Solitaire is the debut novel of Alice Oseman. It is set in the same universe as her more famous work, Heartstopper, but explores deeper themes such as depression. Solitaire follows the depressed sixth-former Tori Spring as she negotiates her way around mental health, friendship, and a mysterious organisation known as Solitaire.
Solitaire contains examples of the following tropes:
- Atomic F-Bomb: Nick shouts “FUCK YOU!” at Ben when he attacks Charlie.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Heavily averted. Ben Hope goes around bruised after getting beaten up at Solitaire's party and Tori gets a big scratch across her face when sneaking into school to stop Solitaire's final act.
- Beware of the Nice Ones: Nick, who is introduced as the "human embodiment of a golden retriever puppy" absolutely loses it when Ben attacks Charlie and has to be physically held back from beating him senseless.
- Bittersweet Ending: While Tori's mental health has improved, she isn't "fixed"; furthermore, Solitaire burned down the school.
- Brother–Sister Team: Tori and Charlie support each other through their teenage struggles, and until Michael appears, Charlie is Tori's only proper confidant.
- Character Blog: Tori’s Tumblr blog.
- Cool Big Sis: Although there is only a year between them, Tori is fiercely protective and caring of Charlie. She and Charlie are also both Cool Big Siblings to their little brother Ollie.
- Crossover:
- There is a partial overlap between this book and the fourth volume of Heartstopper.
- Tori briefly spots Frances from Radio Silence at Becky's birthday and then at Solitaire's party.
- It's All About Me: Tori's denial of that trope is what leads her to miss the clues that Lucas basically created Solitaire 'for her'.
- Jerkass Ball: Nick, who is described as "the human embodiment of a golden retriever puppy" in his introduction, gets the ball when he has an argument with Charlie and causes him to have a self-harm relapse.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: Solitaire contains several spoilers for Heartstopper, such as Nick and Charlie getting together, Charlie's anorexia and self-harm, or Harvey Greene Grammar School burning down.
- Nice Guy: Several. Charlie, who Tori describes as "the nicest person in the history of the universe", his boyfriend Nick a rugby-playing Gentle Giant, and the quirky but kind-hearted Michael.
- Now, Let Me Carry You: Tori has spent the past year looking after Charlie concerning his anorexia and self-harm. Charlie returns the favour to support Tori during her own mental health struggles, and is the one who first stops her from jumping out of the burning Higgs building in the climax.
- Only Sane Man: Tori, Michael, Nick and Charlie when the mob turns on Ben Hope, as the only people who seem horrified by the attack and actually try to help. (Despite the fact, it's meant to be karma for Ben hurting Charlie).
- Single-Target Sexuality: Discussed. Nick is explicitly bisexual but Tori also comments that he's "pretty Charlie obsessed."
- Shout-Out:
- The principal of Higgs is mentioned to resemble Alan Rickman.
- Tori dresses up as Wednesday Addams for Becky's birthday costume party. Becky herself dresses up as Tinker Bell and Michael - as Sherlock Holmes . Other outfits people wear for the party include Superman, Audrey Hepburn, The Tenth Doctor and multiple Disney princesses.
- Among the songs that Solitaire blast throughout the whole school are Material Girl by Madonna, "Sexy Back" by Justin Timberlake and The Final Countdown by Europe.
- Charlie is a big fan of Muse and complains that people only associate them with Twilight.
- Tori listens to Radiohead and Coldplay.
- The book that Tori has to read for her English Literature class is Pride and Prejudice. She can't stomach it and ends up watching the Keira Knightley film.
- Tori is a fan of Donnie Darko and also watches The Breakfast Club and Garden State at various points throughout the book.
- Tori's dad gives her a copy of The Metamorphosis. Michael ends up reading it and bonding with Tori's dad over it.
- There are also more than a few shout-outs to The Catcher in the Rye. Michael's surname is Holden and the book itself gets frequently mentioned. On a meta-level even the blurb on the cover compares the book to The Catcher in the Rye.
- The Unreveal: From Tori's perspective, since she never learns what sort of a secret about Ben Charlie is keeping. The readers who have read Heartstopper however know that the secret is that the two of them had a secret relationship.
- Verbal Tic: Tori. It's funny because it's true.
- The 'Verse: All of Alice Oseman's works are set in the same universe, centered around a fictional town in Kent.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Michael Holden eventually accuses Tori of hanging out with him only when it suits her and basically using him as her own Manic Pixie Dream Guy.
- Tori herself lashes out at Lucas when she learns that he created Solitaire to express his crush on her.
- Later on Becky calls out all the members of Solitaire on being "the most deluded of all the hipsters I've met".
