Kristin is a confident high school senior, comfortable in her own skin. She's a star hurdler on her school's track team, she's the girlfriend of her school's star football player, and she was just voted Homecoming Queen. All of this comes crashing down around her when a routine visit to the gynecologist results in a life-changing diagnosis: AIS (Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome), or Intersex. Kristin was born with female physical anatomy but male internal reproductive organs.
Understandably, this tilts Kristin's whole world. She now must consider what it means to identify herself as a specific gender and how sexist our culture is when it comes to male and female social norms and characteristics. As relationships with close friends and her boyfriend, not to mention her track career, all end abruptly, she discovers other people who have been there for her all along. It is now up to Kristin to decide who she wants to be, inside and out, and to not only accept herself for who she is but also everyone around her.

Thoughts: None of the Above shows a brutally honest point-of-view for the intersex community, including what gender identification means, the difference between gender identification and sexual orientation, and many misconceptions about AIS including the negative connotation of the term "hermaphrodite". It was heartbreaking to follow Kristin as she not only tries to figure out what an AIS diagnosis means for her biologically, but also as emotionally and psychologically in our current culture where many people like to pretend they are much more accepting than they really are. Friends who turn on her, a boyfriend who not only breaks up with her but also lashes out at her with vicious derogatory names, and a suspension of her track career when schools complain that her coach let a "boy" run as a "girl" to win meets all add to the harsh reality of being intersex. The brutal honesty of None of the Above is one to share with high school students and adults alike.

I was browsing through Netgalley as I hadn't looked in absolutely aaggeeesss, and I stumbled across None of the Above, read the description and I was immediately intrigued. I had never read a book that had an intersex character as the protagonist before and the premise of the book sounded really interesting.

What if everything you knew about yourself changed in an instant?

When Kristin Lattimer is voted homecoming queen, it seems like another piece of her ideal life has fallen into place. She's a champion hurdler with a full scholarship to college and she's madly in love with her boyfriend. In fact, she's decided that she's ready to take things to the next level with him.

But Kristin's first time isn't the perfect moment she's planned—something is very wrong. A visit to the doctor reveals the truth: Kristin is intersex, which means that though she outwardly looks like a girl, she has male chromosomes, not to mention boy "parts."

Dealing with her body is difficult enough, but when her diagnosis is leaked to the whole school, Kristin's entire identity is thrown into question. As her world unravels, can she come to terms with her new self?

The beginning of this book nearly put me off. The main characters name is similar to mine and her boyfriend's name is the same as my ex... So it just felt waaayyy too real and I thought I wouldn't be able to read it because of the similarities but I ignored my stupid, emotional brain and carried on. At first, everything was a bit strange, their romance was too sweet and I felt like hurling but then when she finds out that she's intersex, everything changed. Sam turned into a right monster and I wanted to slap him. He showed a completely different side to himself, and he started acting almost inhuman towards Kristin which really annoyed me. YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THERE FOR HER! But no. He turned his back on her when she needed him the most.





"The world around you may have shifted, seen you in a different light. But the Mona Lisa is a masterpiece whether it's in a pitch-black room, under a strobe light or in the sun."

- I.W Gregorio, None of the Above






I felt so bad for Kristin to be honest. Everything was just collapsing around her. Her Dad was pretty much the only stable element in her life. I can't really say much because of spoilers but her friends really annoyed me as well. Especially at the end when you find out something about her friends. I felt like shouting and screaming at them. Yeah... There were a lot of times where I wanted to slap the characters because they just made stupid decisions. However, during that whole friend thing at the end, Kristin also annoyed me because she conveyed the idea that it was ok for one friend to do something but then not ok for another one of her friends to do it and it just really confused me.

I do think that this is a really important book to read though. It was really really informative about being intersex without sounding like a leaflet that you would find in the doctors or hospital. I especially learnt a lot through Kristin's doctor because she explained what intersex meant to Kristin in such a helpful way, which also educated me at the same time. Gregorio definitely didn't pull any punches when she was describing intersexuality. She described it in a raw, emotional way that made you really connect with Kristin and cry for her when the whole school pretty much turned on her. How can people be so heartless and cruel?! They all turned into monsters and I really really don't know how Kristin managed to cope with it all. She was so brave, and I was glad when she sought out an intersex community where people going through the same thing (or had gone through the same thing) could help each other.





"You fall for the person, not their chromosomes"

- I.W Gregorio, None of the Above






Another thing that really annoyed me about this book was the love interest. I just thought that it was really sudden and rushed. The same goes for the very end, it seemed to end very quickly. I would have liked to see the events after the ending and how Kristin started to grow and feel more comfortable in her own skin.

