Instructions for Heartbreak is a well-written book about friendship, very specifically focused on how you deal with difficult breakups.
That specific focus gives it power but also a slightly repetitive feel on occasion. It’s pinpointed at that stage of life where probably a 20-something woman breaks up with someone who was their first really big significant other.
The ‘main’ break up here is Katie and Chris, which happens right at the beginning – he finishes it because it ‘isn’t working’ essentially, and she struggles to process that. Was he unhappy? Was he cheating? What if she never knows? She turns to her three friends for help, all of whom have dealt with their own heartbreak (or caused it) in the past. Eventually they write a sort of guidebook for dealing with it: a way out of the dark.
The author weaves a story of four friends who deeply care about and rely on one another (as an awkward introvert who grew up without a gaggle of friends, it’s nice to read about but I always wonder if friendship truly exists on this level). They’re a bit self-involved and navel-gazery, as is common for that stage of life. They’re also figuring out who they are and who they want to be – which is well done. It felt authentic – and so I’d definitely return to this author again.
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