I finally read Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler illustrated by Maira Kalman. I read it for my Young Adult Book Club's pick this month. Let's be honest.. this book took me way too long to read. I just wasn't that into it. Here's the goodreads description:
I'm telling you why we broke up, Ed. I'm writing it in this letter, the whole truth of why it happened.
Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped.
This book is written by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), but was just not my cup of tea. I don't know what it was... I just didn't get really into it. I liked the whole idea of teens dating in high school and breaking up. That was a good idea. It was written in a letter format with Min breaking up with Ed. She had saved several things throughout their relationship and is putting them all into a box to give to Ed. Min also includes a long letter explaining why they broke up, which is what the story is.
I liked the art, a lot. The art is of all the items that Min kept from their brief dating period. I remember when I was a teen I would save things from relationships too. In fact, my husband and I dated way back then and I remember breaking up with him once and bringing a bag of his stuff back to his house and dumping it off. I had a friend bring it to his door. LOL. So this is a big teen thing to do. I went through a few of the things that Min went through. Though I never did get to date the popular guy.
Sometimes in the story though I couldn't understand what Handler was writing. I was confused. He writes in this odd style and sometimes you are guessing what is meant. This book is also heavy people! HEAVY. I went to take it in my purse to read if I was out and about and put it in my purse and was like whoa! The pages are really nice and glossy, so the cover has to be bigger to support it.
This book is instalove.. but when I was a teen that was something that could happen. I love all my boyfriends and yet being 16 did I really even know what love was?? I really didn't understand why Ed broke up with Min or why she never saw the signs. Since we only read the book through her eyes we never really know how Ed was acting. In the story one minute it's lala land and then boom he's a jerk and dumping her. I mean love is blind right? We only see what we want to see.
And the movies... God the movies! Min is constantly comparing and watching old movies. OLD movies. Because of this I felt a little detached. I haven't seen any of these movies so I really didn't totally get all the references. I know they were supposed to be sweet and romantic but eventually I got tired of reading about them. It seems like Min really only lives in her dreams of these old movies too, which sadly real life is way more disappointing (actually I just read that these movies were made up by the author). Also when I googled the movies I saw a link that says there is going to be a movie based on Why We Broke Up?? What?
There is a fun website for the book where there are break up stories written out. I do remember high school break ups being awful. My first boyfriend showed up in school one day after we broke up holding the hand of another girl. That hurt so bad. Of course now I look back and then all those relationships weren't that important and why did I stress so much. Though I do think all the boyfriends I had I learned lessons from and knew eventually the type of guy I wanted to marry. I don't think I have read any other Daniel Handler/Lemony Snicket books. So I am not sure if they are all written similar to this.
The crystal ball says:
Thunder is booming!! Run inside and don't bother reading!