Overall, this was an ok book. I loved how educational it was and how it featured an intersex main character. However, there were those little things that let it down and stopped this book from being a 4/5 star novel. BUT! None of the Above IS Gregorio's debut novel and I'm quite looking forward to what she writes next!

Disclaimer: this book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

A great read that will open your heart and mind. (5 stars)

Feeling foreign in your own skin can be a pretty big part of being a teenager in general. But for LGBTQIA+ teens who don't see themselves in movies, comics, television, and books it can be even more of a struggle. I've been very pleased to find more and more wonderful reads featuring teens who are LGBTQIA+ sometimes even where it wasn't the central focus of the character's plot (they just are and it's no big deal) which is awesome. The world is diverse and as a reader I just really enjoy experiencing perspectives that are different from my own so I actively look for them.

NONE OF THE ABOVE was actually the first time I've read a book about an intersex character. I knew a bit about what intersex means and as a bit of a science geek I've always found the science of it to be really interesting. I'd never experienced it through a character before and I know it won't mirror every intersex teen's experiences but Kristin felt so real to me. At times it was painful to see how alien she felt and if ever I could have jumped in to support a fictional character I think this would be it.

A great exploration of gender and identity, NOTA, was also a story about family, friendship, and learning to loving yourself even when you feel unlovable. It was a really great read, one I am sure to recommend often to teen YA readers in particular, but also to anyone who is raising a teenager, teaches teenagers, or was once a teenager.

This book hit me right in the feels. Granted, I have never dealt with the issue that was addressed in this book, but high school was rough, so I could identify quickly.
I could tell that the author put a lot of effort into making sure that the story was accurately portrayed and it was also well-written which I appreciate.
definitely not your run of the mill contemporary YA, and that I am grateful for.
thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC of this title.

This book was absolutely fantastic. The writing was so easy to fall into and the topic was one that I've never encountered in YA before. It was a very educational book as I got to learn about intersex and what that means (at least to the main character) and that was something that I had only encountered once I picked up this book. I feel that this is a topic that should be talked about more because it was a really incredible experience reading about it and seeing how the main character dealt with her diagnosis. There were so many times I just wanted to reach into the book and hug her because the things she was going through were just beyond awful. It was hard to see pretty much everyone turn against her and judge her without really understanding what she was going through, but I think in the end she handled things the way she should have. None of the Above was an incredible book filled with lovable characters, enjoyable writing, and a topic that I truly enjoyed diving into!

I love reading good fiction with a message. I also learned a lot while reading this very well researched book. Kristin is a very well developed and interesting to read, the trajectory and plot of her story are captivating and that is what kept me reading through the story. I loved that I actually cared about what happened to Kristin. Well done.

Summary: Kristin Lattimer seems to have an ideal life for a teenager. She is surrounded by best friends that she's known forever, she is madly in love with her boyfriend, Sam, she is a talented hurdler and runner, and she is voted homecoming queen, without even realizing that she'd be picked! However, it is that homecoming night that changes her life forever. After deciding to take her relationship with Sam to the next level, Kristin realizes that there is something VERY wrong so she makes an appointment with a friend's OB-GYN. It is at this visit that Kristin learns that she is intersex--an individual who, in this case, looks female on the outside but whose body contains male parts. Kristin struggles to deal with her own diagnosis and, after a night of heavy drinking, her secret is revealed to the entire student body and...boy, are they unkind.

First and foremost, this book is SO relatable and downright heart-wrenching! I think it will appeal tremendously to my students because it is clear that Gregorio wrote with a young adult audience in mind. She includes the types of events that my teen students encounter on a daily basis. For example, she explores the the fragile world of high school parties. I have seen, firsthand, the awful repercussions of things said and done at these parties and how behavior at a party transcends, unfortunately, to the school setting. Another example is the tumultuous relationships that exist between teenagers. Those questions of: who can I trust? When is it okay to keep a secret and when should I tell an adult? Kristin learns the answers to these questions, even though she doesn't want to. And, of course, my students, in this day and age, are certainly beginning to learn how diverse the world is. The term "intersex" is a relatively newer term and I think Gregorio inadvertently teaches about being intersex without sounding a like a dictionary.

Overall, I just appreciate this story for being so real and informative, all at the same time! Plus, it helped that it consistently tugged at my heartstrings. It isn't easy to be reminded that we, as humans, don't always treat each other with the utmost respect or empathy and that saddens me immensely.

I had such high hopes for this book, because there is so little representation of intersex characters as MCs and this seemed like such a good opportunity to inspire others to tell stories about those with AIS, too.

