Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Solitaire

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Solitaire by Alice Oseman

20 reviews

in_the_woods___'s review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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forestfloor's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious fast-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

2.75

Solitaire is one of those books that has an almost dream-sequence feel to it. I found that it didn’t have that kind of grounded or satisfying structure of a novel where everything is very clear cut, despite the plot structure being pretty apparent. I think it’s particularly interesting to read as an adult because I think Alice’s teen voice when writing Tori’s narration really comes through, not always in ways that are good, but that lend the book a very grounded touch amongst the generally detached-from-reality tone. I found the approach to events and mental health in this book particularly intriguing, as they come from the perspective of a person with apparent untreated mental illness, and thus in general is a lot more dark and unhealthy than the approach to Charlie’s mental health in Heartstopper, even though Charlie has much more apparent and extreme behaviours that manifest out of his mental illnesses than Tori. I find it particularly interesting how this affects the main “mystery” plot, which is very simple and easy to work out, but that Tori refuses to believe. Some of the events are quite extreme, and I think that this lends to the story being unrealistic (outside of the tone of unreality) because some of the character motivations, particularly the actions and motivations of Solitaire members - but occasionally of characters like Tori, Michael and Becky as well - are very difficult to get behind and sympathise with.

Overall I enjoyed the read, especially because it was fast and easy to get through for me.

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skylerher's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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anastasia_raf's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I've just finished this book. Like, literally not five minutes have passed and I'm already trying to process everything so I can write a somewhat decent review. It's not the perfect book in any way. I found it lacking in many things and some problematic,for me, stuff... But,
The truth is words fail me. I think this book has said everything. My darkest thoughts, my lowest days, my reality. As a pessimist I identified very much with Tori. While thinking she's not the best person but not the worst? I identified to her in a entirely "human" way. Like is anyone truly bad or entirely good? Who's to judge that? Without having undertaking the circumstances, sympathizing with many factors and justifying many actions?

What breaks me is the " having noticed, expected it but didn't do anything." How many have I thought of that? How many times have other people thought of that? Yet again I wonder if s*ic*de is such an illogical action? Not to say that this book romanticizes it or anything... But as a depressed person with s*ic*da* thoughts I wonder why people take such pleasure in hearing a person thirst and will to live, and such horror in hearing the opposite? Since when one become normalized and the other an illness? Since when is wanting to leave all this pain behind, the hating, racist, homophobic, all in all messed up society- considered a sin, a sickness, selfish... and wanting to live in that very society is praised?
Since when it's okay to ask people to stay just because you love them, you need them even though they are in incredible pain? And when a person decides to not stay because of that very pain is selfish????
It's always "it's your life, do what you will with it," but your de*th? Is not yours. It's the universe's, your god's, your illness's, your fate's...
This book hugs me in a way of saying that not that everything is going to be okay, but I'm here to read me when they are not, because they're not.

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martapsalvado's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

I don't know how to objectively review Solitaire for itself because this is my 7th Alice Oseman book and I absolutely loved with all my heart the first six: Radio Silence, Loveless and the Heartstopper series (which is my whole personality at this point). So, it's understandable that my expectations were high for this one. On top of that, I was already attached to some of the characters because of Heartstopper.
The truth is, I didn't enjoy this one as much as the other ones. But I still really, really liked it.
The characters are as always, very well constructed, cohesive and interesting. The plot had its ups and downs. It felt like nothing happened for a while and then too much happened at once. But that's how reality is sometimes, I guess.
Essentially, I think this is a good (and important) book and it actually made me feel something, but it makes sense that this is Alice's first published book, written when she was only seventeen, because the evolution is clear.

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robinskye28's review against another edition

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lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Charming story about teenagers with loveable characters, while still exploring more serious themes.

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sydneyluxford's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

I literally have no strong opinions about this book.

For most of the book I was quite confused and I literally had no idea what was happening. Oseman kind of just skipped over things that I wanted to know more about. Solitaire kind of just appeared out of nowhere and I literally had no clue what it was (I still don’t really know).

Tori Spring was such a relatable character. Her and I both go to grammar schools, we’re both seventeen, we both hate school, and we both lowkey want to die… Her inner monologues were really fun and interesting to read.

One thing I also didn’t get was Tori and Michael’s relationship. Everything at the end felt really rushed and throughout the whole book I felt no romantic connection between the two but then all of a sudden they’re kissing and saying I love you’ ?

Also the ending??????????????????????? I am so baffled. Was there a fire or not? I literally have no idea.

This review seems really negative, I did enjoy the book a lot but it was just confusing.

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shushkeepitdown's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I recently got into reading the heart stopper comics and even watched the show so I thought huh I should read the rest of Alice Osmen's works. This was not what I expected. Heart stopper definitely has its triggers but this was quite not what I expected. I initially didn't like Tori, she felt like an edgy teen who just wanted to hate the world with no other reason than everyone sucks but slowly it felt like looking at a mirror for when I was just her age. Cynical and hateful for everything and then regretting everything after i lost it. This story is not a love story, it's a story about reflection and being alive even if you don't want to. I loved the characters. I hope one day I can meet someone just like Micheal who is willing to be angry with me when I'm an asshole but still willing to pick up my calls and help me when I need them. Overall a story I would definitely suggest you read. A good read, can be a bit confusing sometimes. Also it has characters from other books so it might be a little confusing if you don't read in order but I didn't have that as an issue.

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oliviaangelixx's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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snowhitereads's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

As you all probably know by now, I absolutely love the Heartstopper series. I particularly love Tori, the sister of Heartstopper's main character, Charlie, so I knew I had to pick this one up

The book focuses on Tori Spring, who is an extremely pessimistic teenager and hates just about everything. Although I love Tori in Heartstopper, I did find her frustrating in this book.

Though Heartstopper features the same characters, this book felt so completely different in terms of tone and character personalities that it might as well have been an entirely different series.

Even though this book is very easy to read, unfortunately the plot and character development felt underdeveloped and confusing, very surface level.

The ending was abrupt and left me feeling confused at what I had just read. I don't know what to think about this book.

It’s important to note that there should be so many trigger warnings surrounding this book. There are a lot of dark things that are addressed, such as eating disorders, self-harm and depression.Besides that, there are constant HP references which drove me crazy.

Overall, it's not terrible, but you can definitely tell this is a debut by a 17 year old.

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