by Daniel Handler
Illustrator: Maira Kalman
Published on December 27th 2011
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 354 pages
Find the title on Goodreads - Book Depository - Amazon
I'm telling you why we broke up, Ed. I'm writing it in this letter, the whole truth of why it happened.
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.
- Goodreads.com description
You either have the feeling or you don't.
This book. I don't know even where to start. And I am not entirely sure I can make it justice. This book was so beautifully written that I may have no words to describe just how much beautiful it is. I will try my best.
Min is this ordinary girl, that everyone seem to think she is different, arty. She does have a passion for old movies, but honestly I didn't think she was that different. I think I could find Min in every single girl on this planet. She was just incredible, because she was who she was. She didn't hide away in social interaction and she stayed true to herself. And I thought that was beautiful.
From the beginning of the first chapter we know, that Ed and Min are broken up. That, there will be no happy ending for them. And it didn't make the story less beautiful even for one bit. It was magical. You can see the moment when they met, the moment they fell in love and the moment it all fell apart. The book nonetheless, doesn't prepare you for the heartbreak you are going to feel. Even if you knew from the start.
Why we broke up is filled with hopes and dreams and more. It's different from other books I usually read, but it left me with emotions that are hard to forget.
You know I want to be a director, but you could never truly see the movies in my head and that, Ed, is why we broke up.
That night if felt that somehow by flicking them off the roof, the matches would burn down everything, the sparks from the tips of the flames torching the world and all the heartbroken people in it.
