Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Solitaire

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Solitaire by Alice Oseman

245 reviews

andrewhatesham's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This hooked me in easily! I was really into the first quarter or so. As a fan of Heartstopper (the books and the show), I was excited to read another book that takes place in the same universe, especially when I realized it centers on Tori and Michael, two characters from Heartstopper who I have been curious to know more about. Tori is a character I can identify with, as a former-angsty-teen, and as an adult who still struggles with mental health. As for Michael, I can relate to being seen as socially obtuse 🤷🏻

At first, I was a bit annoyed by the pop culture references, I'd rather read something that feels timeless; but it sort of started to make sense as I read on. In addition to contemporary pop culture, Solitaire also references classic literature a lot, both in text and subtext. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it heavily references The Catcher in the Rye – it's like a modern retelling of it. Tori seems like your typical melodramatic teen on the outside, but once you start to peel back the layers, you find that there's more to her than meets the eye. She's a caring and sensitive person who deeply struggles to express herself and connect with others, as does Holden in TCitR. Also, Micheal's last name is literally Holden! Pride and Prejudice is referenced a lot too, but I'm less familiar with P&P as I've only seen the movie.

Around the halfway point, I began to lose interest a bit. The writing started to get redundant. I felt like it hit on the same few beats multiple times, messing with the pacing and plot structure. The tone had a bit of a strange shift as well. Things kind of fell apart in the last act. I'm still not a fan of the ending, but what I didn't know until afterwards, is that Oseman wrote this as a teenager! I didn't know going into this that it was her first publication. It's understandable that her first book isn't her best. I'm glad it exists, because without Solitaire, there would be no Heartstopper. I didn't realize that either, that Heartstopper is technically a spin-off of Solitaire, which is very interesting! And explains the timeline. I assumed Solitaire was a prequel but it actually starts not far from where Heartstopper does, so you're seeing some of the same events but from Tori's perspective.

So, while this has notable flaws, I still think this is worthwhile and would recommend it to Heartstopper/Oseman fans.

Content Warnings

mars_bar123's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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gremlin24's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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emaline_109's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

k_ri2206's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Aborde des sujets difficiles : dépression, solitude, troubles alimentaires…
Lecture assez lourde même si on s’attache au personnage

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vic_to_ria's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I loved this. Probably says something about me but oh well.
I felt really connected to our main character deeply and loved her depiction and how heavy her stress and morbidity weigh on her as the book progresses. I related to her a little too much in terms of how she socializes with other people and how she reacts to societal expectations that she can’t understand or doesn’t bother enforcing.
I loved how as the story progressed and you saw her steady decline into almost madness but in fact was a deep depression that many people didn’t know how to handle, if they noticed anything off at all to begin with.
I think this is a great representation of how mental health looks different for each person, between Charlie, Micheal and Tori we see how it can manifest and express itself in different ways.
I loved Tori and how she didn’t respond to general rules of attraction in the sense that she didn’t care for physical attraction and was more liking for that “real” as she said connection that she finds impossible to find in modern society because no one actually cares.
I like how while there was romance it wasn’t the main focus ever- the main focus was on building a true connection platonically and seeing each other at their worst and still deciding to stand by them when life is both at its best and when it gets rough.
While I won’t put up with Pride and Prejudice and Micheal Bublé slander this will be one book constantly in my repertoire as a comfort read.

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