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Y por eso rompimos #1/8
Y por eso rompimos
Te entrego esta caja, Ed.
Dentro está todo.
La entrada de cine para ver la película en la que nos dimos nuestro primer beso, aquella nota tuya que tanto significó para mí, una caja de cerillas ahora vacía, los pendientes que dejaste en mi taquilla, una semilla que nunca brotará porque no pienso ponerla en agua, el peine de aquel hotel donde perdimos el sentido… y algo más, el plano que dibujamos para intentar asistir a mi fiesta y a la tuya, tan incompatibles como nosotros, la entrada a tu partido de baloncesto, al que preferí no ir, la goma con la que me recogí el pelo la primera vez que cocinamos juntos, todos estos pétalos, ya secos, y el bolígrafo con el que te escribo esta carta.
Te devuelvo la caja y todos los recuerdos que contiene, Ed.
Aquí la tienes. Toda nuestra historia.
Toda la historia de por qué rompimos.
Dentro está todo.
La entrada de cine para ver la película en la que nos dimos nuestro primer beso, aquella nota tuya que tanto significó para mí, una caja de cerillas ahora vacía, los pendientes que dejaste en mi taquilla, una semilla que nunca brotará porque no pienso ponerla en agua, el peine de aquel hotel donde perdimos el sentido… y algo más, el plano que dibujamos para intentar asistir a mi fiesta y a la tuya, tan incompatibles como nosotros, la entrada a tu partido de baloncesto, al que preferí no ir, la goma con la que me recogí el pelo la primera vez que cocinamos juntos, todos estos pétalos, ya secos, y el bolígrafo con el que te escribo esta carta.
Te devuelvo la caja y todos los recuerdos que contiene, Ed.
Aquí la tienes. Toda nuestra historia.
Toda la historia de por qué rompimos.
360 pages, Paperback
First published December 27, 2011
2201 people are currently reading
73718 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Handler
56 books3,094 followersDaniel Handler is the author of seven novels, including Why We Broke Up, We Are Pirates, All The Dirty Parts and, most recently, Bottle Grove.
As Lemony Snicket, he is responsible for numerous books for children, including the thirteen-volume A Series of Unfortunate Events, the four-volume All the Wrong Questions, and The Dark, which won the Charlotte Zolotow Award.
Mr. Snicket’s first book for readers of all ages, Poison for Breakfast, will be published by Liveright/W.W. Norton on August 31, 2021.
Handler has received commissions from the San Francisco Symphony, Berkeley Repertory Theater and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has collaborated with artist Maira Kalman on a series of books for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and with musicians Stephin Merritt (of the Magnetic Fields), Benjamin Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie), Colin Meloy (of the Decemberists) and Torquil Campbell (of Stars).
His books have sold more than 70 million copies and have been translated into 40 languages, and have been adapted for film, stage and television, including the recent adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events for which he was awarded both the Peabody and the Writers Guild of America awards.
He lives in San Francisco with the illustrator Lisa Brown, to whom he is married and with whom he has collaborated on several books and one son.
As Lemony Snicket, he is responsible for numerous books for children, including the thirteen-volume A Series of Unfortunate Events, the four-volume All the Wrong Questions, and The Dark, which won the Charlotte Zolotow Award.
Mr. Snicket’s first book for readers of all ages, Poison for Breakfast, will be published by Liveright/W.W. Norton on August 31, 2021.
Handler has received commissions from the San Francisco Symphony, Berkeley Repertory Theater and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has collaborated with artist Maira Kalman on a series of books for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and with musicians Stephin Merritt (of the Magnetic Fields), Benjamin Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie), Colin Meloy (of the Decemberists) and Torquil Campbell (of Stars).
His books have sold more than 70 million copies and have been translated into 40 languages, and have been adapted for film, stage and television, including the recent adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events for which he was awarded both the Peabody and the Writers Guild of America awards.
He lives in San Francisco with the illustrator Lisa Brown, to whom he is married and with whom he has collaborated on several books and one son.
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May 25, 2012
Why We Got Together
by Reynje
Dear ‘Why We Broke Up’,
It wasn’t that long ago that I thought I would be writing you a break-up letter. A terse, thanks-but-no-thanks, it’s-not-me-it’s-you-now-kindly-get-lost note. I can be acerbic when I’m annoyed and there it is, the admission, the honest truth that I thought you would annoy me.
It makes me wonder why I buy books sometimes, whether it’s truthfully the book itself I want or the simple act of acquisition I crave. Is it the words I tell myself I need, or just the covetousness that accompanies a rush of cover-lust? There you were on the shelf, distinct and red and beautiful - a waxy-covered, solid weight in my gluttonous hands. I will have this book, I thought, and I took you home.
But the longer I left you on my shelf the more I resented your smug presence. If ever a book could be self-satisfied, I thought it would be you. Your illustrations, your thick paper, your heavily-blurbed back cover lush with accolades. Everything about you from your painfully hip cover typeface to your “novel-by and art-by” declarations started to grate on me. This book, I told myself, is trying to be something. This isn’t a book, it’s a pre-packaged hipster experience, it’s something to be seen with, it’s something that wants to tell you what’s cool and how you should feel about it. Well, excuse me. I see enough of that on the city streets, I don’t need your judgement on my bookshelves as well.
So, I ignored you. Pushed you to the bottom of the stack, threw you over for other books time and time again. Occasionally, as I ran a searching finger down the column of spines I’d pause at yours. I’d feel guilty for owning a book I didn’t want to read, then assuage it by telling myself it was just that I wasn’t in the mood to read about intellectualised misery or the painful disintegration of a relationship.
Until one day, I was.
That’s not to say that I liked you from the first page, because I didn’t. I was wilfully resistant to your efforts at charm. I didn’t like Min’s stream of consciousness narration. I didn’t like the way you interrupted the dialogue in awkward places with “is what she said” or “is what you said.” I didn’t like the contrived quirkiness of the characters and the quaint turns of phrase. I didn’t like your “witty” banter that sounded so pleased with itself. I didn’t like Min’s habit of constantly referencing films and directors and actors. Alright, I get it, okay, enough – Min is different, Min is cool, Min is the Manic Pixie Dream Girl that doesn’t really exist. I just didn’t like you.
Until suddenly, I did.
You crept up on me, somewhere in between the pages of softly-coloured illustrations and vignettes that form Min’s letter. Item by item, with each relic dropped into the box, I fell for you. As Min and Ed’s story telescoped down to its fragile and bitter heart, I was drawn in. I found Min in those dashed down anecdotes and I knew her. I knew this person who wanted so desperately to be something but thought herself nothing. And I saw in her story another hurt, another bad decision, another break-up that ended in a pile of photographs and mementos on fire in the backyard, in a moment of youthful drama and heartbroken pyromania. I saw the thing that was cherished and coveted and cost nights of crying to sleep, the thing that wasn’t worth it, that didn’t work, but hurt all the same. All the moments that were never quite right, but were still precious; all the reasons it was prolonged and not put down, put behind, put out of its misery like it should have been. The thing you think you want with everything you have, until its too late and you lose more than you have to give.
And damn you page 335, for twisting up my chest until I cried ugly tears and felt all over again what it is to get hurt like a kick in the solar plexus. To feel so diminished and bereft and empty of everything worthwhile. To know that deep down you were right but that doesn’t make it hurt any less, doesn’t take away that some of it was good, some of it was special.
‘Why We Broke Up’, I admit that I judged you before I really knew you. I thought you were pretentious and insincere and I was determined to hold everything I possibly could against you. But I’ve read you now and I can’t. I can’t not like you, you stupid book, because I think of kind of love you even though you stomped on my freaking heart and made me cry in public.
I can’t stop thinking about you.
Love,
Reynje
Dear ‘Why We Broke Up’,
It wasn’t that long ago that I thought I would be writing you a break-up letter. A terse, thanks-but-no-thanks, it’s-not-me-it’s-you-now-kindly-get-lost note. I can be acerbic when I’m annoyed and there it is, the admission, the honest truth that I thought you would annoy me.
It makes me wonder why I buy books sometimes, whether it’s truthfully the book itself I want or the simple act of acquisition I crave. Is it the words I tell myself I need, or just the covetousness that accompanies a rush of cover-lust? There you were on the shelf, distinct and red and beautiful - a waxy-covered, solid weight in my gluttonous hands. I will have this book, I thought, and I took you home.
But the longer I left you on my shelf the more I resented your smug presence. If ever a book could be self-satisfied, I thought it would be you. Your illustrations, your thick paper, your heavily-blurbed back cover lush with accolades. Everything about you from your painfully hip cover typeface to your “novel-by and art-by” declarations started to grate on me. This book, I told myself, is trying to be something. This isn’t a book, it’s a pre-packaged hipster experience, it’s something to be seen with, it’s something that wants to tell you what’s cool and how you should feel about it. Well, excuse me. I see enough of that on the city streets, I don’t need your judgement on my bookshelves as well.
So, I ignored you. Pushed you to the bottom of the stack, threw you over for other books time and time again. Occasionally, as I ran a searching finger down the column of spines I’d pause at yours. I’d feel guilty for owning a book I didn’t want to read, then assuage it by telling myself it was just that I wasn’t in the mood to read about intellectualised misery or the painful disintegration of a relationship.
Until one day, I was.
That’s not to say that I liked you from the first page, because I didn’t. I was wilfully resistant to your efforts at charm. I didn’t like Min’s stream of consciousness narration. I didn’t like the way you interrupted the dialogue in awkward places with “is what she said” or “is what you said.” I didn’t like the contrived quirkiness of the characters and the quaint turns of phrase. I didn’t like your “witty” banter that sounded so pleased with itself. I didn’t like Min’s habit of constantly referencing films and directors and actors. Alright, I get it, okay, enough – Min is different, Min is cool, Min is the Manic Pixie Dream Girl that doesn’t really exist. I just didn’t like you.
Until suddenly, I did.
You crept up on me, somewhere in between the pages of softly-coloured illustrations and vignettes that form Min’s letter. Item by item, with each relic dropped into the box, I fell for you. As Min and Ed’s story telescoped down to its fragile and bitter heart, I was drawn in. I found Min in those dashed down anecdotes and I knew her. I knew this person who wanted so desperately to be something but thought herself nothing. And I saw in her story another hurt, another bad decision, another break-up that ended in a pile of photographs and mementos on fire in the backyard, in a moment of youthful drama and heartbroken pyromania. I saw the thing that was cherished and coveted and cost nights of crying to sleep, the thing that wasn’t worth it, that didn’t work, but hurt all the same. All the moments that were never quite right, but were still precious; all the reasons it was prolonged and not put down, put behind, put out of its misery like it should have been. The thing you think you want with everything you have, until its too late and you lose more than you have to give.
