Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

Description: 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. (to find out more go here)

Epic Wins:

• Min- Artsy, film-lover, and- well- different. Though her letter-style voice was hard to get use to she had a good story to tell. She saw things in a slightly different light. 
• The letter-style- I found the style to be unique. Min was writing a letter to Ed, always pulling you back to the fact that they were over. I've never read a whole story in that format.
• The smell- You can call me insane or off-my-rocker but the way a book smells matter to me. This book right here smells like a year book, heck it's pages even feel glossy like a yearbook. I find this far too awesome. *sniffs book one more time* Yep it's that good. 
• The Art- The novel is chalk full of these amazing works of art. They were of each item in the dumping box (more on that later). You turn the page and BAM an egg-cuber for your viewing pleasure!
• The box and the items therein- Imagine if your ex dumped a box loaded with little knick-knacks and paraphernalia from your time together along with a note explaining everyone of them. This is the basis of Min's story.
• The films- This slightly lost me because I didn't recognize any of them (I'm thinking they were just made up) but a YA character who can appreciate an old, black and white movie? That I can relate to. 
• I'm always cautious when approaching a novel written by a guy, in girls point of view because I have witnessed some real disasters. Luckily Handler pulled out an amazingly real girl voice (okay in the wrong context that would sound weird...). I was not disappointed. 

Epic Fail:

• The letter style- (Oh my gosh how many times am I going to mention this??) I found it hard to keep all the facts strait because it was somewhat vauge. I even had to put it down because it gave me a headache. 
• Ed Slaterton- This guy was doomed to be disliked by me. Mind you he had some great moments but he just had too many bad moments. The bad overshadowed the good completely. And that is why they broke up (okay it's not the only reason, there are like a dozen answers to that)

Overall: You can't deny your curiosity of this book, at least I couldn't. I even put it down but greedily I came back to find the answer as to why they broke up. Kudos to the author for such a good book. 


just sayin,
-Kare