The Bookish Island: The Museum of Heartbreak by Meg Leder

4/26/2018

The Museum of Heartbreak by Meg Leder | Book Review #101

The Bookish Island's Book Review:
The Museum of Heartbreak by Meg Leder

Are there spoilers?

There are some.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Title: The Museum of Heartbreak

Author: Meg Leder

.........................................................

Pages: 288

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Published: 2017

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

.........................................................

Source: I bought it.

Rating: ★★★.5

In this ode to all the things we gain and lose and gain again, seventeen-year-old Penelope Marx curates her own mini-museum to deal with all the heartbreaks of love, friendship, and growing up.

Welcome to the Museum of Heartbreak.

Well, actually, to Penelope Marx’s personal museum. The one she creates after coming face to face with the devastating, lonely-making butt-kicking phenomenon known as heartbreak.

Heartbreak comes in all forms: There’s Keats, the charmingly handsome new guy who couldn’t be more perfect for her. There’s possibly the worst person in the world, Cherisse, whose mission in life is to make Penelope miserable. There’s Penelope’s increasingly distant best friend Audrey. And then there’s Penelope’s other best friend, the equal-parts-infuriating-and-yet-somehow-amazing Eph, who has been all kinds of confusing lately.

But sometimes the biggest heartbreak of all is learning to let go of that wondrous time before you ever knew things could be broken.

The Rating:

My Review:

I started reading this not knowing what it was about except what the title suggested. Which means I thought it was about someone going trough heartbreak throughout the story. But it wasn't about that.

Its about a girl named Penelope (Pen) whose best friends Audrey and Eph start to do stuff without her. Audrey with her new friend and mean girl cliché, Cherise. And Eph with whatever new girl he was dating. So Pen starts to panic and feel betrayed. That stops when she meets new guy Keats. Which she immediately crushes on and it doesn't take long before he becomes her boyfriend. But at the same time things become complicated when Eph starts to act different with her. Meaning he starts crushing out in the open for the world to see. And things go from there.

I thought the book was great. I liked the story and most of the characters. But half way trough I thought it was too much. I mean, I knew she didn't actually like the boyfriend from the beginning. He was an a-hole. Who doesn't read 'lady novels', is way too obsessed with Kerouac, and is clearly not over his ex. But because Pen doesn't see that she stays with him for longer than necessary.

I loved Pen's family. Especially her dad. Because he had a passion for his job and dinosaurs.

I generally thought Pen was a great character, but for someone who reads Jane Austen, she was way too naïve about everything. I've never been kissed, not had a boyfriend, but I know when someone isn't worth wasting time crushing on or otherwise. And when someone is.

Also Eph was cool and great boyfriend material, but lets not forget that he never gave Pen an opening. Whenever she saw him he was flirting with one of his girls. And whenever he wanted to be with her something always got in the way.