This weekend I read both What Boys Really Want by Pete Hautman and Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman. Two initial comments: What Boys Really Want was not as good as The Big Crunch, which I loved! and Why We Broke Up was blissfully devoid of all Lemony Snicket type snarkiness.
What Boys Really Want is not so much a love story, though it does have romance. And it is not really a romance, though it is about what boys really want, and girls too for that matter. It is not however a guide to boys, though that is what one of the main characters, Adam, spends his time writing, revising (an element that makes happy the heart of this former English teacher) marketing, selling, book partying, and rewriting. Interwoven through the narrative are snippets of his book, some of which will make even grown women say, "Oooohhhh, so that's why they do that." Lita is Adam's best friend who is interested in writing herself and is none too pleased that Adam has stolen her thunder. Along with all this, both Adam and Lita are finding romance with Blair and Brett respectively and figuring out how that will fit into their frienship. It was a good story, interesting premise, not particularly predictable but lacked the zing of The Big Crunch.
Why We Broke Up is about breaking up. And throughout the whole thing I was grateful that my brain does not allow me to remember what it was like to be a teenager in love, or not much anyway. We'd all be miserable all the time if we had to suffer through those memories. It is not easy to go through it with Min. The book is a walk through Min's relationship with Ed, that we know is doomed. Those of us with years of wisdom can also see what will doom it coming a mile away. The sad part is that Min does not see it. The book is her letter to Ed as she returns a box of all the detritus of their relationship, the ticket stubs, matchbooks, and other goofy stuff only a teen in love would keep and then spend weeks weeping over after it is all over. The thing about this book, it is sad, I like Min and do not like seeing her hurt, but it is clear throughout the novel she is going to be fine. She learns boys can be jerks, but understands not all are. So it is sad, but also not sad.