Book Review: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler 
Date Released: December 27th 2011 
Publisher: Little, Brown Books
Format: Hardcover
Source: Barnes&Noble

 Summary from 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

Available from:
Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Review

Okay so, I just wanna start by saying that this is going to be one of those heart felt and emotional reviews, ‘cause i really connected with the story and it really had an impact in my life - sounds dramatic but it did.

I had no intention of reading this book, whatsoever. I got it because I won a box of books last year and this book just happened to be in it, it was just one of those books that somehow happens to rest upon your shelf. No biggie.

A certain series of events led me to pick up this book: I broke up with my partner - I was sad and mopey and sad and then I just turned my head and this book was on the shelf. WHY WE BROKE UP - it seemed like a sign (yeah, I’m being dramatic)

Point is I picked it up because it seemed like the best book I could be possibly reading at the moment - I was kinda right and kinda wrong, bare with me for a sec.

I began reading and this thing was simply amazing. When you break up with someone you usually can only see the good things, everything that you will miss and that you lost. After a while, when the pain is not so strong you can look back on the other stuff and see clearer, you can see all the little details that were wrong to a point where you can say ’sheesh, no wonder things ended.’ and that is what this book is about, it’s about looking back at all the things that can only leave you with one small thought: This is why we broke up.

“You could never truly see the movies in my head and that, Ed, is why we broke up.”

Why We Broke Up is specifically the story of Min, it’s her love story, but still it is so easfy to make it your own, it is so easy to connect, because we’ll all gone through it, or we will. Being heartbroken, break-ups, they’re inevitable, no matter the situation, it’s part of life and living.

“…damn it Ed, that’s not why we broke up. I love it, I miss it. This complicated thing, it’s why we stayed together.”

When I first started reading this book, I was just looking back on my relationship and thinking exactly what I was telling you ’No wonder we broke up, this is why, of course, it was obvious…’ but then I stumbled upon the quote just mentioned above ‘why we stayed together’

and it just sent me back and made me look at all the good things - because it was not all bad, there were wonderful and beautiful moments in my love story, and that’s the truth. That’s the truth for any relationship, really. I think it’s important to look back at both, the good AND the bad. it’s important to see all the missed things, the details, see what went wrong, what could have gone better.

In my case I got back with my partner, and I kinda blame this book and The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind for it - also me, of course, I made the decision to get back with my partner. (never finishing the book, by the way, I got to page 142). So I got back into my relationship only to break up a month after.

I’m not gonna say that it was a mistake, not at all - I don’t believe in regrets or anything, because at the time it felt right, but I did forget that there was a reason as to why we broke up in the first place

I love him, I will always love him - and i am not saying this in a dramatic Adele song kind of way. it’s just a simple fact, we’ve known each other for a while and that won’t go away - but there was still a reason as to why it ended, there is a reason for relationships to end; and I’m not just talking about someone saying ‘it’s over’ I’m talking about all the little things, the series of events that lead you to it. The book does a beautiful job at highlighting this, and of course I went back to finish reading it, though it took me a while

‘cause I didn’t really want to finish with it, you know? It’s like, the whole story you;ve been following Min’s thoughts, leading up to that single event where she finally breaks up with the guy. A guy we’ve never actually met, we only known him through min’s memories and the items that are somehow linked to him.

and the break up is not overly dramatic, it didn’t feel quite big - because that’s no the story, that’s not the point.

It’s about Min facing that it is over, it’s about looking back on her relationship, through 354 pages and countless objects until the point where she is finally able to feel something… that she can let it go. that she’s going to be okay.

All I can say is that this was a beautiful, real, raw and gorgeous story. The illustrations were gorgeous and they really added more to the story, making me want to turn the page to see what the next item would be. The writing style was fantastic, it really felt like being inside the head of someone - how sometimes your train of thoughts gets lost or for a moment it doesn’t make sense and you have to go back, it was wonderful. I am reading it for the second time, currently half way through and am exited to reach that last page again, to see Min reach that point of ‘I’m going to be okay’ and maybe this time I will feel it too.

10 star book, would recommend to anyone of any age.