And damn you page 335, for twisting up my chest until I cried ugly tears and felt all over again what it is to get hurt like a kick in the solar plexus. To feel so diminished and bereft and empty of everything worthwhile. To know that deep down you were right but that doesn’t make it hurt any less, doesn’t take away that some of it was good, some of it was special.
‘Why We Broke Up’, I admit that I judged you before I really knew you. I thought you were pretentious and insincere and I was determined to hold everything I possibly could against you. But I’ve read you now and I can’t. I can’t not like you, you stupid book, because I think of kind of love you even though you stomped on my freaking heart and made me cry in public.
I can’t stop thinking about you.
Love,
Reynje
November 27, 2016
I'm going to tell you something, whoever-is-going-to-read-this-review,
if anybody will be reading this piece of junk that I am writing as I go at all. I'm going to tell you something, and you better believe me because I'm not one to give advice to strangers (unless they're lost on the subway, or wondering where the nearest KFC is. I always know where the nearest KFC is). I don't know how personal or convoluted this might get, but I guess it's what some people say, right? "The important thing is to try"? Never mind that those people are mostly losers, let's forget that for a moment.
Whatever it is that I end up telling you is going to start now, so if you're in dire need of a potty break, I suggest you do it quickly. Some serious feeling-dumping is about to take place here.
I honestly hated this book. For a while there, for who-knows-how-many-pages, I saw reading this pretentious bundle of heavy and colorful pages as a chore. I did. Thinking back to the time when I honestly wanted this book to burst in spontaneous combustion and who gives a damn about the 20 dollars I spent of my hard earned money on this piece of crap?, I can actually understand where all the hatred and deeply rooted annoyance came from.
Really, it makes sense. I hated this book right off the bat and I did so with reason because it wasn't what i expected. I wasn't really sure of what I expected, but it certainly was not this, all these dormant feelings just waiting around the corner to beat me in the head with a shovel, all these run-on sentences that ended up forming something eerily cohesive, all these words and words and more words and where's-this-damn-story-going?
I hated how the main character's - Min's - train of thought were literal train wrecks, I hated how everything was so pretentious and seemingly unreal, I hated the pages and pages and pages of run-on sentences depicting the most trivial, tedious stuff that had me doubting I could even finish what I'd initially dubbed a piece of utterly arrogant crap. In short, I wanted it gagged, tied up, driven to the woods in a shoddy pickup truck and shot dead.
But you see, the freakiest thing is that I didn't. Don't. Hate it, I mean. It's not my favorite book - although it could be, and maybe tomorrow it might, once all the haze that finishing it has got me on is gone. I don't really know what adjectives to attach to this book, because compared to its savvy way with words, nothing that I come up with right now will ever do it justice. What I can say, is that it was a thing of beauty. And that's not an adjective so don't give me that look like I'm pretentiously contradicting myself, thank you very much! But I'm veering off the point here:
This book didn't make me cry. It has, it seems, made lots of people cry, but not me. It did shock me, though. It made me tremble, gasp, and stare at it agape, like some that one idiot who wasn't in on his or hers surprise party. This book made my heart hurt. This book crushed my feelings and handed them back to me in a platter, shrugging when I asked what the hell was I supposed to do with them now, This book made me lots of things but the one I liked the most - the one that stayed with me for as long as it could before I started dramatically PTSD'ing about it like a traumatized grandpa who fought in 'Nam back in the day and has seen it all - was that it made me smile.
As I said, the smile didn't last long - when you're this shocked about something, it's kinda hard to stop your mouth from freezing in a permanent "O". But it was there and it was beautiful and blissful and all those gushy things we see and watch and read about but never really happen to us - to me, at least. It was there and for one brief moment, I didn't want to let this book go. I didn't want to put it back on my shelf - the one it sits in now, still all pretentious-looking and looming over its lesser peers - and have it more than inches away from me. I fought back the overwhelming feeling, obviously, and I did win, kinda-sorta-not-really, but although I am not clutching it with my wishful fingers or staring at its cover like it just whispered dirty and unknown things in my ear, this book is Why I Smiled, an establishing shot of The Idiot Who Made Assumptions That Weren't The Least Bit Right, a whole box filled with insignificant feelings that I now give back to you, person-who-has-probably-not-read-thus-far.
Make what you want of this because I'm done. I am done and I never want to revisit this, not today, not ever, probably tomorrow.
Bernardo
if anybody will be reading this piece of junk that I am writing as I go at all. I'm going to tell you something, and you better believe me because I'm not one to give advice to strangers (unless they're lost on the subway, or wondering where the nearest KFC is. I always know where the nearest KFC is). I don't know how personal or convoluted this might get, but I guess it's what some people say, right? "The important thing is to try"? Never mind that those people are mostly losers, let's forget that for a moment.
Whatever it is that I end up telling you is going to start now, so if you're in dire need of a potty break, I suggest you do it quickly. Some serious feeling-dumping is about to take place here.
I honestly hated this book. For a while there, for who-knows-how-many-pages, I saw reading this pretentious bundle of heavy and colorful pages as a chore. I did. Thinking back to the time when I honestly wanted this book to burst in spontaneous combustion and who gives a damn about the 20 dollars I spent of my hard earned money on this piece of crap?, I can actually understand where all the hatred and deeply rooted annoyance came from.
Really, it makes sense. I hated this book right off the bat and I did so with reason because it wasn't what i expected. I wasn't really sure of what I expected, but it certainly was not this, all these dormant feelings just waiting around the corner to beat me in the head with a shovel, all these run-on sentences that ended up forming something eerily cohesive, all these words and words and more words and where's-this-damn-story-going?
I hated how the main character's - Min's - train of thought were literal train wrecks, I hated how everything was so pretentious and seemingly unreal, I hated the pages and pages and pages of run-on sentences depicting the most trivial, tedious stuff that had me doubting I could even finish what I'd initially dubbed a piece of utterly arrogant crap. In short, I wanted it gagged, tied up, driven to the woods in a shoddy pickup truck and shot dead.
But you see, the freakiest thing is that I didn't. Don't. Hate it, I mean. It's not my favorite book - although it could be, and maybe tomorrow it might, once all the haze that finishing it has got me on is gone. I don't really know what adjectives to attach to this book, because compared to its savvy way with words, nothing that I come up with right now will ever do it justice. What I can say, is that it was a thing of beauty. And that's not an adjective so don't give me that look like I'm pretentiously contradicting myself, thank you very much! But I'm veering off the point here:
This book didn't make me cry. It has, it seems, made lots of people cry, but not me. It did shock me, though. It made me tremble, gasp, and stare at it agape, like some that one idiot who wasn't in on his or hers surprise party. This book made my heart hurt. This book crushed my feelings and handed them back to me in a platter, shrugging when I asked what the hell was I supposed to do with them now, This book made me lots of things but the one I liked the most - the one that stayed with me for as long as it could before I started dramatically PTSD'ing about it like a traumatized grandpa who fought in 'Nam back in the day and has seen it all - was that it made me smile.
As I said, the smile didn't last long - when you're this shocked about something, it's kinda hard to stop your mouth from freezing in a permanent "O". But it was there and it was beautiful and blissful and all those gushy things we see and watch and read about but never really happen to us - to me, at least. It was there and for one brief moment, I didn't want to let this book go. I didn't want to put it back on my shelf - the one it sits in now, still all pretentious-looking and looming over its lesser peers - and have it more than inches away from me. I fought back the overwhelming feeling, obviously, and I did win, kinda-sorta-not-really, but although I am not clutching it with my wishful fingers or staring at its cover like it just whispered dirty and unknown things in my ear, this book is Why I Smiled, an establishing shot of The Idiot Who Made Assumptions That Weren't The Least Bit Right, a whole box filled with insignificant feelings that I now give back to you, person-who-has-probably-not-read-thus-far.
Make what you want of this because I'm done. I am done and I never want to revisit this, not today, not ever, probably tomorrow.
Bernardo
February 12, 2013
I feel like I just went through a break up.
April 2, 2012
Let me tell you, book, why we broke up.
You were in first person, the narrator being a girl who (constantly, constantly) was being called arty, different, and who always hated it, who always repeated herself and wrote in run on sentences like it would sound different. And that's why we broke up.
Her boyfriend, this different girl's boyfriend, is a jock, and quite clearly from day 1 an asshat and a loser, and yet she dated him and loved him within two weeks of ever knowing him, and it was such a stupid and ludicrous thing for her to do, and that's why we broke up.
And to make matters worse, this girl, this Min, as her name is, turns out to be a sort of manic pixie dream girl who is inspiring the best in the jock. She's amazing, of course, but Handler didn't make her believable at all, not the way she had friends or didn't have them, or the way she planned things or did whatever she wanted while apparently being Jewish with an overprotective mother. We don't really get to know who she is other than two things: she's obsessed with films, arty films, and her entire identity apparently resides in her boyfriend. And that's why we broke up.
Also, most chapters ended with "and that's why we broke up," right after talking about something nice he did that had absolutely nothing to do with why they broke up. But you know, that's why we broke up.
Also I dislike books with extremely static characters. Especially if all the characters are static. Just, no.
And that's why we broke up.
You were in first person, the narrator being a girl who (constantly, constantly) was being called arty, different, and who always hated it, who always repeated herself and wrote in run on sentences like it would sound different. And that's why we broke up.
Her boyfriend, this different girl's boyfriend, is a jock, and quite clearly from day 1 an asshat and a loser, and yet she dated him and loved him within two weeks of ever knowing him, and it was such a stupid and ludicrous thing for her to do, and that's why we broke up.
And to make matters worse, this girl, this Min, as her name is, turns out to be a sort of manic pixie dream girl who is inspiring the best in the jock. She's amazing, of course, but Handler didn't make her believable at all, not the way she had friends or didn't have them, or the way she planned things or did whatever she wanted while apparently being Jewish with an overprotective mother. We don't really get to know who she is other than two things: she's obsessed with films, arty films, and her entire identity apparently resides in her boyfriend. And that's why we broke up.
Also, most chapters ended with "and that's why we broke up," right after talking about something nice he did that had absolutely nothing to do with why they broke up. But you know, that's why we broke up.
Also I dislike books with extremely static characters. Especially if all the characters are static. Just, no.
And that's why we broke up.
November 12, 2011
This breakup story has a nice premise, but the narrator, as written by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), is too artsy/quirky/hormonal/annoying for my taste. Her penchant for run-on sentences and pages-long angst-filled paragraphs is hard to appreciate. The dialog is mostly annoying too.
It is worth mentioning though, that this book got starred reviews from pretty much every major professional review publication. So I am clearly going against the grain here.
It is worth mentioning though, that this book got starred reviews from pretty much every major professional review publication. So I am clearly going against the grain here.
