"I'm dumping the whole box back into your life, Ed, every item of you and me. I'm dumping this box on your porch, Ed, but it is you, Ed, who is getting dumped," (Handler pg. 4, 2012). Min and Ed are over. She's returning his stuff, and rehashing their short lived romance in a long (read: novel length) letter. Sure, there were good times, but even the good times had moments that almost predicted the outcome. At least it looks that way now.Min remembers the night of the party when Ed showed up out of nowhere. What was a big basketball star like him doing at a drama kids party? Two fated orbits intersecting, they came crashing together. They are from different worlds, but that is part of the fun right? Ed always did say that she was "different," even if the word sounds bitter in her mouth now. It was fresh and new, and she took him to her favorite art film theater. They saw a woman who looked like she could be the actress in the movie, years later.
They hatch a plan to throw her a birthday party, two months from now. They start planning the menu, scheming about how to make it special. She introduces him to coffee, "the life-giving brew." He introduces her to basketball, and she gets a thrill when she finds a banner waiting in her locker on game day.
When she tries to bring him into her circle of friends, there is tension...even dislike. She can tell that her best friend doesn't like him, even if he insists that he "has no opinion." But they don't see him like she does, Ed didn't mean to push all the wrong buttons. Meeting Ed's sister is a thrill. She offers Min an old Film Studies book from college, and turns her on to Hawk Davies. It seems obvious now, looking back.
Ed doesn't push her to have sex, well, not really...but Min feels the urging anyway. When she thinks now about how she gave that part of her to him, all the anger and hurt rises up. That's why they broke up, she thinks, because he never realized how big of a deal it was for her. And that day in the flower shop when it all fell apart, when he threw that word in her face that he had always used so kindly and excitedly, "different" just sounds hateful now.
This box is full of all the things that represent their relationship, and she's giving it back. She's moving on to bigger and better things, and letting go of all the past hurts and triumphs. Handler (also known as Lemony Snicket in some circles) taps into that most fundamental ache of the end of a romance. Illustrated beautifully by Kalman, the two mediums combine to weave a story of looking back at how it all went wrong. It will dredge up moments from your past (or present) that have a similar feel, and remind you of how much such a short amount of time together can hurt when it's over. Highly recommended for anyone who has had their heart broken.
If you liked this, check out:
Handler, Daniel, & Kalman, Maira. (2011). Why We Broke Up. New York: Little, Brown.
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