Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Heartstopper Volume 1

This was my first graphic novel and I actually really liked it and its formatting which was something I was not expecting and I also have watched the first two seasons of the show that is based off of these books, which I also really enjoyed and feel affected the ways in which I see this book, both good and bad.

I really enjoyed the core story here of Nick and Charlie's blossoming romance and Nick beginning his quest of self-discovery and understanding, particularly towards the end of the novel. I found their 'friendship' to be really well written, heartwarming, and including elements of suspending your disbelief as well as managing to be somewhat realistic at the same time. I really liked their characterisations and even in this short novel, they went through development and had clear characters by the end of it. I will say that besides from Nick and Charlie, this was not true of any other characters sadly as any other characters introduced doesn't really get any time to be developed as it's solely focused on Nick and Charlie which is where my watching of the show may have steered me into a direction of bad expectations for this book.

Going in having watched the show, in particular season 1, I assumed that volume 1 would be covering most if not all of season 1's content but it turns out to only be about 3 or 4 episodes worth which leaves it on a cliffhanger that, while I know the resolution of, still took me by surprise. The second thing of note is that season 1 has a much more expanded view of the world of Heartstopper than volume 1 does, with season one featuring Elle and Issac who are not in the book (at least to my knowledge with Elle as I don't recall her being mentioned or seen briefly), Tara and Darcy having a much more in-depth and detailed story as well as being much bigger and developed characters, as well as Tao actually being Charlie's best friend and having much more screentime and character to him. I hope that this is rectified in volume 2 as those were some of my favourite aspects of the show, getting to see beyond just the central romance and seeing all these other stories unfolding at the same time.

However, I do feel like watching the show helped as well as it made me much more excited for the rest of the series and seeing where it goes as I do feel like I will at the very least read volume 2 to end off the current chapter of the story and then go from there but overall, while my enjoyment of the book was hindered slightly by having expectations that the books would be exactly the same as the show, I did really have a fun time reading this as it was different from what I normally read both in formatting and in genre and it was successful in both of those differences. I'm interested in seeing where the next books go and if there will be many differences to the adapted material/the show.

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proza's review against another edition

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inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

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isabelle_mary's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

4.5

As someone who found heartstopper through the Netflix show, finally getting to sit down and read this book has been so heartwarming. The story of Nick and Charlie is beautiful and reading how they came to be makes my heart happy. It is an extremely quick read as it is a comic, but also because you do not want to put it down. I love this book and will recommend to many!

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ninilovesnat's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Heartstopper is a graphic novel divided into five volumes, originally published in 2016 on online platforms such as Tumblr, Webtoon and Tapas by Alice Oseman and then by publishers in 2019, taking place approximately eight months before the events of the novel. Solitaire”, written by the same author, recounting how Charles “Charlie' Spring and Nicholas “Nick” Nelson met. They both attend Truham Grammar School for Boys in London, England and are seatmates in one class. Little by little they begin to know each other, becoming close and very friendly, but Charlie has a crush on Nick, and he knows that he would never give him a chance since he knows that Nelson is straight... or so they both thought.

Heartstopper Volume One focuses on the beginnings of this LGBTQ+ love story, showing the ups and downs of falling in love and being attracted to another person of the same gender, in this case male-male. It also demonstrates the process of personal questioning of sexual orientation, what it is like to live in a forced relationship, love without consent, etcetera.

I really liked that this story was told as a graphic novel, making it a fairly light and quick read. I also really liked the LGBTQ+ representation of this work, not only Nick and Charlie's relationship but also the bullying, contempt and homophobia towards the community and the fact that, unfortunately, in the society we live in today many people are annoyed and/or it disgusts them to love who you want to love, be who you want to be, express yourself however you’d like to. I was very intrigued by Charlie and Nick's story and would like to start the next volume as soon as possible because I don't know how long I can go without knowing what happens next. I really liked the art and drama in Heartstopper and I congratulate the author for her great work and dedication to this novel. This book stole my heart in a very easy and fast way, bringing me a lot of happiness and tenderness. I’d read it a thousand more times knowing I’d never get bored. Since I found out about the existence of the novel, it was clear that I was going to love it and, although I had very high expectations, it did not disappoint and exceeded my expectations. As a queer person myself, I related with Charlie a lot; what it is to feel attracted to another person of your different gender and the way people treat you with hate and disgust for loving who you want to love. As I progressed through the book and read that Nick was doubting his heterosexuality, I felt quite identified with my 2017-self, who thought I could only fall in love with men or women but not both, oppressing my bisexuality for years and convincing myself that being queer is a crime, convincing myself I was straight since I didn't know anyone who felt the same way. Seeing and reading Nick and Charlie blushing to each other, made my heart explode with love into a thousand pieces. I really am very happy and content with this reading, since I've been looking for a short book with LGBTQ+ representation for a long time and I'm glad this was the first of many. I'd give it a thousand stars if I could, but I'll settle for five stars out of five and recommend it to those looking for a quick, engaging, LGBTQ+-friendly read, sweet romance, currently questioning their sexual or gender orientation, and to those who feel alone and haven’t been able to come out of the closet. Trigger warnings: abusive relationship, forced love and mentions of bullying.

*Review writter for a school grade lolz

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