Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki

This may be because I (I’m pretty sure) have generally been in positive relationships and I’ve certainly never felt emotionally abused even when things didn’t work out. It’s a book about relationships, so there are certainly some attempts to pull at the heartstrings, but overall it didn’t connect that much with me. Not that I find that to be a problem as fiction authors are allowed to present a world that they want to live in and there is plenty of space for all kinds of views about how the world could be better. The book actually comes off as so diverse and positive (outside of a couple of the events) that I’d say it’s a bit of a rosier version of reality than actually exists. Parents presented in this book demonstrate healthy adult relationships and are caring and supportive of the decisions of their children. As a book about a queer relationship, there are a lot of secondary characters who are presented as being in different types of relationships. There’s a lot of different cultural representation, with Freddy herself being Asian American and having friends that are presented as Caucasian and African American. Freddy suffers from all these problems and more as she navigates the complexities of her romantic relationship with Laura Dean and the connections she has with her friends and other people around her. You think that no one around you can understand how you feel.

It’s hard to imagine yourself without this person or with someone else. It is impossible to be impartial about a relationship that you are in. All of Freddy’s friends try to tell her that she can do better than Laura, but Freddy suffers from the same relationship pitfalls that we’re all vulnerable to. Freddy thinks that Laura Dean is better than her and is just happy to take whatever scraps of affection she can get.

The book provides an extensive look at what a toxic relationship is like.

Laura Dean is with Freddy whenever it’s convenient for her to be and breaks up with Freddy whenever she feels like it, repeatedly. The main character, Freddy, is infatuated with Laura Dean, but this is not an equal relationship. “ Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me” is one of those books that tells you pretty much everything that it’s about in the title.

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki