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This book broke me, I think I’m reading it at the exact right moment in my life. 16-year-old me wouldn’t have liked it all that much, she would have sympathised with the characters, but she wouldn’t have understood them like 21-year-old me did. The only person that calls her out on her bullshit and challenges her is Michael Holden, because Michael Holden knows how she feels. He gets her in a way no one else does because he’s angry about a lot of things and he doesn’t know how to get rid of that anger. He learned to cope with it and to live with it, but it’s never truly gone.
Ocr tesseract 5.2.0-1-gc42a Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 0.9887 Ocr_module_version 0.0.18 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA-WL-2000099 Openlibrary_edition Sometimes I think Alice Oseman books have captured a part of my soul that nothing else has managed to describe in exactly the right words. Her stories are streams of consciousness, explorations of identity, odes to teenage senescence. Dedicated to kids who have no idea who they are but are figuring it out together, kids who are sad and empty and lost and trying to remember where they used to fit in the world, kids who feel a little bit broken until they find the platonic soulmate who fills the gaps. Solitaire is radiant. About Tori. Completely separate to what is actually going on with her mental health, I found it super problematic that apparently Tori was the one who found her brother after that first suicide attempt. And I guess nobody ever cared about that either? Oh, she just saw her brother bleeding to death, that's fine, A SIXTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL CAN HANDLE IT!!!! WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let's talk about Tori's brother a little bit first because that is what I found most disturbing. I think I could have been okay with lots of things in this book but this pointed out how problematic it truly is.
But I don't think I've ever read a modern YA contemporary that hit me quite like Solitaire did. See, at the risk of getting too personal, I'm not afraid of dying. Never have been. But I am afraid of dying without doing anything worthwhile in my life. I mean living as a sort of passive observer in the world and never doing a single goddamn thing to change it. My name is Tori Spring. I like to sleep and I like to blog. Last year – before all that stuff with Charlie and before I had to face the harsh realities of A-Levels and university applications and the fact that one day I really will have to start talking to people – I had friends. Things were very different, I guess, but that’s all over now. and typically i save 1 stars for books that are problematic and this one certainly is, but at least i read it fast without problem ig Although Solitaire was originally set in 2011, Heartstopper takes place in 2016, which means that it would technically take place in January 2017 in the updated timeline. However, Alice has said that neither Solitaire not Heartstopper takes place in any specific year. I know this is a STUPID ASS thing to be annoyed about, but I couldn't get it to stop nagging me. That kind of stuff bugs me... #nerd.
This is not a love story. Tori Spring is a girl who likes to blong and sleep. Last year, before everything that happened with her brother, Charlie, she had to face the harsh realities of high school and that she will eventually have to talk to other people. But that's in the past. Now there's Solitaire and Michael Holden. Someone’s banging on the door of the bathroom. I’ve been in here for ages just staring at myself in the mirror, watching my eyes tear up and dry and tear up and dry. I know the main character is relatable for many and I hope that any of you who read this will understand that anything I say in this is nothing against your or your experiences. NOR is it anything against the author, as I know they were very young when the book was published. I think this might have been the most frustrating part of Solitaire for me. Tori is bitter. She's pessimistic and judgemental. She doesn't seem to like people at all. She walks around with this "I'm better than you because I don't conform" attitude. I felt like she looked down on EVERYONE and it was exhausting.Solitaire, the name of a mysterious group of anonymous pranksters, has taken over Harvey Greene Grammar School, the school known locally as "Higgs." Higgs is home to sixth formers Tori Spring, Michael Holden and Lucas Ryan. One by one, members of Solitaire continue to play pranks on the school. Tori is left with these pranks and the many other mysteries that follow: Michael suggests Solitaire is talking to her in some way. Why is Lucas avoiding me? Is Michael in love with me? So before Solitaire plays their biggest ever prank, Tori wants to know who's behind it. Alice made editorial changes to Solitaire in August 2020. The edited edition has an author’s note at the front of the book. Solitaire is a story about mental illness told through an unreliable narrator. The presentation of mental illness in this story is sometimes sensationalised, underexplained, and may be harmful to readers who have experienced mental illness. Please read safely and responsibly. This main character (Tori) was one of the most unlikeable characters I've read in a long time. She was bitter, bitchy, and pessimistic. It's like she didn't know how to smile or laugh, but she was an expert on being judgemental and looking down on people.
So she throws away the number immediately. Then when she DOES see something, she doesn't have the number to call the girl. Then she decides not to tell her anyway. Yeah, stupid. My review is based on that edition. I have no idea of the changes that have been made recently. I'm glad for trigger warnings having been added and any potential edits that have been made. Take this review with a grain of salt for that reason though. Ultimately this is a book about family and friendship. The family dynamic between the Spring siblings is one of the best I’ve read about. They’re a bunch of precious human beings who deserve for good things to happen to them. They’re trying to make their way through this world the best way they can, sometimes they fail, but they got each other to help them get up when they fall. One day she meets angry boy Michael Holden. Angry at the world for expecting him to be someone he’s not. Angry at people for thinking him weird and not worthy of their attention and respect when he’s just being himself. Angry all the time. But hiding it. Hiding it because people would judge him even more, they would make him feel even more lonely than he is now. Michael Holden is the softest boy you will ever meet. He’s angry but that doesn’t he isn’t trying to make Tori happy, really happy, not fake. He’s not trying to save her, she doesn’t need to be saved, she needs to see she’s not alone in this world, that people like her exist. Michael Holden doesn’t want to save her, and he doesn’t need to be saved either. They just both need someone to help them. And their this person for each other.I really liked Tori as a character. I really connected with her and I also related with her, a lot.. I always end up relating with a character when it comes to Alice Oseman's books. For example in Radio Silence I found both Frances and Aled relatable and in Heartstopper I had a lot in common with Charlie. Basically I always find introverts relatable. But I simply found Tori's character extremely intriguing since she was different. She wasn't as other characters that I read about. I don't even know how to explain and I wouldn't because it would just come out wrong. I'm not trying to say she isn't like other girls
I liked Michael and the relationship that he established with Tori through out the book. Although there were times when I was frustrated by the way they were interacting with eachother, by the way they managed to screw things up, I still really liked it but the end, I just wished we got more of it. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2022-09-23 12:14:32 Autocrop_version 0.0.14_books-20220331-0.2 Bookplateleaf 0008 Boxid IA40707324 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier Y es que en general… para mí el libro no vale nada la pena, sea eso lo que busques o no. Es un libro perverso nivel épico. No he leído más novelas de Alice Oseman, pero con esta ya me quedó la sensación de que es malísima escribiendo. Es decir, creo que se le dan mil veces mejor las novelas gráficas. Tenía que decirlo.i’ve now read everything alice has released and i think it’s safe to say i’ll read anything she writes, but that doesn’t mean her books are all really that great imo No." He's digging himself into a hole, and it's actually quite funny to watch. "I—oh, I don't know." urn:oclc:record:891809986 Foldoutcount 0 Identifier solitaire0000osem Identifier-ark ark:/13960/s2vgkmkjwrh Invoice 1652 Isbn 9780007559220 Say what you want about the way mental health and illness is portrayed in this book in general but it is NOT okay to basically ignore a suicide attempt! Tori even mentions that she sees Charlie wearing long-sleeved shirts quite a lot, which should absolutely have everybody's alarm bells ring. So - as you can tell, I really didn't like this book. After writing this review I'm even thinking of giving it only a 1 star rating but there were certain aspects that I enjoyed. It was just that with everything I have experienced it was an incredibly upsetting read for me.
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