In general the environment of the boys is quite supportive, if not with some struggles and exceptions ( I'm glad you've realised the error of your ways - but it's not my job to give you a gold star), leading to one of them musing exasperated: We're probably gonna have to come out hundreds more times in our lives!!Īlso one of the mothers very wisely remarks that love can't fix mental illness and also really important messages like needing other people as support in healthy other than romantic relations instead of putting all the balls on the romantic relations, are expressed in an effective way. And I must say in general these boys are very restrained in sexual terms. I must say that the multiple lines that led to a lot of snogging during this schooltrip made me low key want an asexual character just for variety sake, but again Oseman does an excellent job of incorporating a trans character in a completely normal manner. There is also a lovely Paris trip, which involves comments of classmates like: Oh. Also there is some delightfully dry comments like:

Meanwhile Nick has quite a complicated relationship with his father (with best platonic bros as a cover up) and he is scared of horror movies. In some kind of way he does seem to be good at everything, but certainly in the fourth volume he is imbued with a fragility ( You're kind of a stressed out person generally as Nick remarks) that makes him endearing and human as a character.

Alice Oseman does a masterful job of making both Nick and Charlie real characters, but also sketches a diverse cast of side characters, including goth sister Victoria, sarcastic teacher Farouk and his counterpart, whose character I got in a quiz.Ĭharlie especially has quite a lot of depth (and major nerd vibes with a gay NASA wallpaper on his phone) with lowkey heartbreaking quotes like:Īll of the older boys kinda remind me of the people who used to bully me.Īnd reactions on his rugby 'mate' Nick that basically boil down to: just tackle me. Gay nerd and rugby lad meet each other in this graphic novel, but then with much more depth and a cuteness overload that is hard to beat. aren't I a bit small and weak for rugby? - Charlie Totally adored and binged the entire series, loved both Oseman her art style and how she woven in hard themes in an essentially very fluffy, heartwarming love storyĮrm. Binged the Netflix adaptation of the first book as well and really liked it!

Heartstopper. Tom 1 by Alice Oseman