Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Solitaire by Alice Oseman

170 reviews

flubbs's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense fast-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

this book was funny, haunting, heartbreaking, and wild. 6 stars.

victoria "tori" spring is a 16-year-old girl with a mental health at rock bottom. she's tired of everything and she worries about her 15-year-old brother, charlie and his anorexia/o.c.d. (obsessive compulsive disorder) relapses. 

one day at school, she finds an online blog under the name "solitaire," pulling pranks and tricks around her school. tori hates having her life disrupted and when a weird, obsessive boy named michael holden won't leave her life either, she falls into a rabbit hole of chaos and confusion. (this is not a love story.)

*please check the content warnings below before reading*
 
thank you, solitairians
patience kills

(iykyk)

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ariak07's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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robinks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-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

4.75

As someone who read/watched Heartstopper first, I always appreciated Tori’s presence, but we never get to know what’s going on with her. Tori’s thoughts and feelings as she’s working through them are communicated very well. The last 70 pages flew by really quickly. I want to know what happens next!

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icarusandthesun's review against another edition

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

1.0

the delulu is strong with this one♥
lemme tell you what i think—tori spring is insufferable.

i guess i'm just too old for these books, i really believe that. because 12-year-old me would've eaten this up for sure. melodrama and excruciating self-pity, and "i'm so different", and "everyone else is stupid and immature but not me."
i shared these thoughts with tori once, and maybe that's why i hate her so much. because i used to be insufferable, too. the only difference is, i was insufferable at 12, she's still insufferable at sweet 16.

seriously, if i were this advice-resistent and on top of that incredibly rude to my parents (ignoring their questions for no reason other than being an absolute asshole) they would straight-up disown me for sure. at one point, tori's dad sighs and mutters "teenagers" under his breath and she goes on that tangent that her being a teenager doesn't explain everything about her, ... but it really does though.
i literally chuckled at her dad's remark because man, that's what i was thinking for the whole 390 pages this book sports.

i believe this behavior comes from a place of deep narcissism and lack of empathy. tori is incredibly close-minded and i understand that depression can do that to someone. it makes you selfish and self-centred and short-sighted. but the older you get the more you're able to put it into perspective. you realize that you're in fact not the only person who suffers, and you realize that the people you called "stupid" or immature for liking "basic" things have a complex internal life just like you do. they're simply not being as insufferable as you.

i also really don't understand why the characters in this book kept trying to become friends with tori. she's boring, she's no one, she's got no personality at all. she's not passionate about anything, and again, i understand depression can do that to you, but worse, everything her friends suggest or ask her about, it's always just "i hate it." i hate this, i hate myself, blah blah blah.

what's interesting about a person who hates everything, who keeps running away, who keeps shutting everybody out, who keeps venting without permission, who keeps seeking pity from herself and everyone around her?

this whole book was just so excruciatingly boring. literally a bad fanfiction. the diary of a thoughtless, selfish teenage girl. the ending felt like a fever dream and was more than unrealistic (it was literally "and then everybody clapped"). so many bad choices. remarks on depression and suicidal thoughts were thrown around like they mean nothing. pretentious ahh quotes.

i feel no pity towards tori, i'm really sorry. i can't muster up any pity for someone who desperately tries not to get better, who's an inactive, inanimate charity case, who can't say a single smart thing, instead pulling the whole "i hate myself, i want to die so bad, i'm nothing, i'm horrible" spiel on the reader over and over and over again. she's so delusional, it hurts.

i agree, she does need to seek professional help, and not only because of her depression.
maybe look into sociopathy, too.

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miles's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0


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aliveandnotlovingit's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

i am in love with Alice Oseman.

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pointeshoebookworm's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense medium-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

3.0


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chasingpages1's review against another edition

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

3.5


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n0elle's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0


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nindie's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.75

i started bawling my eyes at the end and i found this book to be relatable in a lot of scenarios, made me even more self-aware about how i feel and my interactions.

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