Today’s review is on last book I finished, “Why We Broke Up” by Daniel
Handler and illustrations by Maira Kalman. I bought this book from work as I loved
the appearance of it and when I flicked through it I saw the wonderful illustrations
and just knew I needed to own it. I hadn't heard much about this book until
after I started reading it and from the reviews I read I gathered that there was
mixed feelings about it.
The story is told in the form of a letter written by the main
character, Min Green. She writes this long letter to her ex boyfriend, Ed and
attaches the letter to a box of things from their relationship. The letter goes
through their time together and explains each item that she has placed in the
box and how all of it connects to their sad break up.
There is so much about this book that I loved but there were also so
much I couldn't stand. I had great difficulty finishing this book as I just
couldn't get myself to enjoy it. Let’s start with the positives of the book. I
loved the concept and the lay out. I always enjoy reading books that are set up
as anything but just another novel like emails, text messages, chat rooms and
of course letters. It makes the story interesting and personal so you build a
closer connection to the characters. I did feel that way with this book, as you
could really feel what she was feeling through the way she wrote her letter.
Another thing I really enjoyed were the illustrations of each item inside the
box as it gave visual of what she was talking about. It made me feel as though I
was holding what she was writing about which gave the story more emotion. The illustrations
are one of the reasons I continued to read even when I was really struggling to
get through the chapters. The other reason was the beautiful writing of Daniel
Handler. He is an excellent writer and is able to really make the text sound
poetic. I loved the way he wrote about each item and the detail of each event
that occurred. Even as I was having trouble getting through the book, there was
always a tiny moment in his writing that just kept me hooked to the story which
made me not want to give up on its plot.
Besides all of that, there were things that just didn't work for me in
this book. The first was the characters. I couldn't get myself to fully connect
to any of them which made it hard for me to follow the story and understand
their point of view. The main character, Min is the one I had most trouble
liking as her personality just seemed over dramatic for what the story was
especially as she explains each date the couple had. I understand that they
wanted to create a main girl who was different and unique which she was and I applaud
that, but I just couldn't fit her personality to the story. I did like that she
was into vintage things but I think it was a bit too much for me which made me
keep losing interest in her story. She constantly made references to old films
and their characters which I didn't understand because I didn't get the references which made it really hard for me to follow her point of view
and her way of thinking as none of it seemed to make sense to me. I didn't have
much trouble with Ed’s character as it was more basic and every now again you
would learn something about him that you wouldn't expect which I really enjoyed
but even from the very beginning I could see that his personality and Min’s
personality was just not compatible. Because of this I had such a difficult
time trying to process their relationship as I could see from the start why
they were going to break up. They were
very different and even their family and friends could see how incompatible
they were which really frustrated me because it seemed so clear and even as she
writes the letter she states how they were different. Their relationship was
frustrating as I found myself just waiting for it to end as I felt that they as
characters would be better off apart. I don’t usually want fictional couples to
split but for these characters it just seemed to make more sense that they did.
Which when I think about it makes perfect sense for the plot line.
The final thing I’d like to state about this book is that the length of
the relationship and the length of this letter just don’t seem to match very
well. At first I didn't know how long the relationship was until the very end
when they break up and it really shocked me that it was shorter than I thought
it was. The letter is so long and the box
is filled with so many things that I assumed it was an extensive relationship.
It really made me feel like the story was more unrealistic because of it
especially how it ended which made me start to question the point of the whole letter. She
states in the letter that she is hoping Ed is distressed and how she knows that he was
hurting like her but all of that just seemed unrealistic at the end. I don’t
want to give anything away in case you haven’t read it but from the way it
ended I just couldn't see the reason for such a long letter to her ex.
Overall I wouldn't
personally recommend this book to anyone but if you want to see how this story
plays out, give this book a try and tell me what you think? I enjoyed the
concept and idea, but I just would have liked to see it set up in a different
way.
It has been stated
that this book will be turned into a movie sometime this year, which even
though I didn't enjoy the book, I would still love to see how it is portrayed
in film. I will keep you all posted on that and let you know of a release date
once one has been established
Hope you enjoyed my review and if you enjoyed this book, I would
love to hear from you in the comments.
I have another post for you all tomorrow night!
Keep Reading :)
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