Freddy Riley is lucky. She’s going out with popular Laura Dean. Freddy’s got good friends who are understanding when she’s required by Laura to run off at a moment’s notice, or go over to her house. And Freddy’s most okay with it, but she really hates that Laura breaks up with her, then they get back together then she breaks them up again.

And the thing is, Freddy’s friends aren’t actually okay with Laura Dean’s behavior. In fact, it’s pretty obvious to them that Laura Dean is jerking Freddy around. They are there when she needs them, but.

Freddy’s not all that okay with it, either, to be honest, but she cannot see her way out of the cycle. And in the meantime, she’s not there when her friends need her.

The configuration of the relationship is never the problem. The nature of the relationship is the problem. But when tables turn and Freddy learns that her absence has made a difference, she also manages to find it in herself to be non-judgey. And, eventually to deal with the problem in her relationship with Laura Dean which, of course, is Laura Dean.

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me is an honest, unpretentious and non-judgemental book about being a high school student in the real world. And I think, if a lit teacher is out there still teaching Rumble Fish or, gods help us, A Separate Peace, then there is no excuse for not reading this book as part of the curriculum. I’d suggest this to any Freshman high school teacher. (Knowing full well that some schools would still have a kitten with such an openly queer story and other YA lit themes.)

Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell do a smashing job of nailing tone and feel of high school life and an equally excellent job of taking a look at a queer kid’s life and love without it being a coming out drama. Art, narrative flow and voice are all spot on. Grey, black, white and pink as a color scheme has now become a staple for “emotional drama” in my head. ^_^The visuals are strong, the characters are well-defined and the situations felt exactly the same density of the problems I dealt with at that age.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – Urm, well, this is a tough one. Not sure I’d want any of them over except Dodo, who seems the right kind of dorky. But they are well-done, so let’s say 7
Service – 1?
LGBTQ – 10

Overall – 9

I also want to shout out to the one adult in the story who nails the problem and the solution earlyish in the books. Freddy still had to take her time to get there, but yay for adult experience. As an adult reading this book, you’re also likely to know what the solution to Freddy’s problem is before a few pages have passed, but that is not the story. The story is watching Freddy get there.