Katie Zhao

How We Fall Apart

migs

kelsey

the plot of this book made no goddamn sense

anya

In a YA thriller that is Crazy Rich Asians meets One of Us is Lying, students at an elite prep school are forced to confront their secrets when their ex-best friend turns up dead. Nancy Luo is shocked when her former best friend, Jamie Ruan, top-ranked junior at Sinclair Prep, goes missing, and then is found dead. Nancy is even more shocked when word starts to spread that she and her friends--Krystal, Akil, and Alexander--are the prime suspects, thanks to "the Proctor," someone anonymously incriminating them via the school's social media app. They all used to be Jamie's closest friends, and she knew each of their deepest, darkest secrets. Now, somehow the Proctor knows them, too. The four must uncover the true killer before The Proctor exposes more than they can bear and costs them more than they can afford, like Nancy's full scholarship. Soon, Nancy suspects that her friends may be keeping secrets from her, too. Katie Zhao's YA debut is an edge-of-your-seat drama set in the pressure-cooker world of academics and image at Sinclair Prep, where the past threatens the future these teens have carefully crafted for themselves. How We Fall Apart is the irresistible, addicting, Asian-American recast of Gossip Girl that we've all been waiting for.

fatru tamzil

I do agree with Nancy, sometimes you just have to burn an institution to the ground.

Great discussion on mental health academic toll, the toll of having to be perfect, and the strive to maintain that.

Everyone is vengeful and honestly? I don't blame them. Academia is all to blame.

nuélle

[2.75/5] 
you know those shows that are bad but you still watch them because for some reason you (kinda) like watching it and it's weirdly entertaining? that's exactly how this book is like

brianna

The “Proctor” was kinda obvious to me, I think it was a good book, but not the best book ever 

amelia <3

Emmeline Kössel

Unexpected ending, but otherwise the plot was good. The style of writing is not quite mine though.

Chelsea van Rer

2.49
i figured out who the proctor was on page 16, before the words 'the proctor' were even used. granted i didnt guess who they really were, but when i found out i wasnt shocked because i hadnt been invested because not enough information was given. just enough for it to be annoying not to know, not enough to figure it out or feel shocked by the outcome.
this book is pitched as one of us is lying meets crazy rich asians. i havent read either of them, but i know the plot of one of us is lying and ive seen the movie of crazy rich asians, so id say its very accurate. however, i would also like to add pretty little liars (at least the tv show, idk about the books) to that. this book has the plot and characters of one of us is lying and pretty little liars combined, just if they were crazy and rich and asian. its not a clever and original blend of these books like red queen is pretty original and clever blend of graceling, the hunger games, and the selection. at least while reading red queen i could enjoy it for what it was, even if it wasnt the greatest book ive ever read. while reading this, i couldnt stop thinking about its similarities to pretty little liars especially, but also the other two.
despite the entire unoriginality of this book, ill still probably read the sequel. id like to see where it goes. i wonder if it will also be entirely unoriginal.

Lillian

Did I love this book…can’t say that I did. It was fun ig I might write something more detailed after I let it marinate

mighty dragon 

** spoiler alert **
           tw: abuse, self-harm, violence, parental neglect, panic attacks, drug use, mental illness, an inappropriate student/teacher relationship, racism, grooming, and suicidal thoughts.

a murder mystery where i dislike the murder mystery.

i've always thought this is how dark academia supposed to be: students trying to rip each other off to stay at the top. ambitious, deadly, power-hungry students. with poc characters, specifically asian characters, it fits so well.

so that's one of the few things i like about it.

i remember scrolling twitter and saw a tweet about this book, being pitched as a thrilling murder mystery set in private school with asian characters. cool! i'm in! been a while since the last time i read ya murder mystery.

i guess my expectations went too high. this book was good, not for the mystery though. it was... easy to follow, way too easy. had a guess about the one who did it and even though it turned out i was wrong, the real killer's revelation feels way too farfetched. i guess that supposed to be a twist, but it failed on me.

i also don't really dig on the writing style, but it was easy to read. if it wasn't for school works, i think i can finish it in one sitting. it's not exactly page-turner, i wasn't curious on who did it, but it's the kind of book that made you just... forgot about time. like i blinked and then i'm already on chapter ten.

(spoiler)
now, another thing i like about it is the portrayal of someone who's being groomed. the tricks, the manipulation, the effects he had on nancy was on point, i think. how other characters saw their relationship as merely something forbidden, without paying much attention to how it's not easy for nancy to really let herself out of his grip.
(end of spoiler)

i also like how the main character is being... human. i think this is what people call as morally grey character, but i saw nancy just being human. who has ambition, who will do everything to achieve it. and it stayed until the end.

anyways, overall it was a pretty nice read. i'm guessing there will be a sequel.