November 27, 2013
First, here's just one elided line—not even the most wonderful line, just a lovely one—out of a million beautiful lines that encapsulates why Daniel Handler is the most wonderful startlingly unique best ever: "You snacked away into the other room, and the rubber band sat in my hand, a loose worm, a lazy snake, a wide-open lasso ready to rodeo something." Who writes like that? Who is more fantastic than Daniel Handler? No one, no one, no one. Holy goodness gracious this book is so good.
Another thing this book is is long. And now that I bike instead of subwaying and spend smoke breaks on my phone with the Facebook, it takes me way way longer to read things. So in the spirit of this beautiful brilliant book, which is the story of a collection of objects that together make up a few-month relationship, I will tell you about all the things I stuck between its pages over the month I was lugging it around.
postcard listing yoga classes at Body Actualized Center
I don't do yoga, but I do write Brooklyn Spaces, for which I interview crazy people doing crazy shit in Brooklyn. Body Actualized Center is a former chicken slaughterhouse remade into a yoga school and venue for "chill-out" parties. If you think that's neat, you can read an interview with the space's founder on my site here.
business card for real estate agent Daniela H_____
My parents want me to try to buy an apartment. Because I live in Brooklyn, this is a laughably impossible idea, but I went so far as to answer a few of ads, and Daniela, a kind but firm Russian lady, showed me a couple of apartments that are the size of a postage stamp half a mile from any subway and cost a million dollars or so. Oh Brooklyn.
Old Navy coupon
I am way too morally superior to buy sweatshop-made, unfashionable, fall-apart-after-the-first-wash duds from this stupid store...except when I am really broke and super desperately need jeans. (I am not proud of this.)
business card for Laura _____ on the back of a Swedish Tarot card
Laura is an artist who is collecting $1 million in losing lottery tickets, among other things. I met her at an art salon, and then I left the salon and biked around and met up with my boyfriend and we went for Chinese food, and there was Laura, sitting at the bar. Also, what a neat idea for a business card.
little menu for Mrs. Dorsey's Kitchen
This place has THE MOST AMAZING grilled cheese sandwiches, holy shit.
flyer for Hackertown
I guess I got this at the Maker Faire? It looks pretty rad, I should check them out.
scribbled bicycle directions to Maker Faire
That was a long-ass bike ride, but sooo worth it. Although also a reminder that Queens is a goddamn lot less bicycle-friendly than Brooklyn.
business card for Andrea _____
Met her at the Brooklyn Book Fest. She's the niece of one of the writers I work with at my weird day job, which is at a ghostwriting firm.
a paystub
Proof of how little money I make at my weird day job, and how I will never be able to buy an apartment or even another grilled cheese from Mrs. Dorsey's Kitchen. Fuck.
receipt for dog food
Goddamnit, dogs eat a lot.
receipt for cigarettes
Obviously a totally reasonable expense.
card for a tumblr called Poncili
I have no idea what this is or where I got it. The site is in Spanish, which I do not speak.
an actual bookmark with a watercolor of orange flowers
This is from one of those charities that send you hopeful packets stuffed with greeting cards and return address labels and tiny calendars to try to guilt you into giving them money. I was not so swayed.
another paystub
FML.
receipt from a bank deposit
The deposit was my paycheck, not a several-thousand-dollar mystery inheritance or gift from a secret admirer, alas.
statement saying that I owe my doctor's office $___ for some tests I had done like six months ago
Um. I will pay this really soon.
and
a few tiny rhinestones
that fell off of a super cheap pair of jeans (who knows where they came from) and that I thought I should save to craft with.
And there you have it! A selection of detritus from a month of my life. If I were 1/100th as amazing as Daniel Handler, you would now know everything about me and my loves and my fears and my style and my friends and their weaknesses and struggles and triumphs. Also this would be 100x longer. And I would be able to afford a pair of jeans that are not morally reprehensible.
Another thing this book is is long. And now that I bike instead of subwaying and spend smoke breaks on my phone with the Facebook, it takes me way way longer to read things. So in the spirit of this beautiful brilliant book, which is the story of a collection of objects that together make up a few-month relationship, I will tell you about all the things I stuck between its pages over the month I was lugging it around.
postcard listing yoga classes at Body Actualized Center
I don't do yoga, but I do write Brooklyn Spaces, for which I interview crazy people doing crazy shit in Brooklyn. Body Actualized Center is a former chicken slaughterhouse remade into a yoga school and venue for "chill-out" parties. If you think that's neat, you can read an interview with the space's founder on my site here.
business card for real estate agent Daniela H_____
My parents want me to try to buy an apartment. Because I live in Brooklyn, this is a laughably impossible idea, but I went so far as to answer a few of ads, and Daniela, a kind but firm Russian lady, showed me a couple of apartments that are the size of a postage stamp half a mile from any subway and cost a million dollars or so. Oh Brooklyn.
Old Navy coupon
I am way too morally superior to buy sweatshop-made, unfashionable, fall-apart-after-the-first-wash duds from this stupid store...except when I am really broke and super desperately need jeans. (I am not proud of this.)
business card for Laura _____ on the back of a Swedish Tarot card
Laura is an artist who is collecting $1 million in losing lottery tickets, among other things. I met her at an art salon, and then I left the salon and biked around and met up with my boyfriend and we went for Chinese food, and there was Laura, sitting at the bar. Also, what a neat idea for a business card.
little menu for Mrs. Dorsey's Kitchen
This place has THE MOST AMAZING grilled cheese sandwiches, holy shit.
flyer for Hackertown
I guess I got this at the Maker Faire? It looks pretty rad, I should check them out.
scribbled bicycle directions to Maker Faire
That was a long-ass bike ride, but sooo worth it. Although also a reminder that Queens is a goddamn lot less bicycle-friendly than Brooklyn.
business card for Andrea _____
Met her at the Brooklyn Book Fest. She's the niece of one of the writers I work with at my weird day job, which is at a ghostwriting firm.
a paystub
Proof of how little money I make at my weird day job, and how I will never be able to buy an apartment or even another grilled cheese from Mrs. Dorsey's Kitchen. Fuck.
receipt for dog food
Goddamnit, dogs eat a lot.
receipt for cigarettes
Obviously a totally reasonable expense.
card for a tumblr called Poncili
I have no idea what this is or where I got it. The site is in Spanish, which I do not speak.
an actual bookmark with a watercolor of orange flowers
This is from one of those charities that send you hopeful packets stuffed with greeting cards and return address labels and tiny calendars to try to guilt you into giving them money. I was not so swayed.
another paystub
FML.
receipt from a bank deposit
The deposit was my paycheck, not a several-thousand-dollar mystery inheritance or gift from a secret admirer, alas.
statement saying that I owe my doctor's office $___ for some tests I had done like six months ago
Um. I will pay this really soon.
and
a few tiny rhinestones
that fell off of a super cheap pair of jeans (who knows where they came from) and that I thought I should save to craft with.
And there you have it! A selection of detritus from a month of my life. If I were 1/100th as amazing as Daniel Handler, you would now know everything about me and my loves and my fears and my style and my friends and their weaknesses and struggles and triumphs. Also this would be 100x longer. And I would be able to afford a pair of jeans that are not morally reprehensible.
May 26, 2016
I'm going to try to keep my review brief... I did not like this book. At no point in the book was I enjoying the process of reading it. The relationship felt ridiculous and nonsensical, and I spent the entire 375 pages wondering "why did they get together in the first place??" This question was never answered for me. The lead character, Min, was pretentious and unbearable. And every time a character said she was great because she was different, I wanted to throw the book across the room. I hated the "prose", if that's what you call 2-page paragraphs of metaphorical crap that's nearly impossible to follow. What I'm saying is that I really didn't like this book at all. We clear?
Read
August 16, 2012I did not finish this book.
Nor, do I have any intention of doing so.
I don't pretend to be an expert on Lemony Snicket or whoever. I did not read that 'series of unfortunate events' series and frankly, never plan on doing so, either. But I can say, that this author, has-theoretically-disappointed me.
It's not that the plot was bad...necessarily.
It's just that...the whole thing was very annoying. I didn't like the main characters. I didn't like how every little thing of every thing someone did had to be wry, sarcastic or overly angsty. I didn't like um...what's the guy's name? Rob? Joe? Something generic like that. I didn't like the narratror, either (which I think is important, don't you?). Wasn't her name Miranda or something? I don't know. I can't remember anyone's name.
But I suppose that doesn't really matter.
Because I did NOT finish this book. I've had it for what feels like years and it's cost me an arm and leg (4 bucks) at the library. And for what? Thirty pages worth of complaining? Thirty pages worth of 'this is why we broke up, bill' (or whatever his name is). I just hated it.
but....and this is a HUGE but...maybe i should give this book another chance in the future sometime. say, 2036?
oh...and why the heck was this thing so heavy??? i couldn't carry this anywhere -_-
Nor, do I have any intention of doing so.
I don't pretend to be an expert on Lemony Snicket or whoever. I did not read that 'series of unfortunate events' series and frankly, never plan on doing so, either. But I can say, that this author, has-theoretically-disappointed me.
It's not that the plot was bad...necessarily.
It's just that...the whole thing was very annoying. I didn't like the main characters. I didn't like how every little thing of every thing someone did had to be wry, sarcastic or overly angsty. I didn't like um...what's the guy's name? Rob? Joe? Something generic like that. I didn't like the narratror, either (which I think is important, don't you?). Wasn't her name Miranda or something? I don't know. I can't remember anyone's name.
But I suppose that doesn't really matter.
Because I did NOT finish this book. I've had it for what feels like years and it's cost me an arm and leg (4 bucks) at the library. And for what? Thirty pages worth of complaining? Thirty pages worth of 'this is why we broke up, bill' (or whatever his name is). I just hated it.
but....and this is a HUGE but...maybe i should give this book another chance in the future sometime. say, 2036?
oh...and why the heck was this thing so heavy??? i couldn't carry this anywhere -_-
March 27, 2016
This book will make you fall in love and then break up with you without a second glance. I loved it.
October 9, 2015
3.5 stars
What happens when an “arty”, “different” kind of girl like Min dates a popular, selfish prick like Ed? Why We Broke Up happens. ^^
Remember how your English teacher brought out the artistic and literary side of you when she/he tricked/forced you into telling something about yourself through show and tell? This book is kind of written that way. It is about a box of Ed Slaterton treasures Min Green collected during the entire course of their relationship.
It is a very cute concept with the matching illustrations that made the entire thing interesting. The book is basically one long letter written by Min to Ed and in it she explains how each token inside the box contributed to the reasons why they broke up. Broken and emotional, you could truly feel every emotion of Min through her narrative. She uses appealing imagery and vivid descriptions that will remind you of that time when you were experiencing the worst or perhaps most painful break up. The long, almost endless run-on sentences which she kept using reflect her raw and honest feelings, her anger at her experience, at Ed and even at herself. It’s also very interesting how she relates every incident to scenes from classic movies. The only thing that annoyed me is her out of place cursing. ^^
But this book is so much more than just what it is because it teaches you how to face a break up and how to move on in such a healthy manner. Of course, you can always go for the easy way out and that is to maybe do this?!
and this...
and this...
and...you got my point. Lol. ^^
But what better way to release your emotions than write? Once upon a time, I did something that slightly resembles what Min did. I can’t believe I’m sharing it now but well, here goes nothing.
