You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
Disappointed that plot twist I was expecting never happened and we never found out much about Ed's home set-up. It was like it was just there to make him seem vulnerable and sympathetic at a point where the reader might otherwise have lost interest, because, unless I missed it, Ed's family situation was never really explained or developed. Having finished it, the whole thing seems kind of pointless even though it was cleverly done.
This is my type of angsty arty profound teenage romance bullshit
I'm at odds with this novel, I truly am. On one hand, I want to rave about how much Handler engages with teenage readers, because he based the story off of some of his own break-ups. But then again, I also want to say how despite the excellent premise, his style of writing just didn't click with me.
Why We Broke Up is basically a long letter from high school sophomore Min Green to her senior ex-boyfriend Ed Slaterton, explaining why they broke up. Along with it, she sends him a box, which is full of seemingly meaningless items that she collected over the span of their relationship. As she goes through the different items, she writes a bit more of their story, detailing how they acquired each and every item.
As I said before, the summary sounded excellent right from the start. Loads of authors write novels about childhood break-ups, but none like this. What first drew me to the book, aside from the synopsis, was the fact that it's illustrated! I suppose it's a bit childish to like illustrations, but I love it when a book has a few, simple, beautiful ones - and these definitely are gorgeous. I thought it was a unique touch to start every chapter, or section of the letter, with a new picture.
I also liked how it wasn't your every-day happily-ever-after story. You knew they were going to break up, and the story of their relationship was just like most other teenager's; you meet, you get to know one another, you fall in love, you get heartbroken. There's at least one part of their story that a variety of readers can relate to, no matter what age you are. And as I read it, I have to admit that I fell in love with Ed alongside Min - and grew to hate him after what he did. It's pretty amazing skill to be able to evoke emotions from the reader like that, but Handler succeeded.
However, although I could relate to it easily, I just couldn't stand the writing. I tried reading Lemony Snicket's books two years ago (Lemony Snicket being a pen name of Handler), and I got to the third book and couldn't stand it any more. I don't know whether that's because I was fourteen and found his patronizing tone stupidly annoying, or the fact that he tries too hard to make his novels quirky and different. Luckily, in this novel he wasn't that patronizing, but did he heck try and make it quirky. With sentences that overused commas and went on for pages, and with both Min the 'different' one, and Ed the typical jock, tailing off mid-sentence, it was really irritating. With Min, I could understand, because she was always meant to be that unique, individual, arty one. But Ed? Handler wanted him to be the stereotypical, pretty dumb, high school jock. I can say as a fact that stereotypical and dumb basketball players do not talk like some loved-up, weird, old-movie-obsessed school girl. I think that was the big mistake that Handler made, which is why my overall star-rating won't be so great.
Although I liked the storyline, the characters annoying personalities and the way Handler portrayed them just didn't do anything for me. The story had so much potential, and I just thought that one thing let it down slightly. But nevertheless, I still thought it was a great story, and that the initial idea was wonderful. I think it's a great novel for every teenage girl and guy that has experienced a break-up of some kind. If you want to read some other break-up stories, or even post your own, visit whywebrokeupproject.com.
Why We Broke Up is basically a long letter from high school sophomore Min Green to her senior ex-boyfriend Ed Slaterton, explaining why they broke up. Along with it, she sends him a box, which is full of seemingly meaningless items that she collected over the span of their relationship. As she goes through the different items, she writes a bit more of their story, detailing how they acquired each and every item.
As I said before, the summary sounded excellent right from the start. Loads of authors write novels about childhood break-ups, but none like this. What first drew me to the book, aside from the synopsis, was the fact that it's illustrated! I suppose it's a bit childish to like illustrations, but I love it when a book has a few, simple, beautiful ones - and these definitely are gorgeous. I thought it was a unique touch to start every chapter, or section of the letter, with a new picture.
I also liked how it wasn't your every-day happily-ever-after story. You knew they were going to break up, and the story of their relationship was just like most other teenager's; you meet, you get to know one another, you fall in love, you get heartbroken. There's at least one part of their story that a variety of readers can relate to, no matter what age you are. And as I read it, I have to admit that I fell in love with Ed alongside Min - and grew to hate him after what he did. It's pretty amazing skill to be able to evoke emotions from the reader like that, but Handler succeeded.
However, although I could relate to it easily, I just couldn't stand the writing. I tried reading Lemony Snicket's books two years ago (Lemony Snicket being a pen name of Handler), and I got to the third book and couldn't stand it any more. I don't know whether that's because I was fourteen and found his patronizing tone stupidly annoying, or the fact that he tries too hard to make his novels quirky and different. Luckily, in this novel he wasn't that patronizing, but did he heck try and make it quirky. With sentences that overused commas and went on for pages, and with both Min the 'different' one, and Ed the typical jock, tailing off mid-sentence, it was really irritating. With Min, I could understand, because she was always meant to be that unique, individual, arty one. But Ed? Handler wanted him to be the stereotypical, pretty dumb, high school jock. I can say as a fact that stereotypical and dumb basketball players do not talk like some loved-up, weird, old-movie-obsessed school girl. I think that was the big mistake that Handler made, which is why my overall star-rating won't be so great.
Although I liked the storyline, the characters annoying personalities and the way Handler portrayed them just didn't do anything for me. The story had so much potential, and I just thought that one thing let it down slightly. But nevertheless, I still thought it was a great story, and that the initial idea was wonderful. I think it's a great novel for every teenage girl and guy that has experienced a break-up of some kind. If you want to read some other break-up stories, or even post your own, visit whywebrokeupproject.com.
