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bellesbooknook 's review for:
Why We Broke Up
by Daniel Handler
I'd been meaning to read this book for a long time since it's a book that had gotten a lot of buzz and I'd been seeing it pop up all over the place. And it did seem really interesting, so I was excited to read it! Unfortunately, I was left pretty disappointed.
First off, this book was a MESS to read. There were commas everywhere, making the writing very choppy and confusing to follow. And, oh my god so. Many. Comma. Splices. There would be two or three or more sentences pretty much mushed into one, separated by commas. And this especially irked me: the protagonist Min had a tendency of frequently going into long-winded speeches, so there were sentences that would ramble on and on and on until I'd eventually forget what the original thought was, and I'd just lose my interest altogether. And then there were just words that were sometimes placed in awkward places in a sentence, which made the writing even more disjointed. Example:
"What's," he said, "the use of friendship."
"And, okay, I see what she means, but she doesn't, Min, know what she's talking about."
Another thing this book had a tendency of was repeating names, whether it was everyone saying, "Min... Min... MIN. Oh, Min" (as if I forgot what her name was) or "Al.. Al... Al... Al..." So... his name's Al, right? GAH. This was especially common between the interactions between Min and Al. Pretty much this sums up every single conversation they had in the book:
"Min,"
"Come on Al, be serious!"
"I am, Min. I think this boy's no good and I'm going to be super vague about my reason why."
"AL"
"MIN"
"Oh Al... *clever witty comment"
"MIN."
Do you see how annoying that is?!
Also, we get it, Min. You're a pretentious film nut. You don't have to pour it on too heavy on every single page of this book.
But okay, I could sit here and name every little flaw that bothered me. But there were some pretty big aspects of this story I felt were problematic. The book makes it seem like this was a long, enduring relationship that had just been broken off when in fact it only lasted for two months... With that in mind, this whole grand breakup explanation on Min's part is pretty over-the-top for them only being together for two months. Most people, after breaking up that early on in the relationship, would just go, "Ah well, whatever. It didn't work out," and move on. After all, these are high school relationships. So why does Min feel the need to go through all this trouble, especially since this breakup shouldn't have been a surprise!. It's not even the "we're from different worlds" thing. That would've been fine and really cute. But it's just the fact that Ed is a freaking asshole! Seriously, if he's constantly making homophobic remarks, and he still can't bring himself to stop even after you've told him that's not cool and has to say "thing-you-don't-want-me-to-say" (which is also pretty patronizing when you think about it) then that's probably a sign that you shouldn't be with this jerk! But I think Min is just a pretty over-the-top person in general, which kind of annoyed me about her as a character... so naturally, I guess she has to break up with him in the same over-the-top-Min fashion.
Going back to the whole "Ed is a huge jerk" comment, though: even though he definitely had some questionable qualities, he still obviously cared about Min and went out of his way to please her. So it really threw me off how on one page they were completely in love, and on the next page Ed seemed to do a complete 180 and turned into a completely different person - in this case, a major douche who didn't seem all that sorry about lying to and betraying Min. After all the times he's defended Min and professed his undying love to her, he suddenly becomes that guy who, all he has to say for his actions is, "Sorry, babe, it just happened. You can't be completely surprised by this, right?" Ugh....
And one final thought to conclude this review: I mean, really though, I saw that surprise love interest thing from a mile away. Just saying.
First off, this book was a MESS to read. There were commas everywhere, making the writing very choppy and confusing to follow. And, oh my god so. Many. Comma. Splices. There would be two or three or more sentences pretty much mushed into one, separated by commas. And this especially irked me: the protagonist Min had a tendency of frequently going into long-winded speeches, so there were sentences that would ramble on and on and on until I'd eventually forget what the original thought was, and I'd just lose my interest altogether. And then there were just words that were sometimes placed in awkward places in a sentence, which made the writing even more disjointed. Example:
"What's," he said, "the use of friendship."
"And, okay, I see what she means, but she doesn't, Min, know what she's talking about."
Another thing this book had a tendency of was repeating names, whether it was everyone saying, "Min... Min... MIN. Oh, Min" (as if I forgot what her name was) or "Al.. Al... Al... Al..." So... his name's Al, right? GAH. This was especially common between the interactions between Min and Al. Pretty much this sums up every single conversation they had in the book:
"Min,"
"Come on Al, be serious!"
"I am, Min. I think this boy's no good and I'm going to be super vague about my reason why."
"AL"
"MIN"
"Oh Al... *clever witty comment"
"MIN."
Do you see how annoying that is?!
Also, we get it, Min. You're a pretentious film nut. You don't have to pour it on too heavy on every single page of this book.
But okay, I could sit here and name every little flaw that bothered me. But there were some pretty big aspects of this story I felt were problematic. The book makes it seem like this was a long, enduring relationship that had just been broken off when in fact it only lasted for two months... With that in mind, this whole grand breakup explanation on Min's part is pretty over-the-top for them only being together for two months. Most people, after breaking up that early on in the relationship, would just go, "Ah well, whatever. It didn't work out," and move on. After all, these are high school relationships. So why does Min feel the need to go through all this trouble, especially since this breakup shouldn't have been a surprise!. It's not even the "we're from different worlds" thing. That would've been fine and really cute. But it's just the fact that Ed is a freaking asshole! Seriously, if he's constantly making homophobic remarks, and he still can't bring himself to stop even after you've told him that's not cool and has to say "thing-you-don't-want-me-to-say" (which is also pretty patronizing when you think about it) then that's probably a sign that you shouldn't be with this jerk! But I think Min is just a pretty over-the-top person in general, which kind of annoyed me about her as a character... so naturally, I guess she has to break up with him in the same over-the-top-Min fashion.
Going back to the whole "Ed is a huge jerk" comment, though: even though he definitely had some questionable qualities, he still obviously cared about Min and went out of his way to please her. So it really threw me off how on one page they were completely in love, and on the next page Ed seemed to do a complete 180 and turned into a completely different person - in this case, a major douche who didn't seem all that sorry about lying to and betraying Min. After all the times he's defended Min and professed his undying love to her, he suddenly becomes that guy who, all he has to say for his actions is, "Sorry, babe, it just happened. You can't be completely surprised by this, right?" Ugh....
And one final thought to conclude this review: I mean, really though, I saw that surprise love interest thing from a mile away. Just saying.