Quick Summary
Heartstopper centres around two British teenage boys, Nick and Charlie, their romance, and general struggles as LGBT+ individuals. Their diverse friend group beautifully adds to this and includes youths with different gender identities and sexualities.
Charlie, having faced bullying in the past, is struggling with his crush on Nick initially, who he thinks is 100% straight. Nick on the other hand falls for Charlie and goes through his own struggle grasping why he is suddenly attracted to a boy when he previously liked girls only. Eventually, Nick and Charlie start dating and Nick labels himself as bisexual.
The books discuss the struggles of coming to terms with your sexuality, coming out, and bullying. There are also talks about mental health issues and self harm later on in the series.
My opinion
Heartstopper felt extremely relatable when I first read it because it reminded me of my younger self. I was struggling with my own sexuality since I was a kid and coming to terms with it certainly took some time. One of my favourite moments in the series is when Nick comes out to his mum – a heartfelt scene that had a lot of build up – and she embraces him and apologises for making him feel like he couldn’t tell her this sooner.
I teared up reading this and had to take a physical break from reading the book at this point. My mother was not the most supportive of my sexuality and is still not, so seeing Nick’s mum being accepting straight away filled me with a lot of emotion. Happiness mostly, as I was really rooting for Nick’s first coming out experience to be good, but also sorrow and envy.
Later on in the series the topic of an eating disorder and other self harm comes up, which again, sadly, felt too relatable. My eating disorder goes in the opposite direction than Charlie – I tend to overeat when upset – but there was a time when I would consciously starve myself, during which my mother encouraged me to do this as well. Obviously, dear reader, this situation was not healthy.
The book series discusses the harsh reality of being an LGBT+ individual perfectly, almost hitting a bit too close to home. There is a very good message though – You’ll start to be a lot happier once you embrace who you truly are.
Summary & Score
I personally give Heartstopper a solid 10/10 for being as brutally real as it is. If you are questioning your sexuality, I recommend this as a read as it discusses many different feelings and orientations that might just help you in your own life. Please do note the warnings about sensitive topics though and avoid reading if you are sensitive to that sort of content.