All traces of Lemony Snickett are gone from this story, which is to Mr. Handler's credit. Here, he gets the teenage girl angst/heartbreak right - it's almost like he was one once, himself.
Min is "different" or "arty", depending on to whom you're talking. Ed is co-captain of the basketball team, noted for a string of ex-girlfriends and famous outside school for his basketball prowess. They meet at Al's Bitter 16 party (Al being one of Min's BFFs, Ed crashing the party because he could). The next few weeks are filled with dates, basketball games, parties, getting to know each other and ultimately breaking up.
I knew far too many girls who gathered up a box of "his" stuff and burned it in an exorcism rite. Min chooses instead to return everything to Ed, with a long, long letter explaining what each item meant and why they were breaking up. Now, in the real world, Ed wouldn't even look at the letter and the box might be pawed through in search of something he could give to his next girlfriend. We have no idea if Ed is that boy, or if he reads this: our only experience of Ed is through Min's eyes.
ARC provided by publisher.
Min is "different" or "arty", depending on to whom you're talking. Ed is co-captain of the basketball team, noted for a string of ex-girlfriends and famous outside school for his basketball prowess. They meet at Al's Bitter 16 party (Al being one of Min's BFFs, Ed crashing the party because he could). The next few weeks are filled with dates, basketball games, parties, getting to know each other and ultimately breaking up.
I knew far too many girls who gathered up a box of "his" stuff and burned it in an exorcism rite. Min chooses instead to return everything to Ed, with a long, long letter explaining what each item meant and why they were breaking up. Now, in the real world, Ed wouldn't even look at the letter and the box might be pawed through in search of something he could give to his next girlfriend. We have no idea if Ed is that boy, or if he reads this: our only experience of Ed is through Min's eyes.
ARC provided by publisher.
this is a book i keep so close to my heart-- it's made me laugh, cry and smile all in one read and those are the books you got to keep close.
2,5/5
J'avoue n'avoir pas accroché au style, ni aux personnages. Si l'idée de l'histoire est sympa, certaines choses m'ont été bien agaçantes et la fin relève un tantinet le reste mais je dirais que ce qui m'a le plus marquée dans ce roman, ce sont les illustrations.
J'avoue n'avoir pas accroché au style, ni aux personnages. Si l'idée de l'histoire est sympa, certaines choses m'ont été bien agaçantes et la fin relève un tantinet le reste mais je dirais que ce qui m'a le plus marquée dans ce roman, ce sont les illustrations.
truthfully the illustrations make this book for me
the writing was beautiful and poetic but also very difficult to stay focused and immersed in and the characters simply didn't have enough personality- the ending the big "wow" moment was the most predictable thing ever and i really thought that the book would make up for its stereotypical shallow characters by giving them a better ending but they didn't
at the same time i didn't expect that much from this book and i think it went beyond my expectations in that it connected very well and the illustrations were damn amazing and yeah i cried (but not for the reason you'd expect)
its weird cause i didn't like it, but i am still gonna force my friends to read it
the writing was beautiful and poetic but also very difficult to stay focused and immersed in and the characters simply didn't have enough personality- the ending the big "wow" moment was the most predictable thing ever and i really thought that the book would make up for its stereotypical shallow characters by giving them a better ending but they didn't
at the same time i didn't expect that much from this book and i think it went beyond my expectations in that it connected very well and the illustrations were damn amazing and yeah i cried (but not for the reason you'd expect)
its weird cause i didn't like it, but i am still gonna force my friends to read it
Actually 2.5 and I'm still not sure if it's closer to 2 or 3, but let's go with the 3 for the illustrations, because I loved them!
As for the story itself it was kind of boring most of the times. The main character is annoying and naïve, and in the beginning I just couldn't understand her. Though I loved her interest in movies and other "arty" things, and surprisingly I loved the end of story let's say the last 40 pages. I didn't like Ed at all, but I liked Al very much so.
So in general this is a very light story for one evening, a very quick read to take your mind off things.
As for the story itself it was kind of boring most of the times. The main character is annoying and naïve, and in the beginning I just couldn't understand her. Though I loved her interest in movies and other "arty" things, and surprisingly I loved the end of story let's say the last 40 pages. I didn't like Ed at all, but I liked Al very much so.
So in general this is a very light story for one evening, a very quick read to take your mind off things.
OMG-Lemony Snicket!!!!!!
Why We Broke Up
Novel by
Daniel Handler
Art by
Maira Kalman
I asked my Aunt & Uncle
to buy me a very expensive
pair of white leather Nikes
with a blue swoosh because
the boy I loved wore them &
the very next day he showed
up in a pair of two-tone green
Vans. Curse you
Chris Callahan--
you broke my heart!!
Read Min & Ed's story
& remember your own
stories of heartbreak.
Check out
Whywebrokeupproject.com
to read about other stories
of heartbreak.
Why We Broke Up
Novel by
Daniel Handler
Art by
Maira Kalman
I asked my Aunt & Uncle
to buy me a very expensive
pair of white leather Nikes
with a blue swoosh because
the boy I loved wore them &
the very next day he showed
up in a pair of two-tone green
Vans. Curse you
Chris Callahan--
you broke my heart!!
Read Min & Ed's story
& remember your own
stories of heartbreak.
Check out
Whywebrokeupproject.com
to read about other stories
of heartbreak.