Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler
Illustrated by Maira Kalman

Release Date: December 27th 2011
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 354
Source: My collection
Author: Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon | The Book Depository
Add it: Goodreads

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.

I will start with the positives of this book. I loved the illustrations. I just couldn’t see this book being any good without them. The writing in this book was also great, although some sections went on a little longer than they needed but we will get to that in a minute. The actual story of why they broke up was believable but those are the best things about the book. I however, had a hard time getting through it.

The main character is Min and this entire book is about the mementos she has stashed away in a box in the back of her closet and all the stories that go along with them. She is writing these all in a note that is directed to her ex-boyfriend, Ed. She plans to drop this letter and the box on his front porch. So I’m all for giving back things to ex’s people do that all the time. However, writing a book (literally the entire book is the letter) is ridiculous. I would have read the first page, went through the box, then probably thrown everything I didn’t want away. The fact that the entire book was the letter made it not believable but the stories that went with everything was still good.

Ed, the ex, was stupid. I really didn’t like him at all. Not even from the beginning. He was dumb really. The way the actual break up was caused was really dumb too and I really wanted to punch him. If I was Min I probably would have. Min was also pretty dumb when it came to Ed. She was one of those girls who fell for the boy really fast and let him get away with things that he should not have gotten away with. She would say them in the letter that he was being dumb but she never saw it while it was happening.

Now I mentioned earlier about sections going on too long. She goes into one part and starts comparing two things to two other things. It goes on for like a page and a half! I started to skip because I was like “ok I get it!” The book was just boring to me in some parts and I would put it down and then not pick it back up. I should have had this book read in no time but I just couldn’t get into it.

This book consists of pg-13 language and some sexual content. If you aren’t a fan of that then you might want to pass on this book. I read some romance novels so it wasn’t bad for me. This book is also really heavy, weight wise; I suggest getting the paperback, although I’m not sure how much lighter that is.

 

My Rating:

(2.5 stars)