andrewhatesham's reviews
359 reviews

This is a YA, slow burn (no irony intended) romance, set in a small town – but it's also a story of a high masking autistic girl trying to pave her own path, without stepping on too many neurotypical toes along the way.

"She liked knowing why she was the way she was, it was a relief. A welcome key to her own mind."

I'm not a big fan of romance books in the first place, but I felt that the romantic aspects weren't written as well as they could have been. The build up to the end didn't exactly develop in a way that felt natural, and the end itself felt a little too happily-ever-after for my taste. 

The neurodivergence aspect is mainly what kept me interested! This type of representation, canonically autistic women; is something I never saw up until somewhat recently. I could identify with Jasper (the FMC) in a way I rarely do with other characters. I also saw elements of my fellow neurodivergent counterparts reflected in her.

I'm so grateful that Elle McNicoll and other authors/creators like her are on the come up, because this type of representation is necessary. Thanks to them, many neurodivergent people finally get to see themselves represented in a respectful way.

I rarely annotate books but this one called me to do it, as did "Keedie!" Many "hey, she's like me" moments. We're of course not the same, but there are certain aspects of Jasper that stuck out to me because, again, I rarely see those traits represented, especially not in a realistic way.

In addition to the neurodivergent element, I found the wintery setting to be nice, especially because I read the book during that same time of year. The romanticization of winter in media makes winter in real life feel a bit more bearable!

The story itself is okay, it kind of reads like a genuine children's story rather than a short story for adults, which isn't really my thing. But what I LOVED was the afterward, where Clarke talks about things she loves that subconsciously influenced her work!! The fact that she's a Kate Bush fan made me so happy and also made me want to read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell. I absolutely loved Piranesi so it was cool to learn about the hidden influences behind that as well.

I wasn't expecting this to be so sad! Backman is a master of writing with simple language packed with deep emotions. So impactful.

Unoriginal, poorly written, and the ending made the whole thing feel like a waste of time. I would not recommend this.

Coming from the author of Our Wives Under the Sea, this was not what I expected. I feel like a lot of people will have the opposite opinion, but I definitely prefer Our Wives over this. OWUtS was a wonderfully weird,  unconventional, and thought provoking read. I expected Private Rites to have those elements dialed up to 11. Instead, it felt like your average 2020s lit-fic. For me, it was a bit of a drag, it took a long time to really get to the point, and once I got there, it ended too fast. If I hadn't been listening to the audiobook, or if it were longer, I probably wouldn't have finished the book.

Don't get me wrong, the writing style flowed nicely and there were some good moments, quotes worth revisiting and such, but I wish it got to the heart of the plot earlier on, and I wish it leaned further into the darker elements. Also, I felt that there were too many POVs. Especially because the characters didn't feel particularly distinctive. I kept confusing Isla with Irene because they have such similar names and narrative voices. I wish this were either more plot driven, or more character driven. It felt like it flip-flopped between the two styles, leading to both feeling watered down.

This wasn't for me, but if you like gloomy queer lit fic, and climate change speculative fiction, this might interest you. Even if you read OWUtS and disliked it, since Private Rites is considerably different.

This was challenging for me to understand. On top of being a sci-fi that's heavy on the fiction side, the plot is almost labyrinthian, in how many characters there are (considering this is only 160 pgs.), how they are connected, and how they each have their own motivations surrounding the center of the plot. Each character's introduction is brief, the writing style doesn't have many visual descriptions overall, and it's mostly made up of character dialogue, but without the cues that most writers use to make it easy to follow who said what. The book is very short and fast paced, but without those cues, it's all on the reader to track what's happening and why. I'll note that I read the English translation (the original language is Korean), but I don't think it was poorly translated, it's likely just the writing style that didn't click with me. (Anton Hur is an award winning translator, he notably translated Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung and Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park).

All that being said, despite having difficulty following the plot, I didn't think this was boring. I typically like dystopian sci-fi, so there definitely were some interesting elements that got my attention, otherwise I wouldn't have finished the book. Maybe the pieces will finish coming together over time as I reflect on what I remember. sometimes books grow on me long after I read them.

Whether I would recommend this or not, depends on the reader. If you're well versed in sci-fi concepts and terminology, and are into plot driven stories, then yes. Otherwise, this probably isn't for you.

In all honesty, the main reason why I picked this up was because I was curious about the author, who is anonymous and goes by a one-word pseudonym, which happens to be the same as my name, Djuna. I don't know if they pronounce it the same way but for me, the D is silent, so it rhymes exactly with Luna. Just replace the L sound with a hard J sound : )

This hooked me in easily! I was really into the first quarter or so. As a fan of Heartstopper (the books and the show), I was excited to read another book that takes place in the same universe, especially when I realized it centers on Tori and Michael, two characters from Heartstopper who I have been curious to know more about. Tori is a character I can identify with, as a former-angsty-teen, and as an adult who still struggles with mental health. As for Michael, I can relate to being seen as socially obtuse 🤷🏻 

At first, I was a bit annoyed by the pop culture references, I'd rather read something that feels timeless; but it sort of started to make sense as I read on. In addition to contemporary pop culture, Solitaire also references classic literature a lot, both in text and subtext. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it heavily references The Catcher in the Rye – it's like a modern retelling of it. Tori seems like your typical melodramatic teen on the outside, but once you start to peel back the layers, you find that there's more to her than meets the eye. She's a caring and sensitive person who deeply struggles to express herself and connect with others, as does Holden in TCitR. Also, Micheal's last name is literally Holden! Pride and Prejudice is referenced a lot too, but I'm less familiar with P&P as I've only seen the movie.

Around the halfway point, I began to lose interest a bit. The writing started to get redundant. I felt like it hit on the same few beats multiple times, messing with the pacing and plot structure. The tone had a bit of a strange shift as well. Things kind of fell apart in the last act. I'm still not a fan of the ending, but what I didn't know until afterwards, is that Oseman wrote this as a teenager! I didn't know going into this that it was her first publication. It's understandable that her first book isn't her best. I'm glad it exists, because without Solitaire, there would be no Heartstopper. I didn't realize that either, that Heartstopper is technically a spin-off of Solitaire, which is very interesting! And explains the timeline. I assumed Solitaire was a prequel but it actually starts not far from where Heartstopper does, so you're seeing some of the same events but from Tori's perspective.

So, while this has notable flaws, I still think this is worthwhile and would recommend it to Heartstopper/Oseman fans.

The writing style + narration was very cozy and fun, but I didn't like the plot as much as I hoped I would. I think prefer the movie to be honest.

I finally got around to finishing this! I read the first ~30 pages, probably two years ago. I didn't finish it then because it was a bit too dark for me at the time.

I loved the writing style. It was easy for me to get pulled into the story and I was able to read the first ~70 pages in one session. The plot is dark enough on its own, the immersive writing style makes it that much more disturbing because I could picture every detail.

Unfortunately for me, I found the subtextual meanings to be difficult to piece together. Morality tends to be one of my least favorite themes to read about, I tended not to think very deeply about things so that's one reason why I struggled to make sense of everything by the end. I could of course tell that other themes were weaved through as well, but morality kind of overshadowed everything, from my perspective. Louis is kind of insufferable 🫥

While I wasn't in the mood to be particularly analytical, I didn't want to DNF this again either, so I decided to just read it mostly through the entertainment lens. Noticing how it differs from the movie was something that did interest me. I definitely wasn't bored, until I neared the last act which was a bit anticlimactic. I think I'll rewatch the movie at some point because it will be interesting to watch, now that I'm more familiar with the source material!