Like nearly everyone with Netflix, I watched Heartstopper, the hype surrounding it on Twitter inescapable. For a while, I’d written it off; however, it reached a critical mass after a while and I had to at least give it a trial run. That trial run turned into a full-season marathon and many unsuccessful attempts to stage a rewatch with my fiancee joining me this time. Naturally then, a read through of the books that started it all was bound to follow at some point.
Starting with volume one, I can’t help but wonder where the show begins to diverge from the source material, as so far everything feels super faithful, with certain lines even being lifted straight from the book. Obviously things have been padded out a tad to fill the runtime, but none of those additions seem to run contrary to what Oseman has presented here. Up until the climactic closing moment at the party, things (to my eyes) play out about as similarly as a fan could hope for. It’s quite astounding really.
Considering there are no surprises to be had here, only a rehashing of the story I already know and love with some wonderful illustrations, it goes without saying that I love this too. Nick and Charlie’s story is such a sweet, understated tale. There’s some drama, sure, yet it’s secondary to great character work. On both the show, and in this first volume of the books, the plot serves merely as a vehicle to more pitch perfect character beats.
I can’t wait until volume two arrives from Target here in a couple days and I get to see if that’s when things start to differ. Whether they do or not, I’m certain it’ll make for some quality reading either way.
