cover image It's Not Me, It's You: The Ultimate Breakup Book

It's Not Me, It's You: The Ultimate Breakup Book

Anna Jane Grossman, Flint Wainess. Da Capo Press, $18 (232pp) ISBN 978-0-7382-1051-3

Operating under the premise that breaking up is an art form ""like synchronized swimming,"" lifestyle reporter Grossman's and television writer Wainess's book cajoles readers to efficiently dump their lame not-so-significant others and proffers up strategies for surviving the aftermath, but the authors are less interested in helping readers than in trying to entertain them. The quizzes, charts, tables, graphs, ""breakup trees"" and myth-busting lists that populate this book offer little in the way of guidance, instead relying on juvenile humor (on breakup sex: ""Ohhh baby, is this hot""; on surviving getting dumped: ""just decide your ex is an uber-villain,"" but ""don't...burn down your ex's house"") that distracts from the book's breakup philosophy: know what you want to do, then do it, firmly. Readers looking for lessons on the art of the breakup will find little substance here, but the authors' relentless joking, though certainly not for everyone, may appeal to readers looking for a way to while away lonely evenings.