CBR Bingo: Middle, because I’m taking the ending of this book to be the start of the middle of Nick and Charlie’s story–six volumes, and now it’s the end of the beginning
Kudos to Alice Oseman for landing this tricky plane–a six volume graphic novel about a teenage love story, which by its very nature leads to some cynical raised eyebrows. I’m well on the record being exasperated by novels that feature our leads, Aquamarine Quantia and Xavier Hotstuff, falling in permalovelust at the ripe old ages of, like, 17 and 21 (yes, this is a little bit a roast of Fourth Wing) (and every other one of this ilk) (don’t get me started on the ones where she’s 18 and he’s 4,356). But somehow this is different, and sort of in the vein of that series of Rachel Lynn Solomon books written about seniors in Seattle. Everyone’s not aged up, per se, but they’re emotionally resonant in a way that makes the plotline work.
SO where are we: Nick is about to start his last year of school, Charlie is a year below ofc so this is the year of ‘are we going to try long distance’ being repeated copy/paste across all the couples in this school where every character who isn’t a bully seems to be queer in some way shape or form (not judging! just remarking). There’s Tao and Elle, Darcy and Tara, and Nick and Charlie, and everyone’s wondering what’s going to happen next. Statistics would say none of them will make it to the UK’s equivalent of the Thanksgiving break breakup, but that’s really not the focus of the book.
After quite a few books mostly focused on Charlie’s mental health issues (in particular his eating disorder) and Nick learning that he can’t ‘fix’ them, it’s nice to have the tables turned and to see Nick having his own issues (around perfectionism) and Charlie being able to show up and help him through them, without merely rehashing the same ‘but I can’t fix you’ trope. Perhaps because he’s much further down a much deeper mental health pathway, Charlie knows he can’t make Nick better, but he’s going to try his best to show up for his boyfriend. I also appreciated that there’s age-appropriate sexual relations going on! Not being weird, just noting that the boys stay over at one another’s rooms and hook up the way any couple would, without every sexual experience being drawn out or made to be everything. Because sometimes, especially in a longer relationship, sex is just sex. Even if it’s queer.
Without many spoilers, the ending here is the perfect blend–we don’t flip forward into a totally unrealistic “and now they get married” type vibe. But we understand what the challenges are and are happy to see our couple ready to face them and grow. Looking forward to watching the movie when I get the chance 🙂
