Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Solitaire by Alice Oseman

801 reviews

daelyn_loves_books's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It's easy to say this is not a love story.

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cencula's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

In many ways this book is opposite the Heartstopper series that it launched. Tori is in a dark mental place where she's completely overwhelmed by life and traumatized by her concerns for her brother but feels totally alone in that darkness. I appreciated the depth we get to explore Tori's emotions and while the book isn't exactly hopeful in some ways Tori finds her way out of the spiral and sees she's not alone (what could be more hopeful than that).

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tate_francis's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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meetmeinthebookstore's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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hexlee's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I have loved alice for a long time and finally decided to read this. Honestly I loved it, but it is not perfect, of course she wrote it very young. 
However I think I loved this so much because I was able to relate. 

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cnjanicki's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
this book will definitely always have a special place in my heart. i find Tori to be a convincing main character; i went into this book having read a few reviews and expected myself to like Tori a lot less than i did. i find her personality so specifically relatable even as i enter my mid-twenties.  throughout Solitaire, Oseman writes scenery and description with poise. there are some select scenes so vividly written, i fear they're burned into my mind. similar to Tori, i was confused by Michael in the beginning but he absolutely grew on me. the mystery of "who is Solitaire?" is something i loved playing a part of, though i wished to see more of it in the first half.

spoilers:
the
becky
redemption arc goes crazy. i don't think i loved how
lucas
was
kind of forgiven
by the end? unsure how i felt. 

overall a sweet story of friendship and how relationships are defined by the people in it, as well as the anxious teenager's struggles of feeling different accompanied by mental illness. not my most eloquent review but i really liked this book <3

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madsreadsbooks17's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad 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

4.0

This book had a slow start for me but eventually I was hooked. 
I cried, laughed and found genuine connection with the characters struggles. 

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atlasisreading's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0


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meganmindj's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

I don't really have much to say about this one, as I don't have strong opinions on it. I knew it would be heavier than most of the other works, but I was prepared for that and went into it ready to hear Tori's story. Parts of it were interesting, like complex relationships she had and formed with Becky and Michael, but there were also sections of the book where I found that I just didn't care, and reading more felt like a chore. It was cool, though hard, to hear from Tori's perspective. The book shows that she has an strong apathy to her life, as well as a deep-rooted distress regarding her brother which she doesn't want to fully acknowledge. This sets up her journey throughout the book, and ultimately, though it was a bit predictable and a little boring, I was satisfied with the ending. It was a difficult but worthwhile book to read.

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neko_reads's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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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