Review: "Why We Broke Up" by Daniel Handler

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I don't know how to feel about Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler. For one, I'm happy that the young adult fiction genre has this beautifully-written novel to call its own. It comes with illustrations for every chapter, and the novel would not be complete without them.

The novel's basic premise is that the protagonist Min has broken up with her now-ex-boyfriend Ed, and is now ready to return the treasure trove of items that she has collected during their short relationship. She goes through each item and reminisces on the memories that each carries, thus the book is structured in such a way that each item gets its own illustration and chapter dedicated to it. Almost every chapter closes with the sentence, "And that, Ed, is why we broke up."

I'm happy because of the eloquence with which Min retells every memory, every story. Anyone who has been in a relationship knows that even the smallest, most insignificant items carry a rich and deep history in them. A paper napkin from the restaurant of your first date, a movie ticket from that first time you kissed in the theater, a pressed rose petal from the bouquet given on your first anniversary, and many other trinkets that would otherwise hold no meaning to anyone else. Min's retelling is beautifully bittersweet, and the reader is sucked into all these memories of a love that didn't last.

Which then makes me sad. Because from the beginning, you know that their love is doomed. After all, the title itself gives away the ending. So you find yourself joining Min in remembering why and how she loved Ed, and waiting to see how they finally fell apart. Reading this novel awakens the feelings of both first love and first heartbreak. As much as you remember how it felt to fall in love and give meaning to all these little things, you also remember how it feels to look back at a failed love and think of how you could have made it better, how you should have known better, how you should have broken it off then. And sometimes, you even question which parts of it were true and which ones were just beautifully-dressed up lies.

And that makes me angry. Because these kinds of failed relationships are true, and it sucks that they exist. And the book reminds you that they exist. So it makes me mad at the world for allowing love stories to have beautiful beginnings and tragic endings, and mad at the people who take a beautiful love for granted. If these things weren't true, the novel wouldn't resonate so well. But it does. When it shouldn't.

A friend asked me why I read it in the first place, when I'm in a happily committed relationship. I guess other people might get paranoid about the state of their own relationships, but reading this book made me all the more grateful for the love that I have, for the memories that I've collected. It brings me back to the reality that although the world is filled with these broken relationships that give birth to books like these, there also exists the kind of love that I have, the ones that triumph over all the obstacles, the ones that do make it from now until forever. So here's hoping that I never ever have to write my own story of Why We Broke Up.