My biggest disappointments were just how cruel some of the characters were, how violent their hate towards Kristen was. While it was commendably visceral to read, it wasn't something I enjoyed. I also sensed the ~romance~ blossoming and I'm just not sure it had a place in a book that is (to me) about Kristen becoming more comfortable with the reality of her realisation/diagnosis. Instead it felt somewhat like she needed the romance element (and not just friendship or family) to feel validated.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book*

This is undoubtedly one of the best books I’ve read this year. Although ‘None of the Above’ isn’t an own voices intersex story, Gregorio is a medical professional who has dealt with intersex patients and the amount of research and sensitivity reading that has gone into this book shows in the way it’s informative, sensitive and, most importantly, a delight to read!

I immediately fell in the love with Krissy’s voice, it was perfectly on the border of functioning teenager and in-the-middle-of-a-crisis teenager. The vibe of the whole thing is very ‘summer contemporary’ even though Krissy is dealing with an incredibly complex subject. I admired Krissy’s optimism, but loved her vulnerability even more. When everyone else finds out about Krissy being intersex, everything she loves is taken away from her for various reasons, and while this was heartbreaking (I was completely disgusted with the way her friends treated her!) Krissy was such a rational person, her voice never descended into melodrama.

I feel like I know so much more about intersex and I thought they way the terminology was handled and explained wasn’t in your face. It’s the most natural doctor-patient dialogue I’ve ever read. I also LOVED that Krissy did what felt right for her, she handled things very healthily and cut toxic people out of her life. (Thank goodness!) I would’ve wanted more of the plot to be dedicated to the friendship side of things, because while the romance was lovely, closure was lacking on some of Krissy’s other relationships.

The long and short of it is: EVERYONE needs to read this book, and I’ll be shouting about it all year.

BROOKE’S REVIEW

Gregario’s None of the Above is a poignant story about a girl who discovers that she is intersex. “What if everything you knew about yourself changed in an instant?” Finding the answer to this question is a central theme of the novel. Not only does Kristin Lattimer have to grapple with this internally in the wake of her diagnosis, she has to come to terms with her identity in front of the judging eyes of her peers since someone tells the whole school.

Kristin’s relationships with her friends are called into question once she discovers that she is intersex, as she is the target of various bullying attacks. Kristin finds support in unlikely places, as she connects with friends from the past and other intersex teens.

Throughout the novel, Kristin gathers information to make a complex, high-stakes medical decision. There’s no right or wrong answer, and that sense of ambiguity courses through the novel. Overall, Gregario’s debut novel gives voice to an underrepresented group and is worth a look.

PRAISE

“None of the Above is a powerful story of discovering one’s true identity. This book will open hearts and change minds.” (Stephen Chbosky, bestselling author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower)

“[A] provocative and enlightening first novel…will strike a familiar chord with any reader who has felt estranged.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review))

“I couldn’t put this book down—it opened my mind in ways that few books have done before.” (Jacqueline Woodson, award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming)

“Noble, daring and necessary—IW Gregorio’s groundbreaking debut is a bittersweet, painful and ultimately life-affirming voyage of identity.” (Elizabeth Wein, award-winning & NYT bestselling author of Code Name Verity)

AUTHOR

I. W. Gregorio is a practicing surgeon by day, masked avenging YA writer by night. After getting her MD, she did her residency at Stanford, where she met the intersex patient who inspired None of the Above, her debut novel. She is also a founding member of the We Need Diverse Books team. A recovering ice hockey player, she lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two children.

The Good
Obviously, this is an important topic for teenagers to read about. It also deals with how teenagers would react in a very realistic way. Teenagers can be cruel, and that’s shown clearly in the book. Kristin’s struggle to come to terms with her new self is also believable and well-portrayed. Her friends were also interesting charcters and served the plot well. Also, no spoilers here, but I liked what happened with her boyfriend.

The parts touching on Krissy’s problems with her running after her diagnosis and the potential reactions of her coach/scholarship committee/etc. were probably the most interesting and important part of the book for me. This is a grey area and it’s important that it was brought up.

The Bad
Slight spoiler time now: Krissy ends up getting surgery almost immediately after her diagnosis. She really pushes for this and a doctor ends up operating on her. I found this part a little troubling. I don’t think it’s wrong to get surgery if you’re intersex, but I thought the process went too quickly and that she didn’t receive proper counseling before she made a very big decision. The whole surgery process also sort of signaled that you need to have any male sexual organs taken out in order to feel female, which is pretty problematic.

