The Arena of the Unwell

Product Information

In the indie music scene, this mental health theme interlinks with that of drug and alcohol abuse, which is a key part of how Noah sometimes deals with his problems.

Absolutely, but the mistakes they made along the way were human, and it felt completely raw and I absolutely loved that. It's heartening to see so many new queer books representing the complexity and many different forms of gay experience. Throughout the course of the story, Konemann presents his readers with an uncompromising interrogation of the contradicting and often obscure nature of love and desire.

The bestselling LGBTQ+ graphic novel about life, love, and everything that happens in between: this is the fifth volume of the Heartstopper series. Instead, the narrative solely focuses on Noah's point of view and seems to take it for a given that the reader will like him. An all too abrupt ending for characters and relationships that, in my opinion, had so much more to give. I really enjoyed Konemann's non-fiction book The Appendix, but I was particularly drawn to this book from the premise, particularly the promise of it being suffused with a grimy indie music scene, and that did not disappoint. An aspect of the story which I felt most uncomfortable with was the way it handled Noah's struggle with self harm.

I also would have liked Isaac to be given more page time, at least before Noah becomes wholly obsessed with Dylan/Fraser. As Noah spends more of his time with them, getting drunk and high, neglecting his mental health and physical wellbeing, he finds himself alienating the people in his life.

While this is someone who feels quite real the main issue I have with the book is that the author doesn't explore the dynamics of Noah's plight in a way that shows the character gaining any sense of self-awareness. Every time I listen to it now I'm reminded of how surreal the experience was and how everything was so scary and uncertain and I wasn't even going to be able to hug my mum for a couple of weeks when I got home, but something about this album just felt so optimistic and comforting. It does not set Noah within an entirely queer world, noting his sense that he does not want this but also highlighting that sometimes he feels “not gay enough”.

Additionally, there were several elements of the story which felt underdeveloped or didn't go anywhere. Es gab keinen richtigen Spannungsbogen- hat sich immer mal wieder gesteigert, mal ist die Blase geplazt.LK: I’m glad it’s inviting to people who aren’t familiar with the setting, although I’m not sure that’s anything I’ve done deliberately. this had, in my eyes, the most real, unfiltered and related representation of anxiety and depression i’ve read in quite a while, maybe ever. They would have made more sense if the band, or at least their music, would have played a bigger role in the story, but they don't.

After he and his friend Mairead go to a secret comeback gig by their favourite band Smiling Politely, Noah runs into Dylan, a bartender he’s wanted to approach for ages. The upcoming Smiling Politely album is a beacon of hope for Noah who craves the connection he finds in their music yet lacks elsewhere, but he has to ask himself what he’s willing to lose – friendships, dignity, even his sense of self – to just feel like he belongs. Noah, an inexperienced queer guy whose biggest relationship so far has been his obsession with a cult indie band, finds himself getting caught up in the complicated, toxic dynamic between flatmates Dylan and Fraser. There’s a sense of humour, which helps to stop people from throwing the book aside for being too bleak, but the self-consciousness, that second-guessing, is dialled way up.Their volatile relationship and living situation do not make for a good environment, as they seem to enable each other to engage in harmful behaviours.