ANTIDOTE
I was so naive
How could I believe
Everything you said
Should have used my head
You asked for a chance
Deceived me with your glance
Into your evil spell
Unfortunately I fell!
My reason in oblivion
Forgot I had opinion
I drank your poisoned potion
Caught in lifeless motion
In my nearly endless slumber
Just about as long as forever
A drop of antidote from nowhere
Awakened I am elsewhere…
A loud sigh of relief I exclaimed
From sure doom I was saved
Vulnerable- I shall be never
I have discovered the permanent cure!
What happens when an “arty”, “different” kind of girl like Min dates a popular, selfish prick like Ed? Why We Broke Up happens. ^^
Remember how your English teacher brought out the artistic and literary side of you when she/he tricked/forced you into telling something about yourself through show and tell? This book is kind of written that way. It is about a box of Ed Slaterton treasures Min Green collected during the entire course of their relationship.
It is a very cute concept with the matching illustrations that made the entire thing interesting. The book is basically one long letter written by Min to Ed and in it she explains how each token inside the box contributed to the reasons why they broke up. Broken and emotional, you could truly feel every emotion of Min through her narrative. She uses appealing imagery and vivid descriptions that will remind you of that time when you were experiencing the worst or perhaps most painful break up. The long, almost endless run-on sentences which she kept using reflect her raw and honest feelings, her anger at her experience, at Ed and even at herself. It’s also very interesting how she relates every incident to scenes from classic movies. The only thing that annoyed me is her out of place cursing. ^^
But this book is so much more than just what it is because it teaches you how to face a break up and how to move on in such a healthy manner. Of course, you can always go for the easy way out and that is to maybe do this?!
and this...
and this...
and...you got my point. Lol. ^^
But what better way to release your emotions than write? Once upon a time, I did something that slightly resembles what Min did. I can’t believe I’m sharing it now but well, here goes nothing.
ANTIDOTE
I was so naive
How could I believe
Everything you said
Should have used my head
You asked for a chance
Deceived me with your glance
Into your evil spell
Unfortunately I fell!
My reason in oblivion
Forgot I had opinion
I drank your poisoned potion
Caught in lifeless motion
In my nearly endless slumber
Just about as long as forever
A drop of antidote from nowhere
Awakened I am elsewhere…
A loud sigh of relief I exclaimed
From sure doom I was saved
Vulnerable- I shall be never
I have discovered the permanent cure!
didnt-finish
November 12, 2011I read up to page 41 in Why We Broke Up, and I could not bring myself to read more. I felt like the story was going so fast, and I got irritated with Min's voice (the story is a letter Min wrote to her ex-boyfriend, some jock guy from her school called Ed). And Ed? Who? I couldn't even picture him in my head. Seriously, I just saw a blob. I even skimmed to see why they broke up, and it was very annoying. If I actually read the entire book, I'm pretty sure I would have gotten a headache.
Now, with the way Min talked...or how the author wrote. I did not like the writing AT ALL. This was the main reason I didn't like this book. There were many run-on, never-ending sentences...!! I started thinking, 'AHHH! MAKE IT STOP! IT'S TOO LONG! SOMEONE GET ME A PEN SO I CAN SCRIBBLE IN PERIODS!' And by the time I was done with those crazy did-not-even-make-any-sense sentences, I couldn't even remember what I read. It also didn't help that the ARC was pretty heavy to hold.
Thanks Crystal for letting me borrow it; I wish I had liked it, but unfortunately, I couldn't finish it. :(
Now, with the way Min talked...or how the author wrote. I did not like the writing AT ALL. This was the main reason I didn't like this book. There were many run-on, never-ending sentences...!! I started thinking, 'AHHH! MAKE IT STOP! IT'S TOO LONG! SOMEONE GET ME A PEN SO I CAN SCRIBBLE IN PERIODS!' And by the time I was done with those crazy did-not-even-make-any-sense sentences, I couldn't even remember what I read. It also didn't help that the ARC was pretty heavy to hold.
Thanks Crystal for letting me borrow it; I wish I had liked it, but unfortunately, I couldn't finish it. :(
June 5, 2013
My old review was pretty terrible so one of these days I'll rewrite it!
March 4, 2022
so much of being a lemony snicket fan is forcing yourself to forget about anything he wrote under his real name.
part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago out of a love of complaining
part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago out of a love of complaining
August 4, 2019
Nope.
December 18, 2017
0.5⭐️
WOW. Oh wow.
What an astonishingly infuriating... girl (and not the word I’m actually thinking of).
He treats her like trash and she.... goes with it. SHE JUST TAKES IT!!!
Ohhhh, AND!! Of course she has a best friend who treats her like gold and is madly in love with her but, does she give him a second thought??... that’s right - You guessed it!! Blockhead.😒
And the thing is, I would’ve accepted it all—kill me as it might—had there been some kind of a lesson or anything resembling that at the end (you know, accountability or ANYTHING) but nothing got sorted (THE WAY IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN!) and that crap of an ending.... WOW! Yeah...NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT! What the fuck kinda lesson is that?? I can’t even get into it... Ughh
If I could ask for anything bookish this Christmas it’d be an invention of some sort that’d allow you to bitchslap a sense or two into a character. 🤦♀️ One can hope...
WOW. Oh wow.
What an astonishingly infuriating... girl (and not the word I’m actually thinking of).
He treats her like trash and she.... goes with it. SHE JUST TAKES IT!!!
Ohhhh, AND!! Of course she has a best friend who treats her like gold and is madly in love with her but, does she give him a second thought??... that’s right - You guessed it!! Blockhead.😒
And the thing is, I would’ve accepted it all—kill me as it might—had there been some kind of a lesson or anything resembling that at the end (you know, accountability or ANYTHING) but nothing got sorted (THE WAY IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN!) and that crap of an ending.... WOW! Yeah...NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT! What the fuck kinda lesson is that?? I can’t even get into it... Ughh
If I could ask for anything bookish this Christmas it’d be an invention of some sort that’d allow you to bitchslap a sense or two into a character. 🤦♀️ One can hope...
September 8, 2016
when i saw that book in the bookstore i really liked how it looked, and the illustrations were amazing
it was very tempting to buy, so i did buy it, not expecting for a book with this amazing illustrations and an author like Daniel Handler a.k.a lemony snicket, to be bad
but sadly All that glitters is not gold.
i had a lot of major issues with this book
like the second person point of view narrating, and the characters who didn't actually feel like humans, they're like a human qualities had been personified into things, and the side characters didn't have any significant role in the book.
and as i said the characters are not even characters, they talk like robots had been programmed to speak in specific range, and if the dialogue got out of that range, they keep repeating the same sentences over and over like the most stupid thing on earth.
i'm really disappointed in this book, it's my first lemony snicket book and it was a series of unfortunate events that i found myself really disliking from the first 100 pages, i didn't care about the character or the plot if there's any and frankly i kept reading mainly because of the illustrations
it was very tempting to buy, so i did buy it, not expecting for a book with this amazing illustrations and an author like Daniel Handler a.k.a lemony snicket, to be bad
but sadly All that glitters is not gold.
i had a lot of major issues with this book
like the second person point of view narrating, and the characters who didn't actually feel like humans, they're like a human qualities had been personified into things, and the side characters didn't have any significant role in the book.
and as i said the characters are not even characters, they talk like robots had been programmed to speak in specific range, and if the dialogue got out of that range, they keep repeating the same sentences over and over like the most stupid thing on earth.
i'm really disappointed in this book, it's my first lemony snicket book and it was a series of unfortunate events that i found myself really disliking from the first 100 pages, i didn't care about the character or the plot if there's any and frankly i kept reading mainly because of the illustrations
December 13, 2016
Holy Numbersign Exclamationmark this was so good! Simple, relatable, honest. Daniel Handler successfully wrote a YA contemporary that didn't TRY so damn hard - this is simply a girl in high school navigating a relationship and break up. It didn't try to reach some immense philosophical level, or dive into character's backgrounds and try to find some meaningful depth behind their actions, and it didn't have an unrealistic character arc where lives are changed forever in a span of 2 months. We got just a peek into Min's life and her relationships and it.was.so.well.done.
February 18, 2019
Oh dear God, finally! It's over.
Forget half stars guys, goodreads needs to add some sort of negative stars.
I'd gladly buy a physical copy of this just so I can burn it. I'm sorry to the author and everyone that worked on this but I so regret reading it, to put it bluntly.
---------------------------------------
Buddy read with Awwwww it's her
Forget half stars guys, goodreads needs to add some sort of negative stars.
I'd gladly buy a physical copy of this just so I can burn it. I'm sorry to the author and everyone that worked on this but I so regret reading it, to put it bluntly.
---------------------------------------
Buddy read with Awwwww it's her
August 25, 2012
Rating: 3.5 Stars
I read this novel last week, so I don’t remember much of how I felt while I read it, except from what I have to go by from my notes, but I do remember thinking, the very moment I finished it, that I hated it. I hated this book with a passion. Ironically, it wasn’t even because I didn’t like it – it was because I liked it so much, I was so sucked into this tale and its characters and wrapped up in this crazy, beautiful, teenage dream that was the life of the main character that I forgot what the title of this book was. I forgot how it doesn’t have a happy ending and I felt like a swift kick had been dealt to me. Why We Broke Up isn’t a particularly notable novel because of its unique letter-writing style or its colorful pictures that adorn the beginnings of every chapter or even the fact that it is written by Lemony Snicket. No, Why We Broke Up is notable simply because it is a character-driven novel of such remarkable talent that it makes you feel for the characters, drop into their skin and walk around in their worlds and although you feel completely like the main character herself, this book can’t help but make you recall your own past, your own first “loves”, your own stupidity, your own mistakes, and your own high school traumas. It’s not a book I’d usually enjoy and for much of this novel I was rather indifferent to it, but somewhere in the middle that all changed. Somewhere in the middle, this book ceased being about Min and started being about me or my friends or my family. It started morphing into a deep and provocative look into relationships, the cracks that form even from the beginning, the lies we pretend not to see, and the desperation we have to hold on and regain those blissful moments we had before. To simply put it, it was remarkable.
I think it’s a no brainer what happens at the end of this book: Min Green and Ed Slaterton break up. Min Green, our enigmatic protagonist who is obsessed with old movies, wants to become a director, and is so, so different from Ed Slaterton. Ed Slateron, our swoon-worthy romantic interest who is obsessed with basketball, has a cool older sister, and whose relationship with Min Green is so, so unexpected. When these two meet at a party, somehow, against all odds, they wind up falling for each other. Why We Broke Up is told from the perspective of Min as she writes Ed a letter, pouring her heart out and analyzing everything that went wrong in their relationship, one object at a time. Essentially, she tells them why they broke up and why their beautiful romance, which defied the very laws of high school hierarchy, was torn apart and ruined, despite its prior perfection.
