Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
I was really excited to read this book. It sounded amazing, I am a huge fan of the author, and I had heard so many great things.
Unfortunately, this book was a huge miss for me. It wasn't because Min dated an obviously crappy guy. It wasn't because she abandoned her (much more interesting) friends for said crappy guy. Instead, it was the fact that the entire book was written as if Captain Kirk had merged with a manic pixie dream girl to write a very long break-up letter.
The book was filled with run-on sentences that broke up to tell random anecdotes that served no point to the plot. It was also full of Min comparing everything, I mean EVERYTHING, to old films. I had to often go back and re-read passages to find where it switched from Min's thoughts to what actually was taking place.
The ending was admittedly better than the rest of the book, but nothing could really salvage it for me.
Unfortunately, this book was a huge miss for me. It wasn't because Min dated an obviously crappy guy. It wasn't because she abandoned her (much more interesting) friends for said crappy guy. Instead, it was the fact that the entire book was written as if Captain Kirk had merged with a manic pixie dream girl to write a very long break-up letter.
The book was filled with run-on sentences that broke up to tell random anecdotes that served no point to the plot. It was also full of Min comparing everything, I mean EVERYTHING, to old films. I had to often go back and re-read passages to find where it switched from Min's thoughts to what actually was taking place.
The ending was admittedly better than the rest of the book, but nothing could really salvage it for me.
Finally, I have finished this book. I have been reading it for over a year now. I guess I just had to be in the right emotional mindset to read it. Honestly this is one of the greatest books that I have ever read and I can tell you that it is also one of the hardest books I have ever read. When I sat down to read it over a year ago, I had no idea what I was opening up. In my life at the time I was till reeling over the breakup of a boy that I had loved dearly and when I opened this book, I was not ready for the feelings that it brought back to me. It made me sit and think about my relationship and all the things that were wrong about it and I just wasn't ready for that. In my mind my ex was still the perfect guy for me and I didn't want to think about all the things that made us break up but in reading this book I was forced to thing about what went wrong in my life and it made me embrace pain that I had been avoiding. Why We Broke Up emotionally opened my eyes and for that, I am grateful.
The book was great. I really enjoyed the fact that it wasn't only how much Min hates Ed, she also mentioned the reasons why she loved him.
There are 2, no 3 very cool things about this book. 1) The artwork. Maira Kalman illustrates each of the items the heartbroken Min Green returns to her ex love of her life. And they are done so well. They are characters of the story as much as Min and her jerk of an ex boyfriend. They have a whimsy to them, yet are real enough to touch. 2) The author is Lemony Snicket. What? That's right, the guy who brought us The Unfortunate Events series wrote this love/ heartbreak story with the same grace and hilarity that he brought to the story of the Baudelaire trio. And 3) This book is you, and me, and your best friend. It is the story of heartbreak. Something we all went through either in school or right now. A story of how much in LOVE we were then we weren't and this is why. Handler and Kalman brings the reader into the story of Min and Ed with a sensibility that holds up, caresses, breaks, then heals our most tender organ.
I read this book a couple months back and it was so unbelievably wonderful and I can't recommend this novel strongly enough. It left me in tears and I also read it in a day. Also, it's written by Lemony Snicket, how cool is that???
I really loved the idea of this book, but felt that I got lost in all the old movie references, and that it could have been better executed. The novel was supposed to be set up as a letter to her ex-boyfriend, but I felt that Min was really writing a letter to herself.But maybe that was the point? Furthermore, it felt like she was re-telling events rather than doing any real learning from them (aka I felt no real character development). I still enjoyed the book, however (I did finish it in less than a week). I just wasn't entirely satisfied with it.
EDIT: Apparently all the old movie and jazz references were actually imaginary. So I guess we were actually meant to feel distanced from Min? I guess in the same way that Ed ultimately felt distanced from her.
EDIT: Apparently all the old movie and jazz references were actually imaginary. So I guess we were actually meant to feel distanced from Min? I guess in the same way that Ed ultimately felt distanced from her.
Interesting book about a girl giving back a ton of stuff to the boyfriend she just broke up with and we learn their whole story along the way. It's quite sad, and the girl made me crazy with her choices, but I loved the writing. Then there's the actual physical book itself which is very beautiful!
I really did not enjoy this book.
The only reason it got two stars instead of one is because i reserve one star for books that incite anger and rage for me. But this book just was pointless. This story didn't need to be told, and it doesnt need to exist. The narration of Min and her constant ramblings was miserable. She would go on and on and on and on and on with metaphors and similes that were pointless and boring. Just seemed like filler on a page.
Plus the story was predictable and none of the characters were likable.
On a positive note, i borrowed this from the library so the only thing i wasted was time!
The only reason it got two stars instead of one is because i reserve one star for books that incite anger and rage for me. But this book just was pointless. This story didn't need to be told, and it doesnt need to exist. The narration of Min and her constant ramblings was miserable. She would go on and on and on and on and on with metaphors and similes that were pointless and boring. Just seemed like filler on a page.
Plus the story was predictable and none of the characters were likable.
On a positive note, i borrowed this from the library so the only thing i wasted was time!
This didn't hit 4 stars for me til the last quarter of the story because I had been struggling with the author's choppy, disjointed writing style which frequently had me scratching my head as to what the heck was even going on. But by the time you reach the conclusion, the characters and their plight has taken such a firm hold of you that you can't help but lament that it's over. I absolutely loved Minerva and how real she became on the page. This made her heartbreak all the more tragic to me. I can't wait to share this book with my daughter when she hits that "first love" stage and needs an example of a well-worded warning about hastily giving yourself away to someone that doesn't deserve even a fraction of who you are. Give this book a try!