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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
Oh, YA lit. I love you. I love a love story that is a retrospective after the love is over. Why?! It’s wrong, probably, to enjoy the details of a blooming relationship you know is going to wither quickly on the vine, but it’s also somehow deeply satisfying. Also the pictures are gorgeous and amazing. Also, *! you, Ed.
I liked it, I did. I think my review is going to sound like I didn't like it, but I did.
This is a cute story of a girl going through all the things she saved from her relationship with a boy and writing about them before she gives them back. It's very cutesy. There's lots of pictures.
There was lots of foreshadowing that really just came off as kind of annoying because it was clear that the narrator knew what happened, the boy she was writing to knew what happened, but you, as the reader, were just waiting until she felt like making it clear. It was annoying because they dated for not even two months and I'm supposed to believe they were in love and everything.
She frequently references classical films, and I get that it’s quirky and fun, but I don’t see how it could be interesting to anyone who’s not interested in films. It’s just a bunch of names that mean nothing to me. I feel like her uncultured boyfriend, just trying to keep up.
Also, the pacing was just awful. She’d get really into the story and I’d really want to know what happened next, but then she’d go off on a tangent about movies, or just move on to the next object so I’d have to skim through a bunch of preface and whining before we got back into the action.
All the same, the ending, while predictable, was so well-written and heartfelt that I loved it. I didn't cry, but I was pretty darn close. It's worth reading. It was more cute than anything fantastic. Also, it was written by Lemony Snicket, so how can you not?
This is a cute story of a girl going through all the things she saved from her relationship with a boy and writing about them before she gives them back. It's very cutesy. There's lots of pictures.
There was lots of foreshadowing that really just came off as kind of annoying because it was clear that the narrator knew what happened, the boy she was writing to knew what happened, but you, as the reader, were just waiting until she felt like making it clear. It was annoying because they dated for not even two months and I'm supposed to believe they were in love and everything.
She frequently references classical films, and I get that it’s quirky and fun, but I don’t see how it could be interesting to anyone who’s not interested in films. It’s just a bunch of names that mean nothing to me. I feel like her uncultured boyfriend, just trying to keep up.
Also, the pacing was just awful. She’d get really into the story and I’d really want to know what happened next, but then she’d go off on a tangent about movies, or just move on to the next object so I’d have to skim through a bunch of preface and whining before we got back into the action.
All the same, the ending, while predictable, was so well-written and heartfelt that I loved it. I didn't cry, but I was pretty darn close. It's worth reading. It was more cute than anything fantastic. Also, it was written by Lemony Snicket, so how can you not?
I had bought this book last year and since then was struggling with it. I would read fifty pages or so and give it up for another read. It happens most of the time and that doesn't mean that the book is bad, maybe the timing for sure is. It has happened to me in the past, so I do not think much of it. So when I picked up Why We Broke Up again this time, I was enthralled by the plot and more so by the art by Maira Kalman, which by the way is beautifully done throughout the book.
For every time a couple breaks up there are things that are returned. That's almost the unwritten law of breaking up, of ending it all, of finding the so-called state of “closure”. We return things because they are memories; of times of happiness and now evoke only sadness, which is the truth. Min and Ed, two teenagers whose relationship has ended are at the heart of this novel. They are an improbable couple, who had nothing in common and yet they fell in love. They split ways and the story is narrated from Min’s perspective who is now returning “stuff” that she collected during the course of their relationship, explaining why they broke up and what happened between them.
Min is studying to be a filmmaker, so the entire process and atmosphere of the book is rather dramatic, but only fair, since it is about heartache. There are a lot of references to old films which is brilliant, because I now have to watch most of them. Love also needs so many mediums to speak through. In this case, it is movies.
Heartache at any age is counted for and should be. It is not easy, more so when you are young. I found the story a little too biased, as it was only from Min’s perspective, but that's compensated more so by the plot and writing. What will take you in the most about the book is also the illustrations, which are beautifully and masterfully done so by Maira Kalman. I loved the book so much in most parts and I also thought that maybe I'd have loved to hear Ed’s point of view in all of this. After all it is only fair. The secondary characters, the best friends and ex-lovers make for some quirky characters in the book as well. Ed’s sister Joan is a vital character and it's not difficult to fall in love with her.
I loved this book. It's but the nature of love and heartbreak, its universality that would resonate and strike with anyone who reads about it. One more thing: you can't read it in an electronic book format. The effect and sentiment will not be the same, given the illustrations and also the quality of paper. I recommend you read it, get your heart broken, mend it and then read it all over again.
The pictures were cute and I liked how it started but the story itself took to long to initiate. It could have been better and that being said, it could have been better.
