Solitaire

“Sometimes I hate people. This is probably very bad for my mental health.”

Somehow, once again, Alice Oseman has managed to put thoughts and feelings into words and tell a story. I feel like a lot of people would 100% relate to this book, I know I definitely did. I'm struggling to put into words how I liked this book as it has kind of left me with a sort of empty feeling.

I'll start by saying I absolutely love Michael and Tori's interactions. They really helped each other in the end, they fit together like a puzzle piece. This book has definitely made me want to read the heartstopper books because I want more of Charlie who is the most precious soul in the entire universe.

This book is not for everyone. I highly recommend reading the content warnings at https://aliceoseman.com/extras/content-warnings/ before you read any of her work, because it really does get intense, especially if you find yourself relating to the characters. Regardless, I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read more of her work.

Two girls walk past in gargantuan heels and dresses so tight that their skin is spilling out, and one of them says to the other, “Wait, who the fuck is Lewis Carroll?” and in my imagination I pull a gun out of my pocket, shoot them both, and then shoot myself.

Charlie is ignored by both his parents and his sister after he leaves the hospital. Everybody ignores that Tori found her brother trying to commit suicide and spends her weekends never getting out of bed but this is also not explored any further.

“No one cares about the important things anymore. We're so used to disaster that we accept it. We think we deserve it.”

I don't know what it is about Alice Oseman's writing and characters that holds me so captivated.

I knew from reading the Heartstopper series that I loved Tori but reading this definitely made my appreciation and love for her grow stronger.

Tori is a character that you can't help but relate to and see yourself in. What I love the most about Alice Oseman's works is that the characters are always so vastly real and imperfect. Solitaire covers some serious topics and it's always so nice to see them represented correctly in Oseman's works.

The Osemanverse will forever be comfort reads filled with comfort characters for me.

“All I know is that I'm here. And I'm alive. And I'm not alone.”

I definitely have a lot of different things to say about this book... but I'm just not sure how to put it into words.

I understand that the main character is supposed to dealing with bad mental health, but a lot of her comments just crossed the line and were never addressed, which made it just uncomfortable to read and possibly triggering. I know Alice Oseman has gotten better about handling these subjects, though. Her other books are just better.

4 stars Well that was unexpected. I don't know why, but I thought most of the plot would be happening “online”. That was not the case, but I absolutely adored this story. I cannot believe this book was written by such a young author! I can't wait to discover her second book.

This book. While I would've been able to relate to this book more if I'd read this back in high school, I still love the characters and their friendships are everything to me. But I'm not entirely sure if it's just me slowly going stir-crazy, but this book also read a bit like a fever dream. Just like Tori, I wasn't sure what is real and what isn't.

This is a very confused review for a very confused book, which I guess is fitting.

I don't know how to rate this book. So I won't.
This book was interesting, yet kind of problematic. However, for a debut novel, it is very impressive. I don't really know what to say on it?
Much of it is quite confused and lacks proper plot, but I didn't dislike reading it. The first half is better, and it gets worse around the last fifth.
It is a very heavy book, though, which could dissuade some from reading it.
If you want to read this book simply because it features Nick and Charlie from Heartstopper, I maybe wouldn't? Especially if you are unable to deal with darker themes, such as suicide, depression and eating disorders.

It's 30 years since I was a 15 year-old, now I've got one of my own and this author is who they're reading. So I thought I'd better check them out for myself...

I was really impressed, the author was only 19 when this novel was published and her closeness to the age of her characters give them a realism missing from a lot of YA fiction. I liked that everyone was a little bit broken and I could have really done with this book back in the dark days of the mid-nineties - having been very “Tori” myself!

I hope it helps my 15 year-old, and other teens, to start talking about “stuff”. Kind of like a Judy Blume for the iGen. I'm not sure if the rest of her novels will resonate so much with me but I'm willing to give them a try.

Es un 7.8
El principio si me estaba gustando, pero luego el desarrollo fue un poco tedioso y ya para el final siento que fue innecesariamente largo (aunque sea un libro corto de 300 páginas)
Aún así siento que pude identificarme muchas veces con el personaje de Tori, pues muchos de sus pensamientos son cosas que yo diariamente también me planteo, aunque se y entiendo que ese comportamiento no es de una persona mentalmente sana y fue doloroso ver el declive que tenía su personaje a lo largo del libro. Algunas cosas fueron demasiado confusas, siento que el final se pierde un poco con el sentido en el que va el libro, y hay personajes que simplemente no me importaban, como Lucas o Becky, incluso un poquito la relación que se forma entre Michael y Tori todavía no la termino de entender y siento que su romance es algo un poco sin sentido, pero aún así su vínculo y lazo que formaron me pareció lo mejor del libro.
No recomendaría leer este libro si estás pasando por un momento difícil en tu vida tu sufres de depresión.

El libro me pareció entretenido y me identifiqué en algunos aspectos con el personaje de Tori, aún así hubieron actitudes y situaciones que realmente no entendí y me parecían ilógicas.
Es definitivamente un libro duro, pero tiene esa chispa que te atrapa, te llega y te hace querer saber más.
Lo que le faltó para ser de cinco estrellas sin dudas fue final, no me convenció, esperaba más. Pero es satisfactorio ver otro lado de un personaje que es un sufridor silencioso, quizás como muchos de nosotros...