Review: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

Book: Why We Broke Up
By: Daniel Handler
Published: December 27, 2011
Published By: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

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

My Thoughts: So, I've recently been getting into contemporary fiction thanks to my local library, and I picked this up on audio format and it was a great choice.

This story reminds me a bit of Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher with the whole box of items thing, but I liked it a lot more because it didn't have the suicide aspect and I could relate so much more. We're pretty much reading a letter from Min Green to Ed Slaterton. They have broken up, and we get to see exactly why it happened by a series of items she's collected (the items she's sending back) over the course of their relationship. This story is so cute/interesting and very reminiscent of first love and all that. Funny thing is, at the end it was pretty much the exact same as my first love, minus her obsession with his looks.

Min is quirky and fun and happy and innocent and naive. I loved her so much. Ed is the typical guy. This book is so interesting in that, you knew the whole time how it would end, but the excitement was seeing how it would get there. I would certainly recommend this, though I'm not quite sure which is better. The book has some pictures in it, that you miss out on in the audiobook, but the narration of the audiobook is awesome. 5 stars.