A review by glitterenby
Heartstopper Volume 1 by Alice Oseman

emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

British high school students Charlie and Nick meet in class and quickly become friends, even though they are very different. Charlie is a nervous, soft-spoken drummer; Nick is a confident, popular, rugby player. Charlie is gay, and the whole school knows it; Nick kissed a girl in eighth grade, so obviously he’s straight. But as Saturdays spent hanging out at each other houses, lunch periods spent laughing together, and adversity deepen their friendship, they start to notice that something else is happening between them too. What to do about that, however, they have no idea. 

As a bisexual person who didn’t recognize their queerness until they were in their early thirties thanks, in part, to growing up in a homophobic religious environment, I had an intense time with this book. It was healing watching these two characters get to do what I should have gotten to do when I was a teen – learn about myself, including my queerness, and learn about what friendship and love can be like. The existence of a very popular book about teens doing just that gives me hope that the world really is getting better for queer people. At the same time, this book hurt because it reminded me of how much I missed; it triggered a grief that I wasn’t expecting. 

I love this graphic novel, however, for being the depiction of queer joy that I didn’t have access to when I was growing up. After so many decades of mainstream media that punishes queer people for their “deviance” by breaking up their relationships, subjecting them to dramatic insanity, or even killing them (I blame the Hayes Code for creating the “bury your gays” trope.), it’s wonderful to see pieces like this that give their characters joy and hope. While there certainly is intensity and pain in this book, we see joy in almost every moment that Charlie and Nick spend together. We especially see it in the adorable star-crossed facial expressions that the boys hide from each other but that Oseman highlights for us. We also see hope for a happy future in the growing relationship between the two. 

Oseman also does a fantastic job of using Charlie and Nick’s friendship to depict healthy masculinity. While Nick’s other friends are notable for their tendencies toward homophobia and bullying (all earmarks of toxic masculinity), Charlie, an already caring and gentle character, brings out in Nick a sort of vulnerability and compassion that seems to have been hidden by his previous friendships. Together, the two, rather than competing with each other to be stronger, smarter, etc., come together to support each other emotionally and introduce each other to things that they enjoy. (One of the cutest scenes happens when Charlie shows Nick how to play the drums.) That is not to say that the boys give up all traditional markers of masculinity, however. They both turn out to be skilled athletes, enjoy videogames, and like to roughhouse.   

One of the things that impresses me the most about this graphic novel, though, is how it handles the topics of domestic violence and sexual assault among boys/men in queer relationships. Domestic violence and sexual assault are often (inaccurately) depicted as something that only girls/women experience and as only existing in heterosexual relationships. Heartstopper Vol. 1 destroys all of these myths, while also signaling to the reader that these assaults are destructive and unacceptable and that boys/men who have experienced them have the right to talk about it. 

My one frustration with this book is that it ends on a cliffhanger, which I think is unnecessary. Maybe I’m old-school, and maybe my two degrees in English making me too traditional, but I think that each volume in a series should include a full story arc, even as it contributes to the overall story arc of the series. 

Overall, I thought this graphic novel was fantastic, and I’m looking forward to reading the next volume. 

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