If you’re worried about the narration style of this story, don’t be. It reads like a fluid story and I loved how Min would insert a small bit of cryptic bitterness at the end of nearly every chapter, explaining how that event in their relationship slowly led to her breakup with Ed. While I’ve said this before, I think it deserves repeating: I didn’t think I was invested in this story until I was forced to accept that I was. It’s one of those novels that creep up on you slowly and the characters gradually take their places in your heart. I loved Min – I mean, can she just be my best friend already? I loved how her passion for old movies was so prominent, oozing off of every page and making her such a realistic character. Furthermore, her relationships with everyone, from her parents to her best friends to Ed, are all so heartfelt that you can’t help but be sucked into them. Min is a biased narrator, that much is obvious from the beginning, but her story isn’t all about why Ed Slaterton is terrible. She tells it slowly, allowing it to progress through every stage of their relationship exactly as she felt it then, so you can’t help but want these two to work out despite the fact that you know they won’t. It’s one of the true marvels of Handler/Snicket’s writing and I am seriously in awe of his talent as an author.
What else is absolutely amazing about this book? I think the sole reason it’s so popular is because it’s so easy to connect to. We’ve all had someone we’ve crushed on in the past or went out with or dreamed out going out with (fictional/celebrity crushes, anyone?) and Why We Broke Up makes you recall all those feelings and emotions once again. It makes you feel that same excitement that first love can bring about and makes you feel that same pain that only first love can wrought, but it’s all the better as a novel for that. I don’t think many stories can really claim to do all that, but this one can. Furthermore, I think it provides such a strong sense of closure that you feel satisfied, despite the ending. I do wish though, that there had been more details and development of Min’s grief between the time she broke up with Ed and the time she wrote Ed the letter – what types of situations and hurt feelings did she have to bear before it felt cathartic enough to write this letter to her ex and give away all the trinkets she had saved of their relationship? I wish I knew.
This book isn’t for everyone. In fact, I think the narration will grate on a lot of readers because it has run-on sentences and seems so pretentious at times. It’s also not an easy book to read – I had to set it aside and come back to it after a couple of hours constantly, simply because of all the memories that kept flooding back as I read this and all the emotions it truly made me feel. Ultimately though, I think this only added to the reading experience. It made it that much more unique and special and astounding. Why We Broke Up isn’t a book I’ll ever re-read, but it is one that I won’t be able to forget. Min’s journey has felt so real that it’s hard to remind myself that it was fictional. Thus, I’d definitely recommend this novel to anyone who likes descriptive and figurative prose, multi-dimensional characters and slow/creeping themes. It isn’t a novel for everyone, but sometimes it take a certain person and a certain journey or past experience to enjoy a novel and that’s exactly the kind of book this is: the type that sucks you in and makes sure you never forget it.
OH! Before I forget - Ed Slaterton, this one's for you:
Now, doesn't that feel so much better? ;)
You can read this review and more on my blog, Ivy Book Bindings.
I read this novel last week, so I don’t remember much of how I felt while I read it, except from what I have to go by from my notes, but I do remember thinking, the very moment I finished it, that I hated it. I hated this book with a passion. Ironically, it wasn’t even because I didn’t like it – it was because I liked it so much, I was so sucked into this tale and its characters and wrapped up in this crazy, beautiful, teenage dream that was the life of the main character that I forgot what the title of this book was. I forgot how it doesn’t have a happy ending and I felt like a swift kick had been dealt to me. Why We Broke Up isn’t a particularly notable novel because of its unique letter-writing style or its colorful pictures that adorn the beginnings of every chapter or even the fact that it is written by Lemony Snicket. No, Why We Broke Up is notable simply because it is a character-driven novel of such remarkable talent that it makes you feel for the characters, drop into their skin and walk around in their worlds and although you feel completely like the main character herself, this book can’t help but make you recall your own past, your own first “loves”, your own stupidity, your own mistakes, and your own high school traumas. It’s not a book I’d usually enjoy and for much of this novel I was rather indifferent to it, but somewhere in the middle that all changed. Somewhere in the middle, this book ceased being about Min and started being about me or my friends or my family. It started morphing into a deep and provocative look into relationships, the cracks that form even from the beginning, the lies we pretend not to see, and the desperation we have to hold on and regain those blissful moments we had before. To simply put it, it was remarkable.
I think it’s a no brainer what happens at the end of this book: Min Green and Ed Slaterton break up. Min Green, our enigmatic protagonist who is obsessed with old movies, wants to become a director, and is so, so different from Ed Slaterton. Ed Slateron, our swoon-worthy romantic interest who is obsessed with basketball, has a cool older sister, and whose relationship with Min Green is so, so unexpected. When these two meet at a party, somehow, against all odds, they wind up falling for each other. Why We Broke Up is told from the perspective of Min as she writes Ed a letter, pouring her heart out and analyzing everything that went wrong in their relationship, one object at a time. Essentially, she tells them why they broke up and why their beautiful romance, which defied the very laws of high school hierarchy, was torn apart and ruined, despite its prior perfection.
If you’re worried about the narration style of this story, don’t be. It reads like a fluid story and I loved how Min would insert a small bit of cryptic bitterness at the end of nearly every chapter, explaining how that event in their relationship slowly led to her breakup with Ed. While I’ve said this before, I think it deserves repeating: I didn’t think I was invested in this story until I was forced to accept that I was. It’s one of those novels that creep up on you slowly and the characters gradually take their places in your heart. I loved Min – I mean, can she just be my best friend already? I loved how her passion for old movies was so prominent, oozing off of every page and making her such a realistic character. Furthermore, her relationships with everyone, from her parents to her best friends to Ed, are all so heartfelt that you can’t help but be sucked into them. Min is a biased narrator, that much is obvious from the beginning, but her story isn’t all about why Ed Slaterton is terrible. She tells it slowly, allowing it to progress through every stage of their relationship exactly as she felt it then, so you can’t help but want these two to work out despite the fact that you know they won’t. It’s one of the true marvels of Handler/Snicket’s writing and I am seriously in awe of his talent as an author.
What else is absolutely amazing about this book? I think the sole reason it’s so popular is because it’s so easy to connect to. We’ve all had someone we’ve crushed on in the past or went out with or dreamed out going out with (fictional/celebrity crushes, anyone?) and Why We Broke Up makes you recall all those feelings and emotions once again. It makes you feel that same excitement that first love can bring about and makes you feel that same pain that only first love can wrought, but it’s all the better as a novel for that. I don’t think many stories can really claim to do all that, but this one can. Furthermore, I think it provides such a strong sense of closure that you feel satisfied, despite the ending. I do wish though, that there had been more details and development of Min’s grief between the time she broke up with Ed and the time she wrote Ed the letter – what types of situations and hurt feelings did she have to bear before it felt cathartic enough to write this letter to her ex and give away all the trinkets she had saved of their relationship? I wish I knew.
This book isn’t for everyone. In fact, I think the narration will grate on a lot of readers because it has run-on sentences and seems so pretentious at times. It’s also not an easy book to read – I had to set it aside and come back to it after a couple of hours constantly, simply because of all the memories that kept flooding back as I read this and all the emotions it truly made me feel. Ultimately though, I think this only added to the reading experience. It made it that much more unique and special and astounding. Why We Broke Up isn’t a book I’ll ever re-read, but it is one that I won’t be able to forget. Min’s journey has felt so real that it’s hard to remind myself that it was fictional. Thus, I’d definitely recommend this novel to anyone who likes descriptive and figurative prose, multi-dimensional characters and slow/creeping themes. It isn’t a novel for everyone, but sometimes it take a certain person and a certain journey or past experience to enjoy a novel and that’s exactly the kind of book this is: the type that sucks you in and makes sure you never forget it.
OH! Before I forget - Ed Slaterton, this one's for you:
Now, doesn't that feel so much better? ;)
You can read this review and more on my blog, Ivy Book Bindings.
December 19, 2014
ALL OF THE FIVE STARS!
Okay so, I just wanna start by saying that this is going to be one of those heart felt and emotional reviews, ‘cause i really connected with the story and it really had an impact in my life - sounds dramatic but it did.
I had no intention of reading this book, whatsoever. I got it because I won a box of books last year and this book just happened to be in it, it was just one of those books that somehow happens to rest upon your shelf. No biggie.
A certain series of events led me to pick up this book: I broke up with my partner - I was sad and mopey and sad and then I just turned my head and this book was on the shelf. WHY WE BROKE UP - it seemed like a sign (yeah, I’m being dramatic)
Point is I picked it up because it seemed like the best book I could be possibly reading at the moment - I was kinda right and kinda wrong, bare with me for a sec.
I began reading and this thing was simply amazing. When you break up with someone you usually can only see the good things, everything that you will miss and that you lost. After a while, when the pain is not so strong you can look back on the other stuff and see clearer, you can see all the little details that were wrong to a point where you can say ’sheesh, no wonder things ended.’ and that is what this book is about, it’s about looking back at all the things that can only leave you with one small thought: This is why we broke up.
“You could never truly see the movies in my head and that, Ed, is why we broke up.”
Why We Broke Up is specifically the story of Min, it’s her love story, but still it is so easfy to make it your own, it is so easy to connect, because we’ll all gone through it, or we will. Being heartbroken, break-ups, they’re inevitable, no matter the situation, it’s part of life and living.
“…damn it Ed, that’s not why we broke up. I love it, I miss it. This complicated thing, it’s why we stayed together.”
When I first started reading this book, I was just looking back on my relationship and thinking exactly what I was telling you ’No wonder we broke up, this is why, of course, it was obvious…’ but then I stumbled upon the quote just mentioned above ‘why we stayed together’
and it just sent me back and made me look at all the good things - because it was not all bad, there were wonderful and beautiful moments in my love story, and that’s the truth. That’s the truth for any relationship, really. I think it’s important to look back at both, the good AND the bad. it’s important to see all the missed things, the details, see what went wrong, what could have gone better.
In my case I got back with my partner, and I kinda blame this book and The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind for it - also me, of course, I made the decision to get back with my partner. (never finishing the book, by the way, I got to page 142). So I got back into my relationship only to break up a month after.
