Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Solitaire

SPOILER WARNING.

First of all; I found this book rather boring. It took until page 160 for me to start finding it even remotely interesting, and had I not read 200+ pages when I was stuck with nothing to do, I wouldn’t have finished this book.

Secondly: Oseman writes “this is not a love story” multiple times, when it very clearly is just that.
It bloody ends with Tori getting together with Michael, so yes, definitely a love story no matter what the author says. As with much else in this book, this was just confusing.

Oseman has definitely evolved her writing and story telling infinitely since she wrote Solitaire. I find that her recent works are far more enjoyable and the writing is tons and tons better.

Additionally, I don’t really think Oseman knew where the story was going or what she wanted with it. I feel like it tries to be too much at once, and ultimately ends up being nothing. Nothing is really thought through or explored, and it makes the story quite confusing sometimes. i.e, one of the last parts of the book, the fire in the school and Tori on the roof with Michael, lacked organization, pacing and clear communication from the writer. It was hard to follow what was really happening and who was where.

The characters weren’t bad, but I feel like they needed to be explored more to really make a lasting impression. As they are now, I don’t really care for them and some I even find a bit shallow as well as slightly annoying. I would’ve liked to see more of Michael; his home, his parents, his life. We really get nothing except for the ice-skating.

And Tori deserved to be more fleshed out and not just filled to the brim with quirkiness. At times, her quirks and constant melodramatic way of being got slightly annoying since I felt like it wasn’t justified. Her reactions to things were at times blown completely out of proportion. Sure, it can be put down to mental illness and the fact that breakdowns can be triggered very suddenly form very little things, but you can only read about Tori running away aimlessly and screaming so many times before it gets pointless and confusing. The concept of her character is really good, the execution doesn’t make it justice.

The whole concept with Solitaire could’ve been really interesting and it had potential, but I felt like the mystery isn’t big enough, or interesting enough to really make me care about it. It wasn’t big enough part of the story for it to really hit home and work out like intended.

I felt the ending was a bit rushed and forced, and it’s really noticeable that it’s the authors first work. Unfortunately I didn’t end up liking it as much as I wanted to. Although, I must recognize that I am not part of the intended audience, and I believe I would’ve liked it a lot more had I read it when I was 12-13.

Alice Oseman’s writing has improved so much since she wrote Solitaire and I will gladly recommend her later works. Solitaire isn’t a bad book, but it’s not a great one either.

Personally, I feel it’s almost as if she wrote two different stories and then tried to merge them into one. Had she picked one of the plots and explored that one more deeply, I feel like this could’ve been great.

Finally; Solitaire is great if you’re 11-14 years old, and it can definitely be a really good experience for you when you’re the right demographic.

Content Warnings