Fictional novel review: Solitaire (2014) by Alice Oseman.

Today's blog post my readers is a review of Alice Oseman's debut novel Solitaire (2014). This book focusses on the life of the character Victoria 'Tori' Spring. The book was nice but it confused me...

First of all, I got a bit lost in understanding what was happening. I expected some big, dramatic thing to happen. Instead it felt like the novel was a detailed examination of the ups and downs of her life. The novel establishes Tori as a character who is not bothered most of the time, though her reactions got me questioning that.

Then there's the other characters. I liked the characters and was pleased by how Oseman made me shocked by some characters' actions. I get the impression she wanted that effect from her readers. The character of Becky was a good example because after how her relationship changed with Tori, I half expected her to be phased out of the story. However, her character was a strong one, particularly towards the end and she was highly realistic in what she did. Another character, though of course one is Lucas. Throughout the novel I played detective on who was doing what, shall we say... I did think of Lucas.

By the end of the novel I was unsure what to make of Lucas. Did I like him? Did I not? It was also during the ending that I appreciated not having some big dramatic thing early on in the novel's plot. Oseman was clever in saving the dramatics for the end. I will not spoil it though!

While I liked this novel, I got confused trying to work out of something big would happen and how the novel would end. Eventually I figured where it was heading, I guess for me it was not my favourite. Solitaire is a good novel, even if a little confusing and I am giving it a 6/10.


Until next time,


Thomas.

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