The Break-Up Artist

The Break-Up Artist by Philip Siegel is a good contemporary book to read when you are in the mood for something simple and heartwarming. The concept he had for this book was really interesting and different than anything else because who breaks people up for money? Usually you hear of the Love Doctor.

The main character, Rebecca or Becca, is a normal girl at school that has a deep hatred toward love and is willing to help break people up in her school... for a hundred dollars via PayPal. Becca does a good amount of research when it comes to needing to know about the couple and their history. She looks into the rumors throughout their relationship and their past relationships. She has a best friend that is the complete opposite though. Val loves the idea of having a boyfriend and the idea of love. She goes through a lot to try and get this boy she has had an eye on but she does this type of extreme for all the boys that catch her eye.

Becca has been given the big task of breaking up her former friend and her boyfriend. At first, it isn't hard because she has hurt her in the past for the exact reason she wanted to break people up... because they have blown off their friends that they already have for their new boyfriend.

Throughout the entire book, most of Becca's time is taken from trying to break up Huxley and Steve. As this goes on though, Becca starts to become friends with Huxley again and starts to reconsider breaking the two of them up. There is a lot of conflict because she doesn't know then entire story behind their relationship.

Even though this book revolves around relationships and their ups and downs... it really shows the theme of true friendship the most. Relationships don't last forever but you will always have your friends that are there for you. Becca has to deal with many different themes in this book when it comes to faith, honesty, and friendship. Once everything is said and done, she still need to be there for her friends and help them out.

I quite enjoyed this book because it was an easy read and the concept of a break up artist was really interesting to me. If you are in the mood for a good contemporary with some self discovering and friendship then you should pick this book up.

Full review to come, but some quick highlights: Offensive, antifeminist, ridiculous, hypocritical, and ultimately disappointing.