Wow. Alice Oseman is amazing. It was kinda weird (in a good way) that this was the same author who created Heartstopper, the comic that started my Alice Oseman obsession!
So much to say about this book! I’ll try and make this review spoiler free (coz that’s what I try to do for stand-alones and first-books-in-the-series). 
I would say that the book was best in the start and middle. Maybe I just thought it lost momentum because I read nearly the whole thing in one sitting, then stopped with a few chapters to go, then came back to it a few hours later. Maybe it was me who lost momentum.
But I think the book was really unique and great before that thing (“Solitaire’s final prank”) happened at the end. Alice Oseman’s books are usually really great because of how realistic they are… and I’m not sure how realistic that part was? I mean it was realistic but it just… kinda felt out of place?
I was so happy with how that one platonic relationship was presented. In the middle. It just made me so happy that Alice Oseman was showing us that platonic relationships are really good too, and how stuff like hugs and hand-holding can be in a platonic way.
(THIS PART OF THE REVIEW IS A SPOILER)
But of course they had to kiss at the end. And confess their love. I think that’s what I was most disappointed with. It really really seemed out of character for both of them — especially Tori. And not to mention that this just adds to the myth that “boys and girls can’t be friends without ‘liking’ each other”. Which really annoys meeee. I’m sure some readers liked that they kissed and stuff, but I didn’t. Sorry.
(NO MORE SPOILERS FROM HERE)
Tori is a great character in Heartstopper and she is ICONIC. I like how much she cares for her brothers, especially Charlie. It was nice though to see Tori’s story, because when reading Heartstopper before Solitaire, I was a bit confused that Tori was so calm and she just seemed to not have problems? But that would have been unrealistic. So it was nice to see Tori’s perspective of life and stuff. I also felt that I could often relate to her from a mental health perspective.
This is random but “Do I have to have a blog to like the Smiths? Is that the rule now?” Was kinda funny to me because if that’s the rule I’m all good!! I like the Smiths and have a blog heheheh. Oh and I recognised the song they were making a reference to at the end of the chapter — it was Ask. I’m very proud of myself.
I’m also proud of myself for kindaaa seeing the “twist”/solution to the “mystery” before it came. I mean, I wasn’t sure of what I thought the answer was but the correct solution definitely did cross my mind a few times.
I think Alice Oseman accurately portrays mental health stuff and this-generation-stuff really well. Obviously she’s younger than most YA authors, especially when this book was published, but I think she still does it well. I also really liked how there was an author’s note on the first page telling the reader how Solitaire was darker than Heartstopper, because I think that was important. Alice Oseman is the Ruler of Giving Content Warnings — in a good way. Some books I’ve read were even more intense that Solitaire and did not even give any warning.
This is gonna sound really mean (also cw for OCD) but I was — not happy but kinda glad — to see real OCD portrayed in a book. I mean I would never never never want Charlie to have OCD (even though he’s a fictional character) but I guess seeing it in a book I read made me feel more valid and… it was just kinda relatable and I liked that. Please don’t hate me, imaginary blog readers. I probably worded that wrong. All I was saying was that I felt represented. And I know it’s discussed in Heartstopper and that made me feel represented too, but there was an example in Solitaire. I dunno.
But yeah Solitaire was great and I think it also adds potential to Heartstopper as we move into chapter seven (tomorrow yay) for plot and overlaps and stuff. I’m excited to read other Alice Oseman books and to be honest I think they will be even better than Solitaire! I’m actually planning to read Loveless as my next book and I have a feeling that it will be a m a z i n g.
Solitaire by Alice Oseman, 14+* ★ ★ ★ ★
*This age recommendation is only my opinion. Some younger people might feel comfortable reading this book, and some older people might not. That's fine, either way. Warning for many potentially upsetting themes, suicidal references, ideation, and attempts, mental health issues such as depression, eating disorders, and OCD, homophobic, misogynistic, and ableist characters, sexual references, swearing, violence including fire, bullying and alcohol use.
Alice Oseman’s website for content warnings: https://www.aliceoseman.com/content-warnings
Comments
Post a Comment