Why We Broke Up by David Handler Review

Do you ever read a book that you push yourself through because it's kinda boring but you expected it to be good, so you keep reading in the desperate hope it may get a little bit better? 'Why We Broke Up' was that book for me.


It was only after finishing this book did I learn that David Handler occasionally writes under the pen name Lemony Snicket, as in the author that partially ruled my childhood along with other great authors like Rowling. At first, I didn't believe it; I couldn't believe Lemony Snicket had written something I found so dull and I'm just so disappointed.


The story of 'Why We Broke Up' is centred around a young girl named Min, as she writes a letter to her ex-boyfriend Ed, with each chapter being based on a separate item she saved during their relationship. Within each chapter she talks about where the item came from, and this is nicely accompanied by an illustration of said item. It's a fairly sweet premise and you would have thought there was a lot of ways you could make this funny, or heartbreaking, but it was just dull instead.

The issue with this premise is that a captivating romance is needed to pull it off, however Min and Ed's relationship was anything but. They come from complete opposite ends of social life in school, and therefore don't have a lot to talk about together - other than Min seeming to always tell him not to use 'gay' as an adjective.

As well as this, their relationship really just highlights how much of an ass Ed really is, as whilst at times he's sweet, at others he's inconsiderate, selfish and in some ways I think almost controlling. When I say controlling I don't mean obviously so, but he does do things such as convince her to give up time with her friends after school and instead come watch him practice basketball, which even Min notes she didn't enjoy doing and that she spent less and less time with her friends because of this. Ed even goes as far as to say negative things of he best friend - Al, another male, and I read that as trying to make Min distance herself from Al. Whilst you may argue these example aren't that bad - it's not a sign of a healthy relationship.

What I think it is important to mention is that this unhealthy part of their relationship is probably quite true and honest of many teenage relationships. This idea that one party of the relationship can be inconsiderate, and lessen your time spent with friends through insisting time should be spent with them, or even bad-mouthing your friends is quite common in real life; and like Min, many others in those relationships will find ways to excuse that type of behaviour, or even argue the other is sweet most of the time. I know I excused that type of behaviour from my boyfriend when I was sixteen with the idea that they were sweet most of the time, or I was just over-reacting; but that isn't okay. However, I would have been fine with this kind of relationship being pushed forward in the narrative if Handler had addressed what was wrong with the relationship more, and how Min shouldn't have excused that behaviour - rather than finding out they broke up because he was getting back together with his ex secretly. I think another chapter was needed afterwards of Min realising how Ed treated her (other than the cheating situation) was not okay, rather than her going on this rant about her she was 'nothing'.


Another issue with this book is the lack of character building. Min is almost a completely vacant character, the only thing we know about her is that she likes films, is Jewish (which is barely mentioned by the way), and is obsessed with her boyfriend - that's it. Even the friendships she has aren't properly explored - they're just kinda there. It's a real shame we have another YA book with another undeveloped female character.

What is so frustrating about Min's character is that the underdevelopment almost validates one of the main conflicts she faces within the novel. Throughout the story Min is seen to become increasingly frustrated with being labelled 'different' or 'arty', and understandingly so as she's not really either of these things - it just shows how little others know about her. However, you can't really blame them as there's not much to know about Min. So near the end of the novel when Min goes on a rant within her own narrative about how she's not 'different' or 'arty' and says she is nothing - she's almost right, as there is nothing to her character. Her nothingness is validated by the fact there is no depth to her character, she's a flat character in her own narrative and that's really disappointing as all this does is promote insecurities to other young female readers.

So for that reason I can't recommend this book to anyone even though I did finish it. Not only was this dull, I believe it also drives an unhealthy narrative of teenage relationships and also promotes underdeveloped female characters; and whilst it many not do this in an obvious way it's definitely there.


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