Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Solitaire by Alice Oseman

212 reviews

saomah5566's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Hate crime, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Bullying and Homophobia

Minor: Homophobia, Blood, and Bullying

brontyeve's review

reflective fast-paced

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

1.0

The embodiment of the cliché ''and everyone stood up and clapped'' in book form.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying and Suicide attempt

briaranne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Eating disorder, Outing, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Bullying, and Grief

enchantedsleeper's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective sad medium-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

3.75

I found this a very engaging and readable book. It's nearly a 4-star read but it did start to lose me about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way in when Tori's actions and the way she treats other people start to feel repetitive and frustrating. (I can roll with it for about half of the book but then it's like, okay, are you just going to run away again? Fair enough I guess). There were a weird number of scenes where a character would just get up and walk away from another character mid-conversation, without explaining why. On the whole I found this pretty realistic to being a teenager and I related to Tori a lot (or maybe I should say I could sense how I would have related to her at 17) but then some of the characters' actions and conversations felt unreal.

Charlie's characterisation is pretty odd in this. Even though I wasn't expecting it to be 100% consistent with Heartstopper, he still seems very... limp? Like when everyone was beating up Ben because of him and yet Tori was more concerned. Or the way he reacted to the fireworks at the concert. It didn't feel right - it felt like he should *do* more. Have more of an opinion. Very strange.

There was lots to like and find engaging about this, even though some bits lost me partway through. There were some really good lines and I felt like Oseman stuck the landing with the ending. No regrets about having picked this up to check out after Heartstopper.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Eating disorder, and Violence

mbrogs2024's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Suicide, Self harm, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Homophobia

24carrotgay's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

5.0

this was my second read, and it broke my heart all over again. as always, i love alice oseman’s theme of mental illness not having a quick fix.

tori is deeply depressed, and i sincerely relate to the apathy and the sadness that she experiences. i appreciate that her journey throughout this book doesn’t end with her being “better” but she’s more okay than she was at the beginning.

tori and michael’s friendship is one of my favorite dynamics in possibly all literature. this book is hard and beautiful, sometimes funny and hopeful. however, what i appreciate most about solitaire is that it’s real.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Self harm and Homophobia

cecilielaugesen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-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

3.75

I really like Tori. Not necessarily who she is as a person, but the way she is described is just very real. I’m not saying I agree with all her choices, but I understand them. Honestly she is an asshole at times, but you can’t help but feel for her.
I loved the first half of this book, but I felt it was longer than it needed to be, and honestly it felt liked it just dragged on in the second part.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, and Eating disorder

Minor: Alcohol and Blood

tetrootz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Mental illness

Moderate: Medical trauma, Homophobia, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Eating disorder, Drug use, Cursing, Outing, Mental illness, Dysphoria, Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, Bullying, and Medical content

whoismiela's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Self harm and Eating disorder

Minor: Bullying, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury

markettt99's review

emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

I liked the premise of the story. Tori was a great character- her point of view was interesting. It was a thought provoking read. And a bit nostalgic. There was also a slight mystery to it that I enjoyed. The end didn’t satisfy me personally but  overall I’d recommend it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Eating disorder, Bullying, Self harm, and Fire/Fire injury