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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
Honor book, 2012
I listened to this as an audio book, so I missed some of the uniqueness from the illustrations. The construct of the book, a box full of items being returned to a recently-exed boyfriend, each with its own story a part of the break-up letter, is engaging and original. The story and characters are not as original. Min is a film-loving high school junior who hangs out with the smart, sarcastic crowd. Ed is a jock who is embarrassed about being good at math. And yet, they find themselves going out, much to the surprise and dismay of all of their friends. Ed is unsurprisingly one-sided, as we know him only through Min's tearful, somewhat bitter, memories. I would have really liked to hear more of his side of the story, however. He ends up deserving the scummy scum label Min's friend Lauren gives him, but we get only hints of some real hardships in his life. I wanted to be able to be more sympathetic. Handler does a nice job of capturing the voice of a high school girl.
I listened to this as an audio book, so I missed some of the uniqueness from the illustrations. The construct of the book, a box full of items being returned to a recently-exed boyfriend, each with its own story a part of the break-up letter, is engaging and original. The story and characters are not as original. Min is a film-loving high school junior who hangs out with the smart, sarcastic crowd. Ed is a jock who is embarrassed about being good at math. And yet, they find themselves going out, much to the surprise and dismay of all of their friends. Ed is unsurprisingly one-sided, as we know him only through Min's tearful, somewhat bitter, memories. I would have really liked to hear more of his side of the story, however. He ends up deserving the scummy scum label Min's friend Lauren gives him, but we get only hints of some real hardships in his life. I wanted to be able to be more sympathetic. Handler does a nice job of capturing the voice of a high school girl.
This was a fun book to read, both for the quirky characters (Min and her best friend, Al) and the Illustrations, which really are works of art. The book is beautiful and quite hefty because of the thick, glossy paper it's printed on. Min and Al reminded me of some people I grew up with so it made me feel somewhat nostalgic. The book is narrated by Min and is written as a letter to her exboyfriend (Ed) explaining why the broke up. In breaking up with him, Min gave back every item that she was given or collected over the course of her relationship with Ed. Each item is pictured in the book and the back history of how each item is part of their relationship is explained.
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is one of those books where, if I had had the time, I would have read it all in one sitting. It's probably not top ten material, but it was really good. It was highly entertaining. It is a perfect depiction of what happens when two dumb high schoolers with too-high expectations of each other get together and have what they think is a great relationship that is actually horrible. And it's super great.
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Loved the illustrations and the format! Can something be simultaneously fun and melancholy?
3.5 really. I was worried when I started this one because of the mixed reviews but I liked it. Except for the use of the "whatnot" and a few other phrases that sounded contrived, I thought Min read as a plausible 11th grade girl for the most part. There were moments when I felt Handler's voice coming through and it would boot me out of the story, but overall it was pretty good. The ending was a little rushed and farfetched and partly predictable. I felt Handler "handed" the ending to us instead of letting us get to it ourselves. Worth the read though. Kinda reminded me of [b:Not That Kind Of Girl|7958702|Not That Kind Of Girl|Siobhan Vivian|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1276030498s/7958702.jpg|11738454] by [a:Siobhan Vivian|800187|Siobhan Vivian|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1309136024p2/800187.jpg] in that "different meets popular" sort of way.
I loved this book. So much of it was great, but it was not quite perfect. It gave an incredibly real, in-the-moment feel of teenage love/infatuation. The prose and organization really conveyed the turmoil of feelings Min experienced and we were able to whirlwind through it right beside her. But, it felt a little too cliche, regular girl, jock, turns out best friend was actually in love with her. The obviousness of it was just a little too much.
I read about 50% of this in high school and couldn't make myself finish, so what gave me the urge to try again seven years later? A combination of completionist anxiety and knowing what would make me feel something? Let's review.
Why We Broke Up is a beautifully illustrated book, I give it that. And I certainly felt things, because while I wouldn't call it an accurate reflection of 'the teen experience' there were a few passages that did hit home. However, combined with messy metaphors, repetitive writing and weirdly persistent toxic masculinity/homophobia/misogeny, I wasn't exactly charmed by this book. Maybe I was supposed to think of Ed as an ignorant asshole the whole time considering how it all ended, but reading from the perspective of someone who can't make up their mind and never truely calls out his dickishness didn't make me feel like we were supposed to hate him. I guess we were supposed to feel sort of bad for him, a pathetic schoolboy with a tough home life who just isn't ready for this sort of relationship because there's no other girls like you... well, I hated him. I hated his gaslighting, cheating, lying, spinelessness. I even hated it when he was trying to be nice, because it all felt in service of getting what he wanted. However, I wasn't exactly rooting for Min, because I couldn't understand her attraction. He openly hated everything she liked, pressured her and placated her with empty words, all whilst going behind her back and honestly? She should have burned the box. That would have been true catharsis. Coming from a girl who wrote a letter to her ex, I understand the drive to be extra as hell when you feel like your life is turning into a teenage soap opera, but he didn't deserve 354 pages of your best prose, girl.
Before this starts to get personal (it isn't yet?) I get it, it was a different time and people are now reexamining the books we praised as teenagers with vigour, I just expected to a little more grey areas from a book called why WE broke up. Why I Dumped Your Ass doesn't have the same ring, I guess.
Why We Broke Up is a beautifully illustrated book, I give it that. And I certainly felt things, because while I wouldn't call it an accurate reflection of 'the teen experience' there were a few passages that did hit home. However, combined with messy metaphors, repetitive writing and weirdly persistent toxic masculinity/homophobia/misogeny, I wasn't exactly charmed by this book. Maybe I was supposed to think of Ed as an ignorant asshole the whole time considering how it all ended, but reading from the perspective of someone who can't make up their mind and never truely calls out his dickishness didn't make me feel like we were supposed to hate him. I guess we were supposed to feel sort of bad for him, a pathetic schoolboy with a tough home life who just isn't ready for this sort of relationship because there's no other girls like you... well, I hated him. I hated his gaslighting, cheating, lying, spinelessness. I even hated it when he was trying to be nice, because it all felt in service of getting what he wanted. However, I wasn't exactly rooting for Min, because I couldn't understand her attraction. He openly hated everything she liked, pressured her and placated her with empty words, all whilst going behind her back and honestly? She should have burned the box. That would have been true catharsis. Coming from a girl who wrote a letter to her ex, I understand the drive to be extra as hell when you feel like your life is turning into a teenage soap opera, but he didn't deserve 354 pages of your best prose, girl.
Before this starts to get personal (it isn't yet?) I get it, it was a different time and people are now reexamining the books we praised as teenagers with vigour, I just expected to a little more grey areas from a book called why WE broke up. Why I Dumped Your Ass doesn't have the same ring, I guess.
I feel a little more like this is a book that adults read thinking this is what teen fiction is like. I think there's a very small pool of actual teens that I will feel are the right reader for this book. I did end up liking it, but I ended up only liking Ed and Min in flashes. I never was heavily invested in either one of them. Al was the real star of this book (w00t Italians!).