Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by monarchsandmyths
The Breakup Lists by Adib Khorram
4.0
thank you to Penguin Teen for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review
Came for a book with a theatre techie as the main character and stayed for a story that was hard to put down and interesting character journeys. THE BREAKUP LISTS is so incredibly readable even in some of its relative simplicity. I think the great thing about this book is not that it’s some incredibly unique plot or story, but that it takes some pretty regular coming-of-age and YA moments and personalises it through individual and unique characters that you want to read about. And even when I thought I had everything figured out, Khorram would take things a slightly different way than I guessed. It’s a really solid YA read and one I absolutely flew through without even meaning to, definitely worth the read and I absolutely recommend it!
Just to get them out of the way, there were a few things I didn’t totally love about this book. For one, there’s lots of little words or terms that are personal to the characters and while I understand they’re characterization, the fifth time I read ‘schmoodie’ I wanted to set the book down. I also initially found it annoying how it felt like every other sentence had a word crossed out, but this writing style actually grew on me, especially as Khorram uses it to showcase Jackson’s growth and growing self-confidence!
Like I said at the beginning, I think the best part about this book is the characters. I think we get several really nuanced characters (even if I still don’t like Jasmine), and it’s really fun to watch them both learn and grow. Jackson isn’t perfect and his growth arc is not just getting others to treat him better, but treating others better. I was also really invested in the theatre techie storyline aspect as someone who used to do tech in high school, especially after not really getting a role in a show. I can’t personally comment on the authenticity of Jackson’s experiences as a deaf person, but I do think it was well-integrated into the story and enhanced what Khorram was trying to do with this story.
It can feel harder to relate to YA stories, even ones that have elements that were important to my high school experience, as I get older. But despite the things that I even thought might make me sad and miss my past experiences were just another piece that made this book fun to read. I really enjoyed my time reading it and I hope to continue to read more books like it!
Came for a book with a theatre techie as the main character and stayed for a story that was hard to put down and interesting character journeys. THE BREAKUP LISTS is so incredibly readable even in some of its relative simplicity. I think the great thing about this book is not that it’s some incredibly unique plot or story, but that it takes some pretty regular coming-of-age and YA moments and personalises it through individual and unique characters that you want to read about. And even when I thought I had everything figured out, Khorram would take things a slightly different way than I guessed. It’s a really solid YA read and one I absolutely flew through without even meaning to, definitely worth the read and I absolutely recommend it!
Just to get them out of the way, there were a few things I didn’t totally love about this book. For one, there’s lots of little words or terms that are personal to the characters and while I understand they’re characterization, the fifth time I read ‘schmoodie’ I wanted to set the book down. I also initially found it annoying how it felt like every other sentence had a word crossed out, but this writing style actually grew on me, especially as Khorram uses it to showcase Jackson’s growth and growing self-confidence!
Like I said at the beginning, I think the best part about this book is the characters. I think we get several really nuanced characters (even if I still don’t like Jasmine), and it’s really fun to watch them both learn and grow. Jackson isn’t perfect and his growth arc is not just getting others to treat him better, but treating others better. I was also really invested in the theatre techie storyline aspect as someone who used to do tech in high school, especially after not really getting a role in a show. I can’t personally comment on the authenticity of Jackson’s experiences as a deaf person, but I do think it was well-integrated into the story and enhanced what Khorram was trying to do with this story.
It can feel harder to relate to YA stories, even ones that have elements that were important to my high school experience, as I get older. But despite the things that I even thought might make me sad and miss my past experiences were just another piece that made this book fun to read. I really enjoyed my time reading it and I hope to continue to read more books like it!