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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
I've had this book checked out from the library for months. It's been sitting on my bookshelf at home, staring at me accusingly with an arched eyebrow: "are you ever going to read me? Cause if not sister, return my ass so that another (better) reader can." I got the message loud and clear. My guilt was starting to take charge. Plus, there's only so many times you can renew a library book and not feel like you've actually stolen the damn thing.
One of the reasons why I held onto it for so long is that deep down I knew I wanted to read it at some point. The premise intrigued me. It's a Printz Honor. The blurbs on the back are fantastic. Then I read this review from Caris -- and I thought, "okay, this book has got something I don't want to miss." So I kept it. Because if I gave it back, I would probably never get it again. I don't like playing "if you love something set it free" crap shoot with books. Books come in and out of your life inexplicably. Never take for granted that the one you loan to a friend or return to the library is one that will come back to you. Because it probably won't. And what if it was going to be the best thing you've ever read? that's now the best thing you'll never read. I couldn't let that be true for Why We Broke Up.
So I read it. In a matter of hours. And it was beautiful and awesome and charming and sad. It was the best of a John Hughes movie all funny and self-conscious, and nerdy cool. Full of awkwardness and embarrassment and vivid flashbacks to the angst of adolescence that makes me so very grateful high school is long gone from my rearview mirror.
It's also a book lover's book. It weighs a ton printed on thick pages, with colorful art inserts that are just divine. This is a book meant to be held and poured over. It has a personality before the opening sentences are even read.
And yes, it's a book about getting your heart broken. That's rough. That's never fun at any age, but the first time sucks a bag full of lemons. We all remember the first time. The first time we made a fool of ourselves. The first time we dumped our friends. The first time we stopped being the real us because it was so addicting and marvelous to be this other person with this other person. It's easy to lose your way, the hard part is finding your way back again, a little older, wiser, tougher.
More than that first crush, more than that first crushed heart, Why We Broke Up is about the enduring glories of true friendship, and staying true to yourself. When life falls apart, as it is wont to do without warning, it is these two pillars that will see you through all of it. To the other side. And because I haven't been able to get those John Hughes movies out of my head all day, indulge me while I reminisce:
Don't You Forget About Me, Simple Minds
Tell me your troubles and doubts
Giving me everything inside and out and
Love's strange so real in the dark
Think of the tender things that we were working on
------
Will you recognise me?
Call my name or walk on by
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down, down
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really loved the layout of this book. Matching stories with objects to reveal what happened is so creative! And we can all relate to heartbreak. I didn’t like the writing style, though. It was so long winded and I felt like it dragged one. Something about it just made it hard for me to push through.
Min=Minerva, named for the goddess of wisdom, is collecting her book of crap to return to her ex-boyfriend. She is returning all of the litter of their relationship to Ed and explaining how each piece of crap relates to the relationship. I want to like Min, I really do, but she is super annoying. Also, she seems slightly psycho ex-girlfriend considering she seems to create envelopes and boxes of all of her relationship. Then after the relationship is over she likes to cause great pain by returning it. She is a weirdo, but not in an endearing way. I wasn't a fan, but the language of the novel was pretty fantastic.
I loved this book in middle school, but upon rereading I realized how melodramatic and misogynistic it is.
I really really really loved this book.... until it ended. What?! I cried and I am still angry.
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was disappointing.
It was okay, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Maybe a high school girl going over a breakup.
Like others, I felt that the “quirky” tone was more obnoxious than impressive and detracted much more from the story than it added. Sorry, but Handler didn’t pull off Min’s heartbroken voice whatsoever. Instead, the story became annoying to read in parts, the plot was confusing, and the characters were poorly developed.
I understand the idea behind not offering physical descriptions of anyone, except Min being not-blond and Ed being oh-so-handsome. That’s fine. I also understand making Min an everygirl, one who doesn’t have any hobbies besides drinking coffee. It’s easy for the target reader to impose herself onto Min and pretend that SHE’S dating the co-captain of the basketball team, and SHE is the envy of all the popular and unpopular girls alike, as well as the talk of the school. The only problem with this is . . . I never felt bad for Min. It was obvious that this was just a short-lived high school romance, and Min came out of it with her family, friends that immediately took her back even after she ditched them, and a new love interest intact. Min simply isn’t that interesting or likeable—she seems self-centered and dramatic, especially because I’m not at all interested in her one defining feature: an interest in old movies, all of which Handler made up.