I’m not gonna say that it was a mistake, not at all - I don’t believe in regrets or anything, because at the time it felt right, but I did forget that there was a reason as to why we broke up in the first place
I love him, I will always love him - and i am not saying this in a dramatic Adele song kind of way. it’s just a simple fact, we’ve known each other for a while and that won’t go away - but there was still a reason as to why it ended, there is a reason for relationships to end; and I’m not just talking about someone saying ‘it’s over’ I’m talking about all the little things, the series of events that lead you to it. The book does a beautiful job at highlighting this, and of course I went back to finish reading it, though it took me a while
‘cause I didn’t really want to finish with it, you know? It’s like, the whole story you;ve been following Min’s thoughts, leading up to that single event where she finally breaks up with the guy. A guy we’ve never actually met, we only known him through min’s memories and the items that are somehow linked to him.
and the break up is not overly dramatic, it didn’t feel quite big - because that’s no the story, that’s not the point.
It’s about Min facing that it is over, it’s about looking back on her relationship, through 354 pages and countless objects until the point where she is finally able to feel something… that she can let it go. that she’s going to be okay.
All I can say is that this was a beautiful, real, raw and gorgeous story. The illustrations were gorgeous and they really added more to the story, making me want to turn the page to see what the next item would be. The writing style was fantastic, it really felt like being inside the head of someone - how sometimes your train of thoughts gets lost or for a moment it doesn’t make sense and you have to go back, it was wonderful. I am reading it for the second time, currently half way through and am exited to reach that last page again, to see Min reach that point of ‘I’m going to be okay’ and maybe this time I will feel it too.
10 star book, would recommend to anyone of any age.
Okay so, I just wanna start by saying that this is going to be one of those heart felt and emotional reviews, ‘cause i really connected with the story and it really had an impact in my life - sounds dramatic but it did.
I had no intention of reading this book, whatsoever. I got it because I won a box of books last year and this book just happened to be in it, it was just one of those books that somehow happens to rest upon your shelf. No biggie.
A certain series of events led me to pick up this book: I broke up with my partner - I was sad and mopey and sad and then I just turned my head and this book was on the shelf. WHY WE BROKE UP - it seemed like a sign (yeah, I’m being dramatic)
Point is I picked it up because it seemed like the best book I could be possibly reading at the moment - I was kinda right and kinda wrong, bare with me for a sec.
I began reading and this thing was simply amazing. When you break up with someone you usually can only see the good things, everything that you will miss and that you lost. After a while, when the pain is not so strong you can look back on the other stuff and see clearer, you can see all the little details that were wrong to a point where you can say ’sheesh, no wonder things ended.’ and that is what this book is about, it’s about looking back at all the things that can only leave you with one small thought: This is why we broke up.
“You could never truly see the movies in my head and that, Ed, is why we broke up.”
Why We Broke Up is specifically the story of Min, it’s her love story, but still it is so easfy to make it your own, it is so easy to connect, because we’ll all gone through it, or we will. Being heartbroken, break-ups, they’re inevitable, no matter the situation, it’s part of life and living.
“…damn it Ed, that’s not why we broke up. I love it, I miss it. This complicated thing, it’s why we stayed together.”
When I first started reading this book, I was just looking back on my relationship and thinking exactly what I was telling you ’No wonder we broke up, this is why, of course, it was obvious…’ but then I stumbled upon the quote just mentioned above ‘why we stayed together’
and it just sent me back and made me look at all the good things - because it was not all bad, there were wonderful and beautiful moments in my love story, and that’s the truth. That’s the truth for any relationship, really. I think it’s important to look back at both, the good AND the bad. it’s important to see all the missed things, the details, see what went wrong, what could have gone better.
In my case I got back with my partner, and I kinda blame this book and The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind for it - also me, of course, I made the decision to get back with my partner. (never finishing the book, by the way, I got to page 142). So I got back into my relationship only to break up a month after.
I’m not gonna say that it was a mistake, not at all - I don’t believe in regrets or anything, because at the time it felt right, but I did forget that there was a reason as to why we broke up in the first place
I love him, I will always love him - and i am not saying this in a dramatic Adele song kind of way. it’s just a simple fact, we’ve known each other for a while and that won’t go away - but there was still a reason as to why it ended, there is a reason for relationships to end; and I’m not just talking about someone saying ‘it’s over’ I’m talking about all the little things, the series of events that lead you to it. The book does a beautiful job at highlighting this, and of course I went back to finish reading it, though it took me a while
‘cause I didn’t really want to finish with it, you know? It’s like, the whole story you;ve been following Min’s thoughts, leading up to that single event where she finally breaks up with the guy. A guy we’ve never actually met, we only known him through min’s memories and the items that are somehow linked to him.
and the break up is not overly dramatic, it didn’t feel quite big - because that’s no the story, that’s not the point.
It’s about Min facing that it is over, it’s about looking back on her relationship, through 354 pages and countless objects until the point where she is finally able to feel something… that she can let it go. that she’s going to be okay.
All I can say is that this was a beautiful, real, raw and gorgeous story. The illustrations were gorgeous and they really added more to the story, making me want to turn the page to see what the next item would be. The writing style was fantastic, it really felt like being inside the head of someone - how sometimes your train of thoughts gets lost or for a moment it doesn’t make sense and you have to go back, it was wonderful. I am reading it for the second time, currently half way through and am exited to reach that last page again, to see Min reach that point of ‘I’m going to be okay’ and maybe this time I will feel it too.
10 star book, would recommend to anyone of any age.
February 26, 2013
This is a book where describing what happened kind of misses the point, because it's not really about that. But, I've gotta start somewhere, so ... it's written as an angry, passionate, heart-broken and heart-breaking letter, from Minerva Green, a quirky off-beat cinephile, to her former boyfriend, king jock and jerk, Ed Slaterton. The letter accompanies a box, filled with "the prizes and debris of this relationship, like the glitter in the gutter when the parade has passed, all the everything and whatnot kicked to the curb." The first items are two bottlecaps, from the Scarpia's Bitter Ale they shared at Min's friend Al's bitter sixteen birthday party (that's the kind of quirksters they are). A relationship that begins with a beverage named after one of the all-time creepiest opera villains might portend problems, but Min and Ed's relationship ignites with improbable incandesence. Until suddenly, one day, it dramatically doesn't any more, and Min is left sorting through the souvenirs, trying to make sense out of what happened. There are many wonderful things about this book .. it captures and conveys so lyrically and intensely the thoughts and feelings of falling crazily and inappropriately and overwhelmingly in love with a completely unsuitable partner. But two things really stood out for me: the beautiful and dizzying language with which Min tells their story; and the world that the author creates, one that is so close to ours, but just slightly askew. There are no Starbucks - there are coffee shops like Leopardi's, In the Cups and Federico's. There are revival movie houses like the Carnelian, which show a series of fascinating, if fictitious, films of mystery, poetry and wonder. There's a Boris Vian Park (is there a less likely candidate for civic recognition than the author of I Spit on Your Grave?), where it really does seem possible that a unicorn might materialize at twilight or dawn, or the hazy boundary between them. There's no facebook or cell phones to distract our characters from engaging directly with each other. Sometimes, there's an almost hallucinatory quality to the prose, especially the scenes of Ed's bonfire and Halloween party that are really extraordinary and almost disturbing. And at other times, the luminous, tender and lyrical descriptions of Ed and Min's times together are so emotionally vivid and impactful that it's easy to get caught up in their improbable experience. This really seems more like an extended poem than prose, and it's a beautiful reading experience. Min is a special girl, to the point where the final few pages are particularly painful. Her story will stay with you long after you close the covers of this lovely and beautifully illustrated book. And speaking of the "story," this is not just an extended improvisation of linguistic loveliness, it's a compelling story that draws you in an unfolds with twists, suprises, and all the narrative goodness a major book provides. So, it's got fantastic magical language, awesome characters (even Ed, as flawed and frustrating as he is, is fully realized and not without his appeal) and a gripping story. Definitely worth investing your precious reading time!
July 31, 2017
Book #3 for booktubeathon 2017
Wowee I'm sad but it's the good kind of sad I think? So many things so many things.
1. Ed is the worst
2. I love Min
3. I have never experienced that kind of heartbreak and break up and I hope I NEVER DO.
4. I enjoyed the writing style for the most part even though sometimes it got to be a little too much and I felt my eyes skipping down past to the next part.
5. All in all pretty good.
Wowee I'm sad but it's the good kind of sad I think? So many things so many things.
1. Ed is the worst
2. I love Min
3. I have never experienced that kind of heartbreak and break up and I hope I NEVER DO.
4. I enjoyed the writing style for the most part even though sometimes it got to be a little too much and I felt my eyes skipping down past to the next part.
5. All in all pretty good.
April 15, 2012
I have never experienced a break up.
You know, one of those, ‘she doesn’t have to have her fresh young fellows tape back, but there’s not a long of things that she’ll take back’ kind of break up or the ‘And I’m here to remind you of the mess you left when you went away-It’s not fair to deny me of the cross I bear that you gave to me’ angsty throw yourself across the room break up. Or the pathetic ‘It’s been seven hours and 15 days / since you took your love away’- no… can’t say that I have… unless you count being widowed but that wouldn’t be fair, right? No, the only thing close is losing my virginity to a guy who I had been ‘dating’ (I guess I thought that was what it was) and then having him not call me for like 2 weeks and me not calling him and then him going off and ending up with some slutty girl that wrote a famous blog turned book and discussed having sex with him in weird ass places…and he wasn’t even that good!
Nope, I am one of those that never really tried so never really had to deal with the whole dramarama of break up. My god, if any of you know me, I can’t even handle it when Leonardo finds Claire Danes in that ruined church! I break down when people mention Treat Williams dying in Hair instead of John Savage! I am a pussy. I know this…
So, what do I do? I read books. I read books that break my heart, that make me wistful for that time when time goes by so fast when you're with the one and when girls sit in their rooms staring out their window for months waiting for their shiny vampire to remember her. I read books that detail breakups through music and death and stupid high school crap reasons. And, I love them. I really really do. I must really hate myself.
Why we Broke Up. I should have known, right? But, there’s a great illustration of a coffee cup on the cover and I love coffee and angst, so….
Min is writing Ed a letter… that’s what this book is… a break up letter. Wow, I’ve always imagined being the scorned one who wrote clever, hurtful things to a boy that broke my heart. In fact, I did do this with my husband who was not yet my husband. I did it like 5 times…. Finally he just started lying and said he didn’t get the letters, it must have gotten lost in the mail, what was I talking about? Yeah… smart one, that guy. But, those letters were awesome…. They don’t compare to this letter though. This letter comes with a treasure box of collected memories and illustrations of items in that box. This letter is like if Griffin and Sabine were to call it quits. (did they? Never got that far.) Min is everything that I wish or thought or wished I thought I was in high school. She’s different. She’s in love with old movies and lives her life through scenes that make Catherine driving Jim off a cliff leaving Jules to raise Sabine look like Meatballs II. I can relate to Min, I can appreciate her innocence and her blindness and her pain. I can want to kick Ed in the balls and cut off his hands so he never plays basketball again. I would do this for Min. Because, as her friend Al says ‘What’s the use of friendship?’ if you can’t dismember people for people you love.
