Skip to main content

THE CATASTROPHIC HISTORY OF YOU AND ME by Jess Rothenberg


copyright date: February 2012
primarily marketed for: (a mature) 12 and up

Ever wonder what becomes of the broken hearted?  Read the Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg to find out. 

Aubrie, or Brie as she referred to by friends, heard the words she never wanted to hear from her boyfriend: I don’t love you.  Moments later she was dead.  Her heart had literally split in two.  She died of acute broken heart syndrome. 

Her story picks up after Brie’s death and follows her journey towards acceptance and, ultimately, peace.  Along the way, she meets a host of interesting characters—including Patrick, her sarcastic guide, who looks like he is ready to attend a costume party dressed as Tom Cruise from Top Gun.  Brie also learns more than she ever thought she might about her family, her ex-boyfriend and the best friends she left behind.  She even discovers she might not be the Brie she always thought she was.   

In addition to an intriguing plot (who doesn’t love a book that starts with death?), this book is laced with sarcastic humor, quirky 80s references, and oodles of cheese jokes.  To add to the quirky charm, each chapter title is a line from a different song about hearts and/or love. 

While this is not the book to read if you want thorough explanation of the afterlife world Rothenberg has created, or if you want a standard plot line leading to a typical climax, it is an entertaining story that ends up carrying off deeper ideas than the story and characters initially promise.  The rules and circumstances of Brie’s post-life are provided to readers on a need to know basis, and as a reader that suited me just fine. 

Brie is a likeable character with whom I enjoyed hanging out, even when she was more upset about losing her boyfriend than losing her life.  I was rooting for her from page one, where she reeled me quickly into her story by nailing teenage girl angst.  If sarcastic dead teen girl angst is your thing, then The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg is the book for you. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ONE FOR THE MURPHYS by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

copyright date: May 2012 primarily marketed for: intermediate readers (5 th grade and up) I sort of expected One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt to be one of those overly sappy books with unrealistic, sickeningly sweet characters.  However, although the storyline might make it sound sappy, the characters are realistic and dynamic.  After a traumatic incident that lands both she and her mother in the hospital, Carley Connors is taken away and placed in foster care with the Murphy family.  The only life Carley has known is one of put-downs, food scraps, and shopping for clothes in Salvation Army drop boxes.  Until she meets the Murphys.  The Murphys are too good to be true: Julia, the mom, happily makes home-cooked meals for her three boys and firefighting, sports-loving husband.  In fact, Julia isn’t even rattled by Carley’s rough around the edges attitude.  At first, Carley despises the Murphys and the way they make he...
4 comments
Read more

THE LITTLE PRINCE by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

copyright date: 1943 primarily marketed for: everyone The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint- Exupéry was a reread for me.   I read this book for the first time when I was in high school.   All I remembered about it was that I expected it to be too complex for me to understand, and I was surprised when at its charming simplicity.   I always remember feeling like I had a special place in my heart for The Little Prince , but I didn’t remember exactly why. It was written so long ago and is translated from French that it is no wonder I first expected to find its meaning elusive.   However, I am sure that if you pick up this book, it will nestle itself into a special place in your heart as well. Simply, The Little Prince is the story of a clever man who has never lost the child inside of himself and finds himself stranded in the desert after a plan crash.   In the desert, he happens upon the little prince who is traveling to earth from his d...
4 comments
Read more

ALL THESE THINGS I’VE DONE by Gabrielle Zevin

copyright date: September 2011 primarily marketed for: young adults (8 th grade and up) I wish I would’ve known this was the beginning of a series before I started this book.   Then again, I might never have picked it up if I thought I might be committing to multiple books… At any rate, this is not a story I will be sad to return to this fall when the sequel is released.   Anya’s story takes place in New York City, in the future.   Around the time you will be old enough to be grandparents. This is a sort of post-apocalyptic, dystopian kind of book in a mild way.   Basically, the United States has self-destructed, and yet life seems to go surprisingly similar to the way we live nowadays.   Except that water and paper are costly and hard to come by.   Chocolate is prohibited.   Caffeine is an illegal drug.   Which is all to say that the setting alone is intriguing. Add to that setting, the fact that Anya is the oldest daughter of the ...
3 comments
Read more