So I just came back from vacation and while I was there I needed a chick lit book to read. Don't we all? Especially when going somewhere warm and sunny, like I was. As per usual when I needed inspiration for what to read, I went to consult my friends. By which I mean I went on Youtube and looked up some of my favorite BookTubers. Let me step back and explain who these people are.
BookTubers are people who film videos and talk about books. So basically, if instead of writing this blog, I filmed myself speaking, I would be a BookTuber. I personally like Carrie H Fletcher, who also does other styles of videos, not just books, and Sanne, who primarily talks about books and whose videos I really like. I will link them below.
Anyway, Carrie made a video a while back listing books she wanted to read for an online book club and Why We Broke Up was among them, I believe. It sounded intriguing and a good vacation book, so I got it on my Kindle. I started reading on the plane and finished within the next two days.
The book is the story of Min (short for Minerva, Roman goddess of wisdom, as she will explain whenever she introduces herself), a junior in high school who enjoys classic movies and good coffee. She has a group of cool, hipster friends (I mean that in the least negative light). Then one day, Ed and his group of popular-jock-basketball-playing friends crash her friend Al's birthday party. The Ed. The handsome, popular, envied Ed. And who should catch his eye but Min. Thus begins a doomed love story between a popular jock who secretly really likes math, and an arty (she hates the term) aspiring movie director who do not have much in common but a mutual attraction. The book is the letter than Min is going to leave in the box of things that remind her of Ed that she is going to leave on his doorstep as final good-bye.
I enjoyed this book a lot because it deals with the very real boundaries between different social groups. Min's friends are taken aback that she is dating a jock, and Ed's friends just don't understand why he is suddenly dating a girl who has no interest in sports and wild parties on the football field. I know that, and I feel like I say this a lot, adults like to believe that there are no cliques in high school. Well, let me tell you, there are, and while the rules aren't written, they are very much present. This book transcended those boundaries and ultimately showed what happens when two worlds collide. The way I say it makes it sound depressing and upsetting, but it's very well handled and truthful.
I also like the characters. Min is whimsical. She can self-lament a lot, but I really do like her. She's funny, sarcastic and despite how smart she is, can be clueless. Ed however doesn't have very much depth, but then again, he was written in a perfect light, as Min saw him. Which was interesting if not very realistic.
And now possibly my favorite part of the book. It was written by Daniel Handler. I did not know until I read the author's biography (I usually do, okay, I think it's interesting) that he is in fact Lemony Snicket, the author of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Lemony Snicket is his pseudonym, but Daniel Handler is his real name. I suppose if I read it again, Why We Broke Up would have a similar (maybe less child-ish) style than A Series of Unfortunate Events did. I loved that series, and I loved the writing in this book. I know some people get very annoyed with run-on sentences, which Min does tend to use, but hey, I like them a lot.
In conclusion, very good book. I recommend this as a good beach/poolside read. Not too much thinking is involved. However, I would say maybe 14 and up. If you've read Perks of Being A Wallflower you should be fine, but just so you know... stuff happens. Not in detail, but it is heavily implied.
As for the BookTubers, here they are:
Carrie is here.
Sanne is here.
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