I won’t quote from this book because it’s one long high school lament that should be read in full. I can tell you that pages 336, 337 and 338 is my new mantra. It will take me awhile to get that down but it will be worth it. I will also tell you about this website… and I will quote from one of the posts because I hate myself for not writing this and I encourage you to write your own and let me know… because I’m a sucker for a good break up story.
Xoxoxo
Do not read this break up story. Close your eyes. Turn off your laptop. Do not read this particularly miserable break up story. Hug a skunk that has lost a battle with the semi whose driver was too busy eating a ham sandwich he picked up from the tiny diner with the one light above the day old donuts that were flickering exactly in tune with the polka music playing quietly from the radio belonging to the man in the corner smoking a pipe for some unhygienic reason. Hug that poor, dead skunk because it will be more pleasurable than reading this dreadful, tired breakup story. Turn around now. You still have time. Pretend your eyes never fell upon these words and leave your home right now to talk to your local government representative about pulling all military funding to turn public buses in to ice cream trucks. Ask him to abolish marriage for group hugs. Suggest all textbooks smell like fresh cookies. Buy a kitten on your way home, take him to dinner and pretend you never laid eyes on this break up story. You still have time. I warned you.
I wasn’t dead. Now you are.
Now, to lighten the mood... here's an awkward family photo. Happy Dating.
You know, one of those, ‘she doesn’t have to have her fresh young fellows tape back, but there’s not a long of things that she’ll take back’ kind of break up or the ‘And I’m here to remind you of the mess you left when you went away-It’s not fair to deny me of the cross I bear that you gave to me’ angsty throw yourself across the room break up. Or the pathetic ‘It’s been seven hours and 15 days / since you took your love away’- no… can’t say that I have… unless you count being widowed but that wouldn’t be fair, right? No, the only thing close is losing my virginity to a guy who I had been ‘dating’ (I guess I thought that was what it was) and then having him not call me for like 2 weeks and me not calling him and then him going off and ending up with some slutty girl that wrote a famous blog turned book and discussed having sex with him in weird ass places…and he wasn’t even that good!
Nope, I am one of those that never really tried so never really had to deal with the whole dramarama of break up. My god, if any of you know me, I can’t even handle it when Leonardo finds Claire Danes in that ruined church! I break down when people mention Treat Williams dying in Hair instead of John Savage! I am a pussy. I know this…
So, what do I do? I read books. I read books that break my heart, that make me wistful for that time when time goes by so fast when you're with the one and when girls sit in their rooms staring out their window for months waiting for their shiny vampire to remember her. I read books that detail breakups through music and death and stupid high school crap reasons. And, I love them. I really really do. I must really hate myself.
Why we Broke Up. I should have known, right? But, there’s a great illustration of a coffee cup on the cover and I love coffee and angst, so….
Min is writing Ed a letter… that’s what this book is… a break up letter. Wow, I’ve always imagined being the scorned one who wrote clever, hurtful things to a boy that broke my heart. In fact, I did do this with my husband who was not yet my husband. I did it like 5 times…. Finally he just started lying and said he didn’t get the letters, it must have gotten lost in the mail, what was I talking about? Yeah… smart one, that guy. But, those letters were awesome…. They don’t compare to this letter though. This letter comes with a treasure box of collected memories and illustrations of items in that box. This letter is like if Griffin and Sabine were to call it quits. (did they? Never got that far.) Min is everything that I wish or thought or wished I thought I was in high school. She’s different. She’s in love with old movies and lives her life through scenes that make Catherine driving Jim off a cliff leaving Jules to raise Sabine look like Meatballs II. I can relate to Min, I can appreciate her innocence and her blindness and her pain. I can want to kick Ed in the balls and cut off his hands so he never plays basketball again. I would do this for Min. Because, as her friend Al says ‘What’s the use of friendship?’ if you can’t dismember people for people you love.
I won’t quote from this book because it’s one long high school lament that should be read in full. I can tell you that pages 336, 337 and 338 is my new mantra. It will take me awhile to get that down but it will be worth it. I will also tell you about this website… and I will quote from one of the posts because I hate myself for not writing this and I encourage you to write your own and let me know… because I’m a sucker for a good break up story.
Xoxoxo
Do not read this break up story. Close your eyes. Turn off your laptop. Do not read this particularly miserable break up story. Hug a skunk that has lost a battle with the semi whose driver was too busy eating a ham sandwich he picked up from the tiny diner with the one light above the day old donuts that were flickering exactly in tune with the polka music playing quietly from the radio belonging to the man in the corner smoking a pipe for some unhygienic reason. Hug that poor, dead skunk because it will be more pleasurable than reading this dreadful, tired breakup story. Turn around now. You still have time. Pretend your eyes never fell upon these words and leave your home right now to talk to your local government representative about pulling all military funding to turn public buses in to ice cream trucks. Ask him to abolish marriage for group hugs. Suggest all textbooks smell like fresh cookies. Buy a kitten on your way home, take him to dinner and pretend you never laid eyes on this break up story. You still have time. I warned you.
I wasn’t dead. Now you are.
Now, to lighten the mood... here's an awkward family photo. Happy Dating.
May 9, 2012
I loved the premise of this novel. Absolutely loved it! I thought it was genius. I mean, didn’t everyone make one of those boxes full of all those obscure items from your relationship that don’t really many anything to anyone but you. I know I’ve burned a few of those. What can I say? I’ve had some bad break-ups. I think I was so excited about the premise of this novel that once I was done reading I felt very underwhelmed.
The only reason I kept reading is because I wanted to see why they broke up. And it was exactly the reason I thought it was going to be. I should have just skipped ahead and saved myself hours of reading.
The entire novel Min is making references to these old movies. Normally I am down with that sort of thing, but this got to the point where it was just down right annoying. Everything that happened started with “it’s like when blah blah old movie reference inserted here” and throughout the novel I wondered why I’d never heard of any of these old movies and it’s because the author made them all up. It could have been genius, but it just wasn’t.
The novel was very well written, but Min definitely didn’t seem like a 16 year girl.
If I had to describe Why We Broke Up in word word it would be: awkward. I couldn’t tell if it was meant to be satire of a teen relationship or not. What was the reason these two were together in the first place? Perhaps I just wasn’t intellectual enough to “get” this one.
On another note, I short of wished I would have had a finished copy just to see the finished artwork. From what I could get from the incomplete arc, that part would have been fabulous!
The only reason I kept reading is because I wanted to see why they broke up. And it was exactly the reason I thought it was going to be. I should have just skipped ahead and saved myself hours of reading.
The entire novel Min is making references to these old movies. Normally I am down with that sort of thing, but this got to the point where it was just down right annoying. Everything that happened started with “it’s like when blah blah old movie reference inserted here” and throughout the novel I wondered why I’d never heard of any of these old movies and it’s because the author made them all up. It could have been genius, but it just wasn’t.
The novel was very well written, but Min definitely didn’t seem like a 16 year girl.
If I had to describe Why We Broke Up in word word it would be: awkward. I couldn’t tell if it was meant to be satire of a teen relationship or not. What was the reason these two were together in the first place? Perhaps I just wasn’t intellectual enough to “get” this one.
On another note, I short of wished I would have had a finished copy just to see the finished artwork. From what I could get from the incomplete arc, that part would have been fabulous!
March 7, 2018
This book was so weird.
I sort of liked Why We Broke Up but some of the things in this breakup box confused me. ALSO, this box definitely reminded me of the purse in Mary Poppins. Oh yeah, this book is about Min, who is the MC, and her breakup box to her ex boyfriend Ed. It contains so many freaking things in it and her explanations as to why she put them in there. I'm honestly in awe that she could fit everything in this magical box because the picture that had the little drawn box WOULD NOT have been able to fit alllll of that.
Besides all of that, I didn't like Min or Ed. God, Ed was boring through and through. He had such high goals in life (PURE SARCASM) and ugh, he was a terrible boyfriend. He treated Min crappy. However, she still stuck with him and let it happen. I don't know how many times I wanted to bang my head against a wall with this relationship.. but I'm glad that it's over and that they are through.
I'm glad that Ed never found love in his boring life.. yet. I'm glad that Min might have something new and fun to look forward to. I just want to know where she found this magical box and if she could find me the magical purse from Mary Poppins STAT?
Overall? It was okay. I probably wont plan to ever read it again or look at the book if I'm ever walking by it in a bookstore or library. I'm glad I read it and I'm glad I can move on.
I sort of liked Why We Broke Up but some of the things in this breakup box confused me. ALSO, this box definitely reminded me of the purse in Mary Poppins. Oh yeah, this book is about Min, who is the MC, and her breakup box to her ex boyfriend Ed. It contains so many freaking things in it and her explanations as to why she put them in there. I'm honestly in awe that she could fit everything in this magical box because the picture that had the little drawn box WOULD NOT have been able to fit alllll of that.
Besides all of that, I didn't like Min or Ed. God, Ed was boring through and through. He had such high goals in life (PURE SARCASM) and ugh, he was a terrible boyfriend. He treated Min crappy. However, she still stuck with him and let it happen. I don't know how many times I wanted to bang my head against a wall with this relationship.. but I'm glad that it's over and that they are through.
I'm glad that Ed never found love in his boring life.. yet. I'm glad that Min might have something new and fun to look forward to. I just want to know where she found this magical box and if she could find me the magical purse from Mary Poppins STAT?
Overall? It was okay. I probably wont plan to ever read it again or look at the book if I'm ever walking by it in a bookstore or library. I'm glad I read it and I'm glad I can move on.
March 9, 2016
A very unique read. I enjoyed this for the most part though I found some parts very confusing and hard to understand. The writing and pictures are consistently beautiful.
April 30, 2012
So this is it. The definitive breakup story. The ode to all those who loved not wisely but too well and were caught like a deer in headlights by some hackneyed plot-twist, irony, that everyone could see but them.
Handler could had written this book just for me. But not because I identified with his generic and lowest-common-denominator story of heartbreak, but because I am "breaking up" with one of my favorite authors who has released one of the most disappointing works of "modern literature" I've ever had the displeasure of reading.
I guess I can start with the positive... because there's very little. The reason I gave this book two stars rather than one is that, while I am not sure this is entirely to the book's credit, I definitely felt something closing the book. I identified, vaguely, with Min, because just as she was hit with the train of her boyfriend's infidelity when the signs were all there, the signs were all there for me to put this book down. But I let myself get disappointed by one of my favorite authors who used one of the most uninspired love story archetype one can imagine. Seriously, though, Min's feelings at the novel's conclusion are well articulated and her sorrow is something to which I think all readers would be able to relate. However, the poignant nature of her soliloquy at the end of the book doesn't make up for clumsy prose and an abhorrent plot. In fact, it reflects on the terror this book inspires in the reader and the distaste one would likely develop for the characters. Only in self-abuse and the realization of their own insignificance can a reader relate to them.
