The Catastrophic History of You and Me

I’ve been seeing this in GR and in our local bookstores since it came out but I never thought of picking it up. Maybe, it’s the title? I avoid depressing books and the title of this alone screams SADNESS in bold letters.  If it wasn’t of Maria’s list of Top Ten Books that Made Her Cry, I wouldn’t have considered reading it.  I know the list have the depressing vibe all over it but a book wouldn’t make you cry if it isn’t good, right? Okay, sometimes you’d cry for sheer frustration over an unbelievably crappy book but this case is different. Plus, it was February when I saw the list and while everyone was in their romantic element for the Love Month, I was on a bitter mood (not because I don’t have a love life or something but just because). I got the e-copy and put it in my Must Read List for 2014.

The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg

Paperback, Speak, 400 pages
YA Paranormal, Contemporary

Read from March 03 to 06, 2014

An addictively page-turning debut for fans of Before I Fall and The Fault in Our Stars

Brie is the “biggest, cheesiest, sappiest romantic” who believes that everyone will find their perfect someone, so when Jacob, the love of Brie’s life, tells her he doesn’t love her anymore, the news breaks her heart, literally, and she dies. But now that she’s D&G (dead and gone), Brie revisits the living world to discover that her family has begun to unravel and her best friend has been keeping an intimate secret about her boyfriend. Somehow, Brie must handle all of this while navigating through the five steps of grief with the help of Patrick, her mysterious bomber-jacketed guide to the afterlife. But how is she supposed to face the Ever After with a broken heart and no one to call her own?

“The debut is a fast, twisty, highly dramatic read about the turbulent nature of love.”–Romantic Times

“Rothenberg exploes what happens in the afterlife when you aren’t quite done with your life.”–San Francisco Chronicle

“The funniest, sweetest, most heartfelt, sigh-worthy and oh-so-romantic story I’ve ever read. You’ll love it!”–Cynthia Leitich Smith, New York Times bestselling author of Eternal and Blessed

Love is a piano dropped from a four-story window, and you are at the wrong place at the wrong time. – Ani DiFranco

This line. It tells everything you have to know about love and at the same time, it doesn’t. It was the reason I bought a print copy. I don’t regret getting it because The Catastrophic History of You and Me is one of my most favorite reads of 2014. It also became our office’s official travelling book since my officemates lined up to read this. I didn’t really expect to like TCHoYaM. I am not a fan of any books dealing with death, sickness, cancer, or suicide, what more the afterlife? But Rothenberg’s simple yet unique tale of loss, grief, moving on and love is so captivating I didn’t care if there’s death in the story.

Brie died because of a broken heart, literally. My heart bled a dozen times for this girl. People think that heartaches end when you die but not in Brie’s case. She has to go through the difficult process of moving on and living a life after death without her loved ones. She navigated through the five stages grief in a setting and situation I didn’t think possible. I was closed to tears every time she has to go through a stage, of the times she has to make difficult choices, and of the truth she has to find out about her family, friends and Jacob after her death. I was with her all throughout. Even though she has to make unfavorable decisions while going through the stages, (I think everyone who goes through this, at one point makes bad choices), she is still an amazing character.

The Catastrophic History of You and Me is a complex story.  Jess Rothenberg created a story of salvation, of forgiveness and sacrifice, of letting go and moving on, and of love that transcends time and death. This book left me a little sad and at the same time hopeful. I was glad Brie and Patrick got the ending they deserve. I loved the chapter titles and I’d definitely make that a playlist one day.  I’m having a hard time looking for another book to read because this book left me so emotional, it’s something that I wouldn’t forget anytime soon.

Love is no game. People cut their ears off over this stuff. People jump off the Eiffel Tower and sell all their possessions and move to Alaska to live with the grizzly bears, and then they get eaten and nobody hears them when they scream for help. That’s right. Falling in love is pretty much the same thing as being eaten alive by a grizzly bear.

Amazing: I’m mesmerized.

Other Reviews:
Mermaid Vision Books
Books and Beautiful World
TEEN IDLE

Challenge:

Book # 17 of 2014

*****
Quote: Love is a Piano Dropped — Ani DiFranco, Little Plastic Records, Righteous Babe Records, 1998
Book Cover and Blurb: Goodreads
Book Copy: Owned