Why We Broke Up

English language

Published Jan. 6, 2012 by Little, Brown.

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (4 reviews)

Sixteen-year-old Min Green writes a letter to Ed Slaterton in which she breaks up with him, documenting their relationship and how items in the accompanying box, from bottle caps to a cookbook, foretell the end.

2 editions

Review of 'Why We Broke Up' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars


This sharp, sweet first-love heartbreak story captivated me. I sat up late in bed with my hand on my chest, tears leaking out during some of the truly beautiful final passages. I remembered my semi-illiterate first love, how he drove a lowered VW book with tinted windows and the word "smoove" printed on the windshield, the secret other girlfriend on his forgotten beeper, the showdown, the unanswered phone calls.. But this absurdity is something you cannot explain to a teen, "you will look back and laugh" is patronizing and irrelevant to the grieving.
As apt as the story is in showing teen psyche, It is a story that will be loved more by adults, however it is marketed to teens. There is a strong adult voice, compassionate and knowing, but nevertheless distant, that overwhelms the teen one. The empathetic connection of adult retrospect, the pity we feel for our younger, …

Subjects

  • Souvenirs (Keepsakes)
  • Letters
  • Dating (Social customs)
  • Fiction