[Exclusive Review] Break Up With Her! : A Review of Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Jazmine Joyner (Patreon)

Mariko Tamaki (Writer), Rosemary Valero-O’Connell (Illustrator)
First Second, Release Date: May 7, 2019

Laura Dean is the coolest girl in school, and she can have any girl she wants, but she chose Freddie to be hers. Freddie is head over heels in love with Laura, but there’s one challenge in their relationship: Laura Dean keeps breaking up with her! Freddie is soon at her wit's end, writing letters to a relationship column called Anna Vice, and even visiting the mysterious medium Seek-Her who tells Freddie to “Break up with her.” She finds it much easier said than done. Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell’s book Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me follows Fredrica Riley as she navigates heartbreak and the battlefield of toxic relationships, all while trying to hold onto (but sometimes failing) her friends. 

Toxic relationships are at the heart of this graphic novel, and Tamaki does a beautiful job showing us Freddie’s internal struggles with Laura’s constant distance and dismissals. The Anne Vice column letters are an excellent tool for the reader, showing how Freddie copes over time and giving us a full view of Laura’s toxic behaviors. The letters even shed light on Freddie’s burgeoning toxicity with those around her. Freddie is caught trying to get Laura to fully commit, so much so that she loses any sense of herself. She is completely wrapped up in trying to figure out what Laura is doing and where she is to the point where she no longer sees or cares about the people around her.  

Tamaki showcases Freddie's obsession with the dialogue between Freddie and her friend group of Buddy, Eric, and especially Doodle, her best friend. Freddie is often disinterested and even flippant with Doodle, ignoring her friend's attempts to help her or even Doodle’s attempts to talk to her. Tamaki captured these moments perfectly, you can feel Doodle’s growing frustration with every encounter with Freddie, and at the same time, Freddie's desperation peaking as she gets nowhere with Laura. It all builds wonderfully creating tension I don’t often feel when reading a graphic novel. 

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me is a masterclass on first love—the ups, downs, and everything in-between. It not only follows Freddie and Laura Dean’s relationship, but also Buddy and Eric, who, in Freddie’s eyes, are the perfect couple, and even chronicles Doodle's mishaps in dating. The depiction of her parents’ caring and seasoned relationship, the new honeymoon phase of her friends, and also the multiple relationships Laura Dean dips into while still claiming to be with Freddie all become a part of Freddie’s education in how she wants to experience love with another person. Tamaki weaves in a spectrum of experiences and relationships around Freddie that create an interesting reflection of what she is going through with Laura Dean. 

One of my favorite parts of this book is how Tamaki depicts the lives of these queer teens. It’s not an earth-shattering, book-defining plot point but just a fact: they are queer. While that is radical all on its own, she also doesn’t sugar coat it or hide the hard stuff. For example, Buddy gets in trouble during PE for defending himself from a homophobic classmate. It happens quickly, but it’s there. But Tamaki also doesn’t make being queer their defining personality trait, and the matter-of-fact tone in which queer identities are depicted in this graphic novel is refreshing. 

I can’t talk about how amazing this story is without waxing poetically about Rosemary Valero-O’Connell’s beautiful art. The life Valero-O’Connell brings to the page is visceral; you can feel the warm air when Freddie and her friends are out eating lunch on the steps of their school. You can see the sadness in Doodle’s eyes when she looks at Freddie, hoping that her friend will notice she’s hurting. Her art leaps off the page and flows panel to panel effortlessly. 

When reading Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me I was taken aback by the backgrounds—how comfy and lived in each space felt. Freddie’s room is littered with her Greek chorus of patchwork stuffed animals, snacks, and the general mess you find in a teenager’s room, and it felt like an extension of her character and not just a setting. But Valero-O’Connell’s lack of backgrounds should also be noted; some panels where characters are just walking around or sitting quietly, surrounded by lush plants and heavy shadows. In poignant emotional moments, Valero-O’Connell leaves the panel empty, just the character standing in infinite space. This amplifies the emotion in each scene she uses it in and often heightens the feeling of vulnerability of the character. 

The panel flow of Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me is phenomenal; the art flows in and out of the panels and creates a clean transition from word bubble to bubble, and page to page. Valero-O’Connell’s art is cinematic, while still being cozy, and her character designs are enchanting. Freddie’s shiny hair looks like an inky liquid streaming down her back, her unique, comfy but cute style shines through in every panel—while Laura Dean is the definition of “too cool for school” with her seemingly effortless style, and stylish hair cut. Rosemary Valero-O’Connell’s art in Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me radiates. 

Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell are a perfect match. Both of their work on Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me has culminated in a marvel of a graphic novel that I honestly can’t stop re-reading. I urge you all to visit your local comic book shop or bookstore and pick up this excellent book full of love, heartbreak, and friendship.