I also wasn’t a huge fan of the ending. Some of it was very obvious and some of it just didn’t really seem necessary. It also felt like Krissy was still struggling a lot, even when the book wrapped up, which felt a little strange for a book that was about coming to terms with yourself. Again, more portrayals of counseling and/or support groups would probably have been good.

The Verdict
As a book to introduce people to the concept of being intersex, I think this was really good, but there are definitely some deeper aspects related to gender and sexuality that I think should have been explored further.

This book is a powerful thing. It gave a strong message on a person for who they are than what they are. This book was quite emotional especially from reading it in first-person from Kristin's view. Just imagining your life, changing out of nowhere so suddenly is horrifying. I wish people would except certain people who are different because some can be quite cruel. But you also discover your true friends and who will stand by your side. I would definitely read this again and I highly recommend it to those who want to better understand what is intersex. It's pretty interesting

My, what a wonderful story. I started this last night and finished it as soon as I could.
I loved the characters though I thought Kristen's girlfriends were class A jerks. They aren't 15 and 16 year olds and I cannot imagine telling anyone anything especially after agreeing to keep a secret. I thing Kirsten was way too quick to forgive since they didn't stand up for her. The guilty one did but the other one didn't and never stood up to her. As for the ex boyfriend, I would've reported all of them to school authorities and Facebook!

Anyway, now that my rant is out of the way, the author did a terrific job of making us all realise how we all get shepherded into roles as expected by gender. Kirsten's feelings, how she goes about everything during this ordeal is done extremely​ well . I am also pleased the way the book ends. In a way it's fitting because there is no concrete answer on what happens next. Simply because it doesn't read like a novel or fictional story;it's too real and in real life we don't have all the answers and the end comes only with death.

A remarkable tale.

This book meant a lot to me. It's so important that books like this are written. I loved how strong Kristin was after her diagnosis. I can't even imagine what it must be like to think you're one thing and then realize you're another. I'm glad that Kristin had Gretchen, I don't think she would have been able to cope without her. also, Darren is such an incredible person. He's so understanding and he doesn't even care about Kristin's diagnosis. He likes her for her, not for her chromosomes. I honestly think that this book should be required for high school students to read. It's something that students should have knowledge about.

We all feel like we are different in some small way. We all have our insecurities. Kristen Lattimere just found out something about herself that rocks her world. Something not so small. Something actually quite huge, well for a teenage girl! Winning homecoming queen wasn’t supposed to ruin your life yet that event is where but t all started. This is her new reality, her secret to hold: she is not completely a girl and yet, certainly not a boy.

top five

What would you do if you just learned you weren’t exactly what you thought you were? Are you the same person you were before? Would you tell people if you knew it would change the way you are viewed, especially if it were to have negative connotations? Who would you trust?

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All these questions run through Kristen’s mind like she runs track and hurdles all the new information that has railroaded her life. More then some as she deals with the fallout of learning that she is intersex. That she is a woman with boy parts and y chromosomes. She tries to keep things to her self but eventually she ends up talking to the few people she thought she could trust. Then the worst case happens when the whole school finds out she is a “hermaphrodite”. And with most cases with things people do not understand she becomes the focus of bullying. So not only does Kristen have to come to terms with her diagnosis she has to deal with the humiliation and bullying by her classmates, Including people she thought were her friends.

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This book is going to be important. As many books like it should be. We need more books for young people that not only describes issues that could be misunderstood in a manner that promotes empathy but in a way that could ” normalise” those issues.

caster-semenya

Everyone of us are different and unique in our own way. We all have traits we want to hide. But what if we didn’t hide them. What if we embrace them. Learn from each others differences, quirks and traits. Maybe we all should embrace our differences and teach our future generations to embrace them as well.

Third_International_Intersex_Forum

This book is an emotional rollercoaster that teaches a lesson in empathy. If you read Kristen’s story and feel nothing then you are a soulless shell of a human being. It made me feel sorrow and hope and the full scope in between. I highly recommend it as I thought it was a fantastic read.

cop_tdc

I hope that I have inspired you to read this book. I am finding it hard to describe the exact emotional impact that it had on me. I knew this was going to be good when I first saw it and I am grateful to have been given the chance to read this novel. I will most definitely recommend it to others and I hope that you, my little booklings will do so as well.

NoneOfTheAbove-pb-680x1024

I was given the chance to read and review this novel from Netgalley.com

I have never thought about the term intersexual but this book opened my eyes to this. I had many emotions while reading this book, sorrow, amazement, etc. I sympathized with Kristin and all she had to endure. It is bad enough being a teenager but to have your personal business spread all over the school was so unfair. High school can be brutal enough without any added drama. It felt good to know that Kristin's family and friends were there for support. I would have loved to know more about her support system. These were true good people. I was enlightened on this subject matter. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced reading cop of this book in return for my honest review.

