Ilana's Reviews > Why We Broke Up

In this ode to first love and its aftermath, Daniel Handler—aka Lemony Snicket—pairs up with his friend, illustrator Maira Kalman to tell the story of modern love gone awry. Min (for Minerva) Green is known as an "arty" girl, who hangs out with equally arty friends and has a passion for old films. One day as they are celebrating her best friend's "Bitter Sixteen", jocks Ed Slatherton and his buddy come crashing the party. Min can't refuse a date from Ed, the very handsome co-captain of the basketball team whom she would never have imagined would have ever set eyes on her. Her friends disapprove and his friends can't understand what he sees in her, but Ed claims he likes her being "different". Min brings Ed to the repertory cinema to see old movies (all convincingly made up by Handler), and though Ed doesn't really get it, he's willing to play along when Min decides they must throw and 89th birthday party for her favourite film star.

The story is told by Min in a letter to Ed following their disastrous breakup. This is no Hallmark romance story, and these kids are dealing with real issues which include numerous gorgeous ex-girlfriends and sex as a foregone conclusion. With her letter, Min is returning a box of memorabilia to him, filled with items she's collected over their brief romance, from movie stubs to elastic bands, rose petals, beer caps, a dish towel, and more which Kalman has illustrated throughout the book. An interesting way to present a story we're all familiar with and which inevitably brings us back to our own first romantic experiences and crushing disappointments. I don't know that I'd want to have my teenage daughter reading this book considering the sexual content (Min and Ed have frequent "everything but" make-out sessions before she surrenders her virginity to him), but it might be a good way to open up a conversation about self-respect, being different and how to handle pressure to have sex. —From April 2012