Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
This is a review from a biased, huge fan of Daniel Handler. But whatever, it gets 5 stars because I connected with the story, as many people can, of the universal pain of your first break-up. Oh, fuck that shit. I mean, not only are you are your most emotionally imbalanced, with the reasoning part of your brain not even developed, but you have deal with this bullshit. Daniel Handler knows this bullshit well. Another reason for the five-star review is the brilliant dialogue between such realistic characters. Examples of my favourites being:
""It's kind of personal."
He turned off the water and watched me in the doorway with the towel on his shoulder. "OK."
"I mean, not like my period or my parents beating me, but personal."
"Yeah, it's rough when your parents beat you and you have your period.""
and one character, on sampling coffee for the first time:
"This is like a cookie, it tastes like a cookie having sex with a doughnut."
I can see why some readers find the narrator, Min, off-putting. Generally they find her too pretentious. From what I know, Handler has written her this way because of the influence of his favourite author, Nabokov - his narrators are deliberately misleading or not fully self-aware. Which makes even more sense when you remember Min's in high school. If people want to be completely in love with the characters in the books they read and convinced they have no flaws, they can easily read something else. But this is realistic, and funny too, so to me, you'd be completely missing the point.
Another point on the character of Min - for those readers familiar with Handler's 'The Basic Eight,' the narrators of both works are so similar they could be the same character. Which is not something I minded so much, because I enjoy Handler's characterisation so much. But it's a wee issue.
The narration also slips into what is at times confusing, sort-of stream of consciousness, eh I don't know maybe I'm doing it now - anyway sometimes the way Min thinks disrupts the flow of the writing and you have to go back and re-read what she said to follow what's going on. Again, this is perhaps idiosyncratic and an example of the dodgy narrator thing Handler's so into.
But overall, I'm into this book, and I don't want to break up with it or give it back, so I love it forever.
""It's kind of personal."
He turned off the water and watched me in the doorway with the towel on his shoulder. "OK."
"I mean, not like my period or my parents beating me, but personal."
"Yeah, it's rough when your parents beat you and you have your period.""
and one character, on sampling coffee for the first time:
"This is like a cookie, it tastes like a cookie having sex with a doughnut."
I can see why some readers find the narrator, Min, off-putting. Generally they find her too pretentious. From what I know, Handler has written her this way because of the influence of his favourite author, Nabokov - his narrators are deliberately misleading or not fully self-aware. Which makes even more sense when you remember Min's in high school. If people want to be completely in love with the characters in the books they read and convinced they have no flaws, they can easily read something else. But this is realistic, and funny too, so to me, you'd be completely missing the point.
Another point on the character of Min - for those readers familiar with Handler's 'The Basic Eight,' the narrators of both works are so similar they could be the same character. Which is not something I minded so much, because I enjoy Handler's characterisation so much. But it's a wee issue.
The narration also slips into what is at times confusing, sort-of stream of consciousness, eh I don't know maybe I'm doing it now - anyway sometimes the way Min thinks disrupts the flow of the writing and you have to go back and re-read what she said to follow what's going on. Again, this is perhaps idiosyncratic and an example of the dodgy narrator thing Handler's so into.
But overall, I'm into this book, and I don't want to break up with it or give it back, so I love it forever.
I really liked the setup of this book. It felt so real and raw, and the pictures were beautiful.
Beautiful artwork, heartbreaking story. Glad I never kept a box of things. *wink*
De esos libros que terminas por la única razón de que lo empezaste. No me gusta la forma en la que el autor escribe, todo va demasiado rápido, y al final solo es otra historia de adolescentes que no descubre nada interesante. Era demasiado esperar que hubiera una razón lógica para que la protagonista escribiera una carta tan larga, para un tipo obviamente ordinario. Dicho sea de paso, ningún personaje me gustó.
"Dumping you times infinity. Still not enough."Why We Broke Up is not an emotional roller-coaster of collected drama in that box Min is giving to Ed. This is not a soapy high school relationship story of happily ever after. This is not a story that would get you hooked either. This a story plain and simple as day and night. This is reality. Moreover, this a reality by which a lot of people got their hearts broken. Damn Ed Slaterton.
To be honest, I was tempted to drop the book so many time. Sheer curiosity and determination forced me to finish it. And when I say curiosity, I mean frustration by lack of action and "when the hell am I going to get to the point?" type of interest. So, I ended up having a love-hate relationship with the story of Min and Ed. It's horrible. I cried my eyes out. I feel like picking up Why We Broke Up is the worst mistake
The novel made me so incredibly sad. You know that one awful break-up you went through but still shiver at the thought of 101 personal horrors you have experienced? Well, buckle up. We are doing it again. It took me a while to finish the book because I kept having the flashbacks and re-runs of flashbacks of my own while reading it. So, when I finally turned the last page, I carefully set the book on the bed table, turned the lights off and...could not sleep until 5 in the morning. Why We Broke Up is a life ruiner.
"I'm not a romantic, I'm a half-wit. Only stupid people would think I'm smart. I'm not something anyone should know."
Now, with all that questionable praise comes criticism. I can't say I approved of Min. Her obsessively loved hobby was obnoxious. Many times I let myself skip the parts having anything to do with it. I did not fall in love with Ed. He was a jerk. Nothing else to say about him. Overall, character development is at speed 0, meaning there is not any. The first part of the novel is very slow-paced and boring, to be frank. So, obviously it took me a while to get into it. There is very little plot development. I observed something remotely resembling "plot-development" in the last 100 pages. I pretty much dragged myself through the first 200. If not for the emotional response Why We Broke Up causes, I would just say this is a bad book. Awful.
I am still not completely sure how and when but I found myself weeping over Min and Ed. Jokes. I know exactly why. It does not have a straight connection to what happened but Min's emotions and thoughts are extremely relatable. As I said, imagine your worst break up and be ready to go through it again. That's what the book is about. Not so much of Min Green and Ed Slaterton but about you and your ex-loved one.
P.S. Strongly recommend to listen to Banks during and after reading to enhance sadness by x100. You are welcome.
Para mi este libro a pesar de que si me gusto, creo que algo le falto para ser uno de mis favoritos, me gusto pero por otro lado se me hizo dificil de leer, esta narrado de una forma que no me agrado mucho.
Great book! You know right away the couple has broken up but you have to go through the girl telling about all the "artifacts" in the box she is returning to her previous boyfriend. The whole story reminds you of your first teen love. Teens could really learn something from reading this book.
It took me a bit to get into the story because it felt a little gimmicky with “and that’s why we broke up” popping up at the end of each chapter. Plus a good amount of the chapters had what felt like never ending run-on sentences. Also I didn’t get any of the old movie references… with that said, I still ended up liking the book as a whole. I liked the way the story was told, and the illustrations of items that related to their relationship. And of course the crushing ending that I should have been prepared for given the title of this book, but it somehow made me feel like I was having my heart broken anyway.
52Books2022 Reading Challenge: A second-person narrative
52Books2022 Reading Challenge: A second-person narrative
I really enjoyed this. :) I liked the writing and the illustrations. It's books like these that make me want to write my own.