Finished Reading Why We Broke Up is written in the form of a letter by Min Green to her ex-boyfriend, Ed Slaterton. After their relationship ends, Min dumps a box of items she had saved (and been unhealthily rifling through) on his front porch, with the letter tucked inside explaining her self, why she saved those things, what they reminded her of, how silly others would think her if they knew she saved them, how there’s a good chance careless Ed he might not even remember what they are. Min sees her life in scenes from old movies. Ed is the co-captain of the basketball team and is used to having a loyal “sidelines girlfriend” watching practices and waving a pennant from the bleachers at every game. Fans of Handler love him for his clever wordplay, and while he did a superb job assuming a female voice as narrator in Why We Broke Up(though it was awhile before I realized the narrator was not a 20-something adult but an high-school student), I was disappointed by the lack of those sentences that usually wow me— the ones that make you rethink how you use everyday language, that make me snatch a pen to write them down immediately. [I did feel, though, noticing his writing conventions in this book (reviewing a short, fast relationship through items, meaningless and not, each section ending with something along the lines of “and that’s why we broke up”) that this book might be more suited to a short story or long poem form.] To be fair, this “normalcy” could be due to the more journalistic, realistic voice he assumes in this novel— and the much more conventional plot line (a high school romance between a star athlete and an “arty” girl) than his usual work. However, instances of stream-of-consciousness lists felt cliché and had me skimming down whole pages.  Why We Broke Up is a quick read with appealing illustrations (whimsically depicted by Maira Kalman) of items kicking of each chapter. If you’re reading this book just as a young adult novel (which it definitely would qualify as), it’s cute, light, entertaining. If you’re reading it as a fan of Handler and are over the age of 15, it may be interesting for you to hear him take on this type of story and a female writing voice, but in the end it will probably feel remarkably forgettable.

Finished Reading

Why We Broke Up is written in the form of a letter by Min Green to her ex-boyfriend, Ed Slaterton. After their relationship ends, Min dumps a box of items she had saved (and been unhealthily rifling through) on his front porch, with the letter tucked inside explaining her self, why she saved those things, what they reminded her of, how silly others would think her if they knew she saved them, how there’s a good chance careless Ed he might not even remember what they are.

Min sees her life in scenes from old movies. Ed is the co-captain of the basketball team and is used to having a loyal “sidelines girlfriend” watching practices and waving a pennant from the bleachers at every game.

Fans of Handler love him for his clever wordplay, and while he did a superb job assuming a female voice as narrator in Why We Broke Up(though it was awhile before I realized the narrator was not a 20-something adult but an high-school student), I was disappointed by the lack of those sentences that usually wow me— the ones that make you rethink how you use everyday language, that make me snatch a pen to write them down immediately.

[I did feel, though, noticing his writing conventions in this book (reviewing a short, fast relationship through items, meaningless and not, each section ending with something along the lines of “and that’s why we broke up”) that this book might be more suited to a short story or long poem form.]

To be fair, this “normalcy” could be due to the more journalistic, realistic voice he assumes in this novel— and the much more conventional plot line (a high school romance between a star athlete and an “arty” girl) than his usual work. However, instances of stream-of-consciousness lists felt cliché and had me skimming down whole pages. 

Why We Broke Up is a quick read with appealing illustrations (whimsically depicted by Maira Kalman) of items kicking of each chapter.

If you’re reading this book just as a young adult novel (which it definitely would qualify as), it’s cute, light, entertaining.

If you’re reading it as a fan of Handler and are over the age of 15, it may be interesting for you to hear him take on this type of story and a female writing voice, but in the end it will probably feel remarkably forgettable.