Book Review: Solitaire by Alice Oseman
Set in the famous Heartstopper series universe called the Osemanverse, Solitaire is about one Tori Springs. We follow her as she starts to understand herself and make a new friend while trying to figure out the culprit behind "Solitaire". Pranks are plaguing the school, "Higges" by a blog by the name of Solitaire. Tori strongly feels that Solitaire is unwarranted but cannot find the motivation to stop it.
This was an interesting read though I can not figure out if I like this book or not. After reading the first 100 pages, I was very set on hating this book due to its poor writing and seemingly platitude of characters. However, those factors do not necessarily determine if a book is good or bad. This book has something, a sort of charm to it, that makes it stand out from all other YA novels.
The writing is nothing special. It is after all a YA and written by a seventeen-year-old. I found it a relief after reading quite a challenging book prior to this one. However, of course, I got annoyed at the smallest of things. Such as the phrase "It's funny because it's true" which is repeated multiple times throughout the book to emphasize how satirical and self-deprecating Tori is. The pop-culture references made me physically wince. I do not know why I'm so bothered about reading about characters talking about Harry Potter, Sherlock (BBC) or Doctor Who. It is something I would talk to a friend about but it feels very forced in this book.
At first, I thought Tori was really annoying and a bit of a cliché. She was unnecessarily cynical, whiny and overly dramatic. I got the impression that she believed that she was so much better than everyone else. Throughout the book, I began to realize how wrong I was. The book does not explicitly tell the reader that Tori suffers from depression, but if I think about it, there were a lot of signs signalling to her clinical depression. She has no motivation to do anything. All her energy is zapped out of which only her will to life remains. Sometimes that disappears as well.
Michael Holden is my favourite character in this book. I really enjoyed the depth given to this character. The fact that he is constantly angry but does not show it really resonated with me. I feel that this feeling is definitely something that is not talked about enough: The anger and resentment towards something or someone that gets pushed down into our toes until it suddenly explodes. I think he could have written a bit better and I think that his anger should have been more subtle.
The Solitaire mystery was a complete disappointment. I guessed who had done it and why by part 2 of the book. It was so obvious that it made me laugh out loud. Of course, the blog, solitaire, is going to be about the girl who deems herself unlovable, made by a secret admirer. I do like how Lucas never actually loves Tori; he loves the idea of her as his girlfriend.
I can understand how people love this. It is just not something I would particularly enjoy but I think that's a great thing about books. You never really know what you will get. You do not know if you'll find a great new passion for a book. You should always try it; in case it is the one.