Although I loved the way this book was written with the pictures of the items in the box and Min's storytelling of each item, I did not like the main characters Min and Ed. I don't have to like all the characters in a book but not liking the main characters doesn't make a book exciting to read. Min sounds pretentious and Ed sounds like the typical athlete heartbreak kind of guy. And I guess that's what they both were in the end.
This is a gorgeous book. The art is amazing, and it has such a heft. You cannot truly appreciate this book until you've held it's glossy heavy pages in your hands. I wasn't as enamored with the writing as I was with the book as a physical object, but it was still enjoyable.
Min and Ed have nothing in common. Ed is a basketball player; Min is just an average student with dreams to be a film director. A fluke meeting at a party draws the two of them together and they start dating. This book chronicles Min and Ed's breakup and the contents of a box that Min compiled during their month-and-a-half relationship. There is so much that is so familiar in this book, but Min certainly doesn't sound like a high school student in this extended letter to her ex. The author also has an annoying habit of inserting Min and Ed's names into awkward places in dialogue, just to remind the reader who is talking to who. It really jerks you out of the reading experience when you see something that would never occur in natural speech, let alone natural writing.
Min and Ed have nothing in common. Ed is a basketball player; Min is just an average student with dreams to be a film director. A fluke meeting at a party draws the two of them together and they start dating. This book chronicles Min and Ed's breakup and the contents of a box that Min compiled during their month-and-a-half relationship. There is so much that is so familiar in this book, but Min certainly doesn't sound like a high school student in this extended letter to her ex. The author also has an annoying habit of inserting Min and Ed's names into awkward places in dialogue, just to remind the reader who is talking to who. It really jerks you out of the reading experience when you see something that would never occur in natural speech, let alone natural writing.
Interesting book and concept. I really liked the illustrations and the formula... but I kept getting lost trying to read this.
To be honest, I really didn't like Min for the first half of the book. Every chapter concerns an item she's giving back to her ex and it's always "and that's why we broke up." It just comes across as bitchy and bitter in the beginning. And I have to admit that the constant references to classic movies were annoying until you get to know Min and appreciate that it's what she identifies most with. The love story between Min and Ed was compelling, especially in that they were such polar opposites and even knowing the end was going to be bitter, it was surprisingly heart wrenching. I think what impressed me most is that Ed wasn't the asshole villain. He had moments of sweetness and understanding but ultimately proved himself unreliable. It felt real, which seems so rare for YA romances, especially one so bittersweet. I'd definitely recommend it to other YA fans and the artwork was fantastic! And I fell in love with Al, he was so awesome and loyal! :P
Min is breaking up with Ed. She is writing him a letter on her way to drop off a box of memories on his doorstep. She's getting a ride from her best friend, and we're getting a metaphorical ride through her relationship with Ed: the cute beginning, the sweet and kind of cringingly familiar building on intimacy, the widening gap between their lives (she's obsessed with old movies and he's a HS basketball co-captain (GO BADGERS!)), negotiation of friends and family, adventures, fantasies, and the dramatic end. It's super dramatic, y'all. So if you're into that, it's a fantastic book. I probably would have loved this when I was admittedly a bit emo sophomore/junior year. Until I started my slow journey to not caring.
I kind of hated the characters but couldn't stop reading it. And it has a great ending, a supernova of self-awareness that completely dazzled my out of my cynicism because I was so not feeling this girl and her tirades about old movies that, surprise! are all made up so you can't even look them up and judge her taste. All the music is made up too. She's pretentious and thinks she's cool because she says 'whatnot' a lot. She's 'different', you guys. But I also realize it's a waste of energy to make fun of moody teenagers because it makes me really look bad as an adult. You do you, girl, and I hope this book finds lots of readers, because it's a worthy read & the illustrations are wonderful. You won't think this is waste of time, I 91% guarantee it.
I kind of hated the characters but couldn't stop reading it. And it has a great ending, a supernova of self-awareness that completely dazzled my out of my cynicism because I was so not feeling this girl and her tirades about old movies that, surprise! are all made up so you can't even look them up and judge her taste. All the music is made up too. She's pretentious and thinks she's cool because she says 'whatnot' a lot. She's 'different', you guys. But I also realize it's a waste of energy to make fun of moody teenagers because it makes me really look bad as an adult. You do you, girl, and I hope this book finds lots of readers, because it's a worthy read & the illustrations are wonderful. You won't think this is waste of time, I 91% guarantee it.
Part of me thinks I'm being too hard on this book and that it actually deserves 5 whole stars. I don't know why I don't absolutely love it-- I dig that Min is allowed to be a flawed character, and there's a lot of humor and small-scale tragedy that I liked a lot. But so much of the ending seemed telegraphed in ways that could have been less clunky, and the art is only sometimes a plus.