A review by forestfloor
Solitaire by Alice Oseman

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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