I needed a new audiobook. I can’t concentrate to read a real book. Browsing the public library offerings, I decided that I wanted to find something in the humor category. The author Daniel Handler caught my eye. Handler is also known as Lemony Snicket of the A Series of Unfortunate Events series of which I enjoyed.
Why We Broke Up is told by a sixteen year old girl in the form of a letter being written to her boyfriend of 6 weeks. She has gathered all of the items that she accumulated in the short relationship and is putting them one by one into a cardboard box which she is going to leave on his doorstep. With each item she places in the box, she tells the story about how it came to be in her possession, what part of the relationship it signified and how it contributed to why they broke up.
Since this was an audiobook, I got to hear each item as it was thrown into the box as well as the rustling of the next item that the protagonist would launch into describing. The audiobook came with a pdf download of illustrations of each item that was thrown into the box e.g. bottle caps, movie ticket stubs, a stolen sugar container. Each drawing was lovely and added to the story.
I like when an author creates a complete fictional “universe” and talks about it as if we of course understand and are part of that universe. The protagonist was a film buff and repeatedly referenced movies and actors to illuminate a point or make comparisons to real life. But none of the references were real so there is slight confusion and bewilderment in thinking “do I know that movie?”
A pithy, quick, teen tale. Exactly what I needed.
