin’s story will resonate with a lot of readers.
From there the story is a whirlwind of Kristin figuring out what this means for her, research into her condition and others like it, and trying to figure out how to tell those around her. Unfortunately, that last aspect is taken out of her hands and soon her diagnosis has spread to the entire school. Her boyfriend breaks up with her, she loses a friend, her locker gets trashed, and some particularly mean-spirited students start cyber-bullying her. She’s temporarily suspended from the track team, and soon she fears losing her scholarships.
The strength of None of the Above is how Kristin is forced to examine her life and truly think about what in her life has changed because of her diagnosis–and what is exactly the same. Kristin starts to come to terms with her self and realize that she’s still the same person she was before she knew any of this, even if the people around her perceive her differently. It’s tough and sometimes people are cruel, but Kristin realizes she can’t hold herself responsible for how other people react.
And y’all, some of the things that Kristin goes through are downright heartbreaking. People can be cruel, and None of the Above isn’t idealistic in how it treats the portrayal of those who bully and intimidate Kristin. When her classmates find out about her diagnosis, the reactions range from casually accepting to hesitantly tolerant to thinly veiled disgust to mean-spirited comments to outright bullying. The spectrum of how the characters in the book reacted felt incredibly realistic even when it was tough to swallow. At one point Kristin is the victim of an attempted hate crime and the way it was written and Kristin’s reaction to it put me in the story like few other books have in a very terrifying manner.
What made me root for Kristin, however, is how she began to build her life back together. She regains some friends(and loses others for the betterment of everyone), comes to terms with herself, finds herself learning to move on from her ex-boyfriend, and figuring out how to live with her new information. It’s a nice balance of Kristin learning that really she’s the same–her personality, her characteristics, her interests–but that doesn’t mean her life has stayed stagnant. There’s an incredible layer of growth there, especially since Kristin is so confused and scared of her diagnosis at first.
None of the Above reads as super informative and educational without ever giving off the impression of trying too hard. I had a vague idea of what intersex meant, but I didn’t realize the variety of how people could be intersex or what it might mean. Before reading I had trouble with the idea that Kristin could be seventeen and not know this about herself already–it seemed the kind of thing that would have been found in a physical or blood test prior to the age of seventeen–but after reading it totally made sense and I learned that some intersex people don’t find out until even later in life. None of the Above was super educational in this manner, but it didn’t read as a PSA–it still read as a story, which for me is the mark of a great contemporary book.
None of the Above is a book I believe will be talked about a LOT in the coming months, and it’s absolutely deserved. While it lacked the final OOMPH I need to give a book five stars, there really are no faults and I think Kristin’s story will resonate with a lot of readers.
janeneal's review against another edition
5.0
This was such a good and important book. It's educational, enlightening, and still has all the great parts of a young adult book that are fun to read (best friend and romance troubles with a lot of feelings).
I'm glad that the author is also a doctor. It really helps to strengthen the knowledge throughout the book and gave myself, as the reader, a better and more empathetic understanding for Kristin and what she went through. In the hands of someone less knowledgeable, it may not have accurately portrayed the struggles of an intersex person at Kristin's age.
This is a great book I would recommend anyone read, both for awareness as well as compassion.
I'm glad that the author is also a doctor. It really helps to strengthen the knowledge throughout the book and gave myself, as the reader, a better and more empathetic understanding for Kristin and what she went through. In the hands of someone less knowledgeable, it may not have accurately portrayed the struggles of an intersex person at Kristin's age.
This is a great book I would recommend anyone read, both for awareness as well as compassion.