Review by chrysfey - Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me

chrysfey 's review for:

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki

3.5

slow-paced

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

This one was slow for me, but it did pick up about 2/3 of the way through. I was expecting it to be entertaining, with cute moments and drama. It wasn’t really any of that, although it did have a dramatic moment. Except, it seemed to be brushed aside and not given enough time to form into anything worthwhile. A lot more could’ve been done with that. In fact, this book missed out on the chance to fully discuss important topics that are brought up (like cheating on a partner). Instead, none of them are given enough attention to turn into teaching moments for young readers. The characters’ dialogues and the outcomes to these issues was kind of like the shrugging emoji reaction.

Dysfunctional and toxic relationships is an important conversation to have, especially for young people, regardless of sexual orientation. For that, I applaud this book for bringing that into light. However, I still think it could’ve been developed a lot more.

I appreciated the queer and BIPOC characters very much. My favorite character was Buddy. Although the other characters are diverse, too, they didn’t feel fleshed out to me.

Content Warning - toxic relationships, abortion

Content Warnings