I got sick of this book the same way I got sick of the Series of Unfortunate Events when I was younger: the schtick got old, fast. I’m not that interested in films, and I’m especially not interested in made-up films, which seemed like a cop-out excuse for Handler not to put any more thought or research into this book than he absolutely needed to.
Ed wasn’t a well-developed character, which didn’t add up because he was supposedly rendered by someone who’s in love with him. His character was too much of a bumbling oaf for it to be believable that Min enjoyed spending quality time with him.
There are so many ways this book could have been better: The relationship should have lasted longer, with the notable events more spread out. While the relationship is believable, their declaration of love isn’t. The characters should have been better fleshed-out, with unique voices and interesting personality features (not just jock + film buff = unlikely romance). The film stuff just wasn’t interesting, but I understand that it was crucial to the plot. I would have been more impressed if Handler referenced REAL films less often, and the writing style shouldn’t have been as ambitious, because Handler can’t pull it off well. As for the illustrations, I read this on a Kindle, so maybe I didn’t get the full force of them. I agree with another reviewer who mentioned that the illustrations didn’t match the tone of a heartbroken girl and were too cartoony for the story. I didn’t need a big surprise ending, but the end was almost ludicrously predictable, and I think it would have benefitted from a little more of an internal change in Min through the process of writing her story. Overall, this story came off as more fluff and poorly executed writing tricks than substance or even enjoyment.
It was okay, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Maybe a high school girl going over a breakup.
Like others, I felt that the “quirky” tone was more obnoxious than impressive and detracted much more from the story than it added. Sorry, but Handler didn’t pull off Min’s heartbroken voice whatsoever. Instead, the story became annoying to read in parts, the plot was confusing, and the characters were poorly developed.
I understand the idea behind not offering physical descriptions of anyone, except Min being not-blond and Ed being oh-so-handsome. That’s fine. I also understand making Min an everygirl, one who doesn’t have any hobbies besides drinking coffee. It’s easy for the target reader to impose herself onto Min and pretend that SHE’S dating the co-captain of the basketball team, and SHE is the envy of all the popular and unpopular girls alike, as well as the talk of the school. The only problem with this is . . . I never felt bad for Min. It was obvious that this was just a short-lived high school romance, and Min came out of it with her family, friends that immediately took her back even after she ditched them, and a new love interest intact. Min simply isn’t that interesting or likeable—she seems self-centered and dramatic, especially because I’m not at all interested in her one defining feature: an interest in old movies, all of which Handler made up.
I got sick of this book the same way I got sick of the Series of Unfortunate Events when I was younger: the schtick got old, fast. I’m not that interested in films, and I’m especially not interested in made-up films, which seemed like a cop-out excuse for Handler not to put any more thought or research into this book than he absolutely needed to.
Ed wasn’t a well-developed character, which didn’t add up because he was supposedly rendered by someone who’s in love with him. His character was too much of a bumbling oaf for it to be believable that Min enjoyed spending quality time with him.
There are so many ways this book could have been better: The relationship should have lasted longer, with the notable events more spread out. While the relationship is believable, their declaration of love isn’t. The characters should have been better fleshed-out, with unique voices and interesting personality features (not just jock + film buff = unlikely romance). The film stuff just wasn’t interesting, but I understand that it was crucial to the plot. I would have been more impressed if Handler referenced REAL films less often, and the writing style shouldn’t have been as ambitious, because Handler can’t pull it off well. As for the illustrations, I read this on a Kindle, so maybe I didn’t get the full force of them. I agree with another reviewer who mentioned that the illustrations didn’t match the tone of a heartbroken girl and were too cartoony for the story. I didn’t need a big surprise ending, but the end was almost ludicrously predictable, and I think it would have benefitted from a little more of an internal change in Min through the process of writing her story. Overall, this story came off as more fluff and poorly executed writing tricks than substance or even enjoyment.