To a degree, if this has not already been clearly established, I need to disclose that this review is tinged with my expectations. Handler is (was) one of my favorite modern authors. A Series of Unfortunate Events was nothing short of genius. Adverbs was quite possibly even better, a brilliant articulation of love and heartbreak of all types. So why, then, did Handler choose to explore the most generic and least realistic romantic archetype?
Ed and Min's star-crossed affair, the generic and morally repugnant jock and the "artsy" cinema-buff who is contemptible in her own right, follows a familiar archetype. One may listen to New Edition's Cool It Now in lieu of reading the book's first half and probably be the better for it. However, the book slogs onward, on the way problematizing youthful love and validating all the concerns parents and would-be well wishers have about teenage relationships. Why ask the question when you already know the answer?
What makes this book even more detestable, and arguably acutely harmful to readers, is Handler's patronizing portrayal of young love and his didactic tone of "told you so" toward Min's "mistakes." Handler both pathologizes young love and divests Min of her sexual agency. I have a hard time believing that Handler intended to make such a heavy-handed moral statement of shaming those who lost their virginity without "knowing what they're doing" or whatever the misogynistic status-quo attitude is on that front, but that is certainly what comes through in the novel.
While this could be a normal hum-drum young adult novel, it is instead bogged down with some of the most abominable and try-hard prose this side of avant-garde poetry written by failing liberal arts college students. "They just don't get me," they cry. Keeping track of what's going on in this text is as much a chore as enduring the formulaic plot.
Readers who manage to make it to this book's conclusion will probably feel, just as Min did, that they were complete idiots. Taken in by promises of an author who they thought was something truly special. But, like Ed, Handler shows us that there just aren't that many good men (or, in his case, authors) anymore. I will wonder, in the wee hours of the night, if the greater betrayal was Ed to Min or Handler to his fans, serving them this trash. The young readers for which this book was intended know that these types of static and one dimensional characters and "edgy" youthful situations are as common on television shows as mediocre books are numerous.
Handler could had written this book just for me. But not because I identified with his generic and lowest-common-denominator story of heartbreak, but because I am "breaking up" with one of my favorite authors who has released one of the most disappointing works of "modern literature" I've ever had the displeasure of reading.
I guess I can start with the positive... because there's very little. The reason I gave this book two stars rather than one is that, while I am not sure this is entirely to the book's credit, I definitely felt something closing the book. I identified, vaguely, with Min, because just as she was hit with the train of her boyfriend's infidelity when the signs were all there, the signs were all there for me to put this book down. But I let myself get disappointed by one of my favorite authors who used one of the most uninspired love story archetype one can imagine. Seriously, though, Min's feelings at the novel's conclusion are well articulated and her sorrow is something to which I think all readers would be able to relate. However, the poignant nature of her soliloquy at the end of the book doesn't make up for clumsy prose and an abhorrent plot. In fact, it reflects on the terror this book inspires in the reader and the distaste one would likely develop for the characters. Only in self-abuse and the realization of their own insignificance can a reader relate to them.
To a degree, if this has not already been clearly established, I need to disclose that this review is tinged with my expectations. Handler is (was) one of my favorite modern authors. A Series of Unfortunate Events was nothing short of genius. Adverbs was quite possibly even better, a brilliant articulation of love and heartbreak of all types. So why, then, did Handler choose to explore the most generic and least realistic romantic archetype?
Ed and Min's star-crossed affair, the generic and morally repugnant jock and the "artsy" cinema-buff who is contemptible in her own right, follows a familiar archetype. One may listen to New Edition's Cool It Now in lieu of reading the book's first half and probably be the better for it. However, the book slogs onward, on the way problematizing youthful love and validating all the concerns parents and would-be well wishers have about teenage relationships. Why ask the question when you already know the answer?
What makes this book even more detestable, and arguably acutely harmful to readers, is Handler's patronizing portrayal of young love and his didactic tone of "told you so" toward Min's "mistakes." Handler both pathologizes young love and divests Min of her sexual agency. I have a hard time believing that Handler intended to make such a heavy-handed moral statement of shaming those who lost their virginity without "knowing what they're doing" or whatever the misogynistic status-quo attitude is on that front, but that is certainly what comes through in the novel.
While this could be a normal hum-drum young adult novel, it is instead bogged down with some of the most abominable and try-hard prose this side of avant-garde poetry written by failing liberal arts college students. "They just don't get me," they cry. Keeping track of what's going on in this text is as much a chore as enduring the formulaic plot.
Readers who manage to make it to this book's conclusion will probably feel, just as Min did, that they were complete idiots. Taken in by promises of an author who they thought was something truly special. But, like Ed, Handler shows us that there just aren't that many good men (or, in his case, authors) anymore. I will wonder, in the wee hours of the night, if the greater betrayal was Ed to Min or Handler to his fans, serving them this trash. The young readers for which this book was intended know that these types of static and one dimensional characters and "edgy" youthful situations are as common on television shows as mediocre books are numerous.
October 29, 2012
2.5. This one is difficult for me because as I was reading this book I HATED it. Seriously, passionately, vocally. As a book of my memory, my hatred is softened, but still present. However, and this is a big however, I'm not convinced it's a bad book. I didn't like it, but I think it's a taste issue.
The narrative style is interesting and it seems like he spent some time thinking about the mechanics of it, but ultimately decided to make the reader suspend a certain amount of disbelief. I was unable to. The technicalities kept bugging me. How long is this van ride? I know she mentions it, but mentioning a complaint is not the same as resolving it. I'm also not sure this particular narrative style (highly subjective first person/second person) was the right way to go. Why is Min rehashing things Ed knows already. It feels highly redundant. Also, have you tried to write in a moving car? It is hard and it makes me very carsick. Also, have you tried to write something concurrent with it happening (which occurs towards the end when Min relays conversations she is having with Al at the very moment)? That is hard because we cannot write anywhere near as fast as we can talk or think. I always end up forgetting things and you can't very well ask the person to repeat what they just said so you can write it down.
The narrative style also presents problems with voice. Particularly Ed's. The dialogue sections occur mostly tagless, which is fine when you have two distinctive voices, but Ed and Min do not have distinctive voices in dialogue. The dialogue is extremely hard to track and I constantly had to backtrack handfuls of pages to figure out who was talking. For the longest time I thought Min's written voice was a problem, but I actually think it's a strength. I just didn't like Min as a character, so that's why I didn't like her voice, but Handler shows some undeniable skill with the depth of hurt and betrayal in Min's voice. It made me feel very itchy.
Now the whole idea of falling in love in such a short amount of time and completely losing yourself has always irked me, which is why I'm willing to set aside my own feelings on the matter and say that Why We Broke Up is actually quite well-written. Handler gives Min a unique and quirky sensibility and style (yes, a little too precious, but not so manic pixie dream girl as to become a Zooey Deschanel stand-in), but some elements really got my goat, like the movie quotage, which officially left cute and endearing and entered possible mental illness because she can't stay out of dream worlds, and the speed with which she becomes a girl cliche, all abandoning her friends and schlepping herself to basketball practice.
Kalman's illustrations are beautiful, but I think they may not be consistent with the tone. Min is a ball of neuroses and hurt feelings, but the pictures are these beautiful, organic, and romantic views of life. You could argue that they are snapshots of the way Min originally saw them before the breakup, but the whole point of the novel is the break-up and the illustrations should follow the tone as well. I imagined something much more along the line of angry, ink drawings or something like a Lucian Freud.
The narrative style is interesting and it seems like he spent some time thinking about the mechanics of it, but ultimately decided to make the reader suspend a certain amount of disbelief. I was unable to. The technicalities kept bugging me. How long is this van ride? I know she mentions it, but mentioning a complaint is not the same as resolving it. I'm also not sure this particular narrative style (highly subjective first person/second person) was the right way to go. Why is Min rehashing things Ed knows already. It feels highly redundant. Also, have you tried to write in a moving car? It is hard and it makes me very carsick. Also, have you tried to write something concurrent with it happening (which occurs towards the end when Min relays conversations she is having with Al at the very moment)? That is hard because we cannot write anywhere near as fast as we can talk or think. I always end up forgetting things and you can't very well ask the person to repeat what they just said so you can write it down.
The narrative style also presents problems with voice. Particularly Ed's. The dialogue sections occur mostly tagless, which is fine when you have two distinctive voices, but Ed and Min do not have distinctive voices in dialogue. The dialogue is extremely hard to track and I constantly had to backtrack handfuls of pages to figure out who was talking. For the longest time I thought Min's written voice was a problem, but I actually think it's a strength. I just didn't like Min as a character, so that's why I didn't like her voice, but Handler shows some undeniable skill with the depth of hurt and betrayal in Min's voice. It made me feel very itchy.
Now the whole idea of falling in love in such a short amount of time and completely losing yourself has always irked me, which is why I'm willing to set aside my own feelings on the matter and say that Why We Broke Up is actually quite well-written. Handler gives Min a unique and quirky sensibility and style (yes, a little too precious, but not so manic pixie dream girl as to become a Zooey Deschanel stand-in), but some elements really got my goat, like the movie quotage, which officially left cute and endearing and entered possible mental illness because she can't stay out of dream worlds, and the speed with which she becomes a girl cliche, all abandoning her friends and schlepping herself to basketball practice.
Kalman's illustrations are beautiful, but I think they may not be consistent with the tone. Min is a ball of neuroses and hurt feelings, but the pictures are these beautiful, organic, and romantic views of life. You could argue that they are snapshots of the way Min originally saw them before the breakup, but the whole point of the novel is the break-up and the illustrations should follow the tone as well. I imagined something much more along the line of angry, ink drawings or something like a Lucian Freud.
March 27, 2013
O como convertir el típico chic-lit en una novela épica gracias al estilo tan cuidado del autor. Creo que pocos libros reflejan tan bien lo importante que puede llegar a ser para una persona el primer amor, la primera relación seria.
La voz de Minnie y la narración me han encantado, aunque el final es algo precipitado para mi gusto.
Muy recomendable :-)!
La voz de Minnie y la narración me han encantado, aunque el final es algo precipitado para mi gusto.
Muy recomendable :-)!
January 11, 2012
Ehhh, this didn't do anything for me. I finished it only to find the predictable ending did actually happen. Maybe it's just too much like high school, which I didn't enjoy all that much in the first place. I could imagine my 15-18 year-old self liking it perhaps. Seemed just a bit too long...there's only so much self-involved teenage angst one can reasonably be expected to read. Handler does a good job with the voice though. The fake movies the main character cites get annoying after a short while. It would have been improved with real movies being referenced. Side note: the physical book is insanely heavy. As in, it weighs a lot due to the thick paper for Kalman's illustrations (which were good, but not integral to the story). If you want a good story with great images, read Selznick's Wonderstruck.
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