None of the Above follows high school senior Krissy Lattimer as she (and consequently the entire school) finds out that she is intersex. Everything that she accomplished up to that point- friendships, boyfriend, popularity, track scholarship- seems to disappear.

The writing wasn’t bad. It had a generic, but digestible feel of a lot of YA contemporary books. The characters also had a sort of generic feel to them. Krissy was the only character that seemed to be more fleshed out, but I began to question that over the course of the book. Her main passions (track and kids) seemed to have been chosen to add drama. The ending seemed not only predictable, but very abrupt considering the events that happen just prior to it. I’m being vague to avoid spoilers, but you will know exactly what I’m talking about if you’ve read the book.

I also felt like the author was a bit out of touch with teenagers today, especially in regards to their knowledge of different genders, sexes, and sexual orientations. Most of the adults seemed accepting, and most of Kristin’s peers were not which certainly counters the experiences of most people I know. I’m not saying that teenagers cannot be ignorant or cruel, I’m just saying that when comes to anything regarding sex or gender the younger generation is usually quicker to learn and accept. In a similar vein, several of Kristin’s decisions made little sense- starting with her decision to tell Vee that she was intersex, and especially how she told her.

Like I said, nothing about this book felt genuinely bad to me. It simply did not shine for me in any particular category.

Final rating: ★★½

This book was amazing. after stumbling upon another book featuring an intersex boy i decided to hunt down more books with intersex characters. When I started this book i was not sure i would like it instead i ended up thinking constantly about the book til i ended up finishing it last night after midnight.

Once the book starts it seems like kristin has everything. friends, popularity, a boyfriend and a potential scholarship for track but after a quick visit to a doctor and a confession to her best friends he whole life changes.

It was a good paced book with drama and tears but overall it ended with a happy ever after.

The only thing i did not like about this book was the abrupt ending...

I'd heard a lot about this book when it first came out and was glad to finally get a chance to read. As a resource to teach readers about intersex, it's terrific. It's very informative. But unfortunately, it's far more informative than it is a well-crafted story, IMO. The writing was lackluster. I had a hard time buying the way various relationship issues played out (not only romantic), and I didn't love the boy-as-savior trope. So...if it had a more common premise, I would strongly dislike it. but considering the fresh topic, well communicated, I do think it has value. Just not my favorite.

If reading the book in one day doesn't speak for itself then let me tell you how I feel about this book

"None of the above"
was sent to me kindly by the publishers through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. It's not that free copy or the obligation of writing review that makes me share my thoughts wkgh you, but my desire to share it with as many people as it's possible.

[C]⭐⭐⭐⭐

It is such educational and informative experience. A subject of intersex, when people are born without sex, is the subject that is perfect for a discussions about 'tolerance, feminism and gender essentialism.' As the author says 'it begged so many questions:

-what does it mean to be a woman?
-what happens when you dont fit perfectly into the gender binary? (Choice between female and male only)
-what role does yoir biology play not only in who you love, but who loves you?'

The book was published in 2015 but in my opinion is not known enough within the readers community.

It's a book for a everyone. The subject of being loved for who we are, being accepted by the group of friends we belong to and being rejected by people we love are the things everyone gets through in life. Finding ourselves and forming our identity is crucial step towards happiness. For people who are born a bit different it's much harder to get through life so this book is great tool in sharing awareness of being intersex.

The book itself is written very well. I flew through it and if not my other responsibilities, i would propably read it in one sitting. The characters are relatable. Friendships, school life, and life of a teenager are not forced but feel natural to read about. The characters have their flows and this makes them so real.

The story actionwise does not exist as much. It's character driven novel that lets you experience the depth of the feelings the characters have to deal with.

This a book that inspires me to do further research about the subject of being intersex. Understanding others is a first step to being more human.

The story is a 3 stars for me but for the impact it has on me i added extra star to the rating making it strong 4-stars book.

My favourite quotes:

"If there's one thing I learned from my dad leaving my mum, it's that love isn't a choice. You for the person, not their chromosomes."

"When Josh and I had kisses, it'd been furtive and rushed. With Darren, though, I knew instantly that we had all the time in the world. I'd been running for so long, trying to escape from who I was. Here in the steady circle of Darren's arms, I was finally ready to stand still."

"I wondered for the first time whether 'feeling feminine' just meant feeling good in your own skin."

"Pain was our friend, and I'd always bought it. Physical pain meant that you were bending your body to the will of your mind, that you were stronger than muscle or bone or cartilage."