Heartstopper

Wednesday is about books. And writing. And today it's about the graphic novel series "Heartstopper" and its spin-off TV show...

Oscar, who I told you – well, he told you himself actually – is a keen book-reviewer. He is my 11yo son. Both light of my life and the supreme test around why I am here.

A couple of weeks ago I had an Oscar-free week. A rarity in my game, since I was the primary caregiver, the stay-at-home dad. We fight, and we laugh (in the same way, and mostly at the same things). We love and we laugh. But we do argue sometimes. And it will get worse. The teen years have a habit of sneaking up a little quicker with this generation; their access to information is heightening their feelings even as their experience in the world is very different to ours when we were at that age. But there will always be some fundamentals.

I thank your god that Oscar found reading when he did. Only – really – at the age of 10. Last year when we travelled to Christchurch he tackled Stephen King’s Misery, assisted somewhat by having already seen the film. He had recently read The Body (aka Stand By Me) and The Mist (both King, both novellas, both with movies that Oscar had seen before cracking the spines). After that he was away! And Misery sealed the deal.

He hurtled through some Stephen King over summer – The Dead Zone, Salem’s Lot, The Long Walk, Firestarter, Christine, It  - endless classics, taking me back to my teen years when reading Carrie, Pet Sematary and It was lifechanging for me one summer.

And then Oscar really found his groove with some great YA titles and series’. From Percy Jackson to We Were Liars, via One Of Us Is Lying and a bunch of books (not exactly YA) by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

We can’t keep up.

But it’s still our job to try.

So, this year, Oscar and his mum did the Christchurch trip alone (and I watched some classic trashy TV). He returned with a swag of new books and the hot ticket was Heartstopper.

Heartstopper is a graphic novel series by Alice Oseman. It started as a web-comic (remember Tumblr?) And from there grew to a series of four books – and a spin-off Netflix TV series.

We had borrowed the first volume of Heartstopper from the good ole Wellington Public Library (where I keep most of my graphic novels!) And I had read it straight after Oscar because I’m always keen to find a new, good graphic to dig into. I told you once, way back near the start of this “Sounds Good!” caper that I’m a fan of the graphic novel as a form. But a relatively late bloomer in that area. I’m also doing my best to read at least one of every series or author that Oscar digs into, just for house-harmony, for general conversations, for connection.

Overnight, Oscar fell in love with Heartstopper – and also with the graphic novel format. He returned from the South Island with all four of the Heartstopper volumes. He’d worked chores for his grandparents ahead of the trip, and checked in on a neighbour’s house while they were away (for some more extra pocket money) and this was what he spent his earnings on: The complete set of Heartstopper books.

He couldn’t wait to talk to me about them – and made me loan volume two from the library during that week, promising me I’d be allowed to read the third and fourth when he returned home with them.

One night, almost breathless, he told me that he read all four of them in a single day – and the big reveal: He had cried at the end of book four.

Now, last year when Oscar was deep into Stephen King and Karen M. McManus, and had also read the novels Psycho and Jaws and a few other classic, older titles, he had argued with me and Katy that there was no way a book could make you scared, or sad – they were just words. Movies had impact because of music and movement and performances and the staging of all of those things. But books were just books, just words on a page.

We both told him that he needed to wait – he would soon see that books could be frightening and so utterly joyous, they could make you think for days, and tingle possibly. They could make you too scared to continue turning pages, or keep you up at night reading deep into the long hours and maybe under the covers. Books were the key to the imagination, books cut deep into the mind – deeper than film; which in a lot of cases is just tracing around ideas cut from a book to begin with, right?

Well, he laughed. And then he scoffed. Called us silly old people, or something.

So to hear him admit that he cried at the end of a book – any book – was a big thing. But then he went into more detail about how moved he was at the story of Heartstopper. How exhilarating it was to follow what felt like very real characters; so well written (and drawn). Characters that were relatable in the things they were going through, the world of it seeming realistic to him. He’s still a year and a bit off high-school, but the idea of the high-school world is a big draw.

I couldn’t wait to catch up on the rest of the books. And so I ploughed through volumes three and four last week – and loved the development of the story. And outcome.

Heartstopper is the love story of Nick and Charlie. Two boys that meet at school. It is a teen drama, with some comedy elements. It is a romance. It is sweet. And it is lovely. Wholesome is a word often used. And there are some ‘issues’ attached. There is an eating disorder. There is bullying and homophobia. And there are some great background characters, exploring gender identity and queerness, exploring life. A life that was largely unimaginable, and most certainly not at all represented when I was 11 (or 18 for that matter) and reading Garfield and Peanuts and Footrot Flats and whatever else passed for graphic novels from the school and town libraries.

I did not cry at the end. But that’s largely because it was a condition of my time writing a daily blog for Stuff.co.nz that I agree to have my tear ducts removed. So, you know…

At one point, during my read of all four books, I mentioned it to a colleague. She asked if we would follow it up and watch the TV show. Oh right! I actually had not clicked. This was the show that another work colleague had mentioned a couple of months back. He had said, and I (nearly) quote: “I cried watching this, many times. Just because I was so thrilled something like this existed now. It wasn’t there when I was growing up. I could have used something like this”.

With so many TV shows and so many recommendations it’s easy to forget the connections. Someone tells you something’s a must-see and the next day you’re lucky if you can remember the name of the person that recommended it to you. This is (my) life.

Anyway, I’m glad to have lined up all the dots. And last night we finished watching Heartstopper. Nice just to have a TV show the whole family can watch (along with Cobra Kai and Stranger Things, of course. Also Never Have I Ever – which is closer to Heartstopper in certain themes). We watched. And enjoyed. And Oscar kept telling us that though it was good it was not as good as the books.

And then when we reached the end, he ran down the hall to get all four of his graphic novels. And just hold them.

Me and his mum both looked at him as if he could only be our child.  (If you come to our house there’s a chance, if you sit on the couch, you’ll share the armrest with a Raymond Carver book. Short of re-reading them, I just like to keep them out and visible. That way they’re on my mind).

And the timing for Hearstopper fever in our house is perfect. Season two of the show streams next week on Netflix. It will deal with the third and fourth books, where the relationship is tested somewhat, where the resistance intensifies, where life gets further in the way. It will also, likely, see the development of some of the background characters. In season one, though they were well acted, they felt a bit like placeholders.

Winningly though, Hearstopper has been adapted for TV by is creator. So Alice Oseman is making a new world for her characters – they are being positioned on the screen not just with her blessing, but by her very hand. This is helpful. This is important.

And the graphic novel will have a new edition just before Christmas. Volume five is being released on December 19. So that’s an easy stocking-stuffer in our house. I’m sure I can wait until Boxing Day to find out if Nick and Charlie still love liking each other!