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hcgambrell 's review for:
Why We Broke Up
by Daniel Handler
I wanted to like this book. The premise is interesting: a girl leaves a box of artifacts from a relationship on the boy's doorstep and explains--in painstaking detail--why each item led to their breakup. The book contains both the letter that Min writes and illustrations of each of the items. I found as I kept reading, though, that I was mostly annoyed--by the narrator Min, by her boyfriend Ed, by Min's best friend Al (just TELL her, for crying out loud), by Ed's sister Joan, by each and every item. I was also grateful to get to a new item because a) I was that much closer to the end, and b) it's a page I didn't have to read!
All that said, I didn't hate the book. I just had no empathy for the characters. Maybe that's because I obviously knew from the title how the story would end. Maybe it's because I'm 27 and not 17, and I just can't empathize with most 17-year-olds. (That being said, I read a LOT of YA fiction, and I tend to empathize with teenage characters as much as I do with adults.)
I kept pushing through the book, though, because I had to know that Handler wasn't going to end the book with a cliche. But maybe the cliche is a cliche because it's true. Spoiler! I'm sure there are tons of girls who've dated guys who cheat, even while the girl's best friend is in love with her.
I just...I'm glad to be finished and moving on to something else.
All that said, I didn't hate the book. I just had no empathy for the characters. Maybe that's because I obviously knew from the title how the story would end. Maybe it's because I'm 27 and not 17, and I just can't empathize with most 17-year-olds. (That being said, I read a LOT of YA fiction, and I tend to empathize with teenage characters as much as I do with adults.)
I kept pushing through the book, though, because I had to know that Handler wasn't going to end the book with a cliche. But maybe the cliche is a cliche because it's true. Spoiler! I'm sure there are tons of girls who've dated guys who cheat, even while the girl's best friend is in love with her.
I just...I'm glad to be finished and moving on to something else.