Campbell Berry

I loved how fast paced this book was and the plot was definitely thrilling. I did have an issue with how cliche some parts were and how the mystery ended, there were no hints dropped at all about who the person could be!

Virág 

I have been waiting impatiently for this day. The first time I heard of this book I was way too excited, and I couldn't wait until I could finally read it.

This book was amazing, I have been trying to solve a murder during all the time, and I got a twist in the end that totally surprised me.

If you are here for a beautifully written book, which has multiple overachieving students, who are not that amazing at keeping secrets, this is your place.

Read this book if you want to have a look into a life of four teenagers at the best private school Sinclair Prep. 
I am proud to say that I was part of Sinclair Prep, so you have to listen to me when I say "study hard, betray harder"

i'm a sucker for highschool murder mystery books, so i was expecting to like this book as well, and i did end up really enjoying it.
i really liked how the past of the narrator and the school was revealed over time throughout the book, so more layers kept on being added to the story, but it did feel like i could kind of guess some of the mystery. nevertheless, it got me hooked right away, and i ended up not wanting to put it down.

CN. Holly

2.5 out of 5 stars, this book was a one day book, nay... a 10hr book. I finished this in a 12hr shift at work and finished with enough spare time to contemplate whether or not I just got slapped with deja-vu or at least I understand what Olivia Rodrigo was talking about in her song, Let Me Explain....

(spoilers...)

Have you ever watched Pretty Little Liars or better yet read the books as a teenager? Well I did, and spoiler alert, this felt like the Asian-American version. Pretty Good writing don't get me wrong and even a great book for young adult readers but if you likes Pretty Little Liars or were even obsessed with it as a teenager, you'll love this book. I however did not care for it only because I felt as though it was taking the story from that and just putting in different diverse characters. Didn't blend well for me. 

Everything felt rushed in the book, there was no character development whatsoever. The characters weren't well liked to begin with, as someone who took those AP classes and was that "smart girl who needed to be good", I felt like I was back in high-school, and just no thanks. This book is is there were five?(i think there were like five friends?) Five Spencer Hastings going to a private high school where the private high school had their own personal 'whisper' app or tumblr anonymous.  

If you are a middle schooler, this book is for you because in middle school I read and loved the Pretty Little Liars books and absolutely adored them. I'm pretty sure if I reread those books today i would be highly annoyed with myself. HOWEVER, PLL actually had some good writing, this just felt so unthought of, and just the ending?? I have questions, like 'why was that even the ending??? like what??? 

Overall- if your a preteen or even a teenager, you'll probably enjoy this. If you're a young adult or older? probably not, I'm not too annoyed at this book because I finished it in less than 10 hrs (that one book by Ellen Hopkins I'm glaring at you, that was 600+ pages of bs) 

Julija M

2 ⭐? 2.5? I have no idea
Dear God this read like a wattpad fanfic. I don't even know why I finished it.

jam 🍯

I rarely leave one star reviews because I DNF books this bad. Characters do not grow through the course of the story, the climax doesn't match the established stakes, and there's a lot of internalized racism and unresolved trauma that goes unflagged and played as normal.

I'm Asian American and went to a hyper competitive, majority Asian (albeit public, not private) high school. This book doesn't reflect that experience in the slightest -- take that however you'd like.

Rania Singla

3.5 stars

the writing wasn’t really for me. and I didn’t understand that ending so if someone could help me out i would appreciate it. it was definitely a fast-paced mystery which i enjoyed but it could have gone much better in my opinion.

Alice

I'm so sad, I had such high expectations for this one! Still, not the best execution, and off in some aspects, but pleasantly fast and intriguing. 

How We Fall Apart started in a great way, immediately pulling me in. I was barely 10% in when I told my sister she should read it. (We’re watching the One of Us Is Lying series together and loving the suspense.)

However, a school director would never admit to investigate into an homicide so openly. It was the first thing that broke the spell for me.

Characters

I disliked every character, even the ones meant to be likeable. They lacked depth and seemed quite shallow for being the brightest students of their age.

The worst one was perhaps the main character, Nancy. She came across as selfish and whiny, obnoxious, and the whole book was told from her POV, so that didn’t arrange things. And Nancy was sooo oblivious when things were sooo obvious (view spoiler)[(things in question mostly being Alexander) (hide spoiler)], it was a bit frustrating.

Pacing and Mood

The pace is quick, but maybe too quick. Events felt rushed, sometimes I got to the end of chapters disoriented, as if I’d blinked and missed something.

Also, the secrets came out awfully fast. There wasn’t time to recover from the last one out that another one was already released.

This somewhat affected the mood, and the tension suffered from it too. 

However, I will always appreciate a book that keeps you guessing and doesn’t let the intrigue down, and we do get some suspense with this one. 

(Suspense that could have been strengthened if the book had been a little longer, but one can’t have everything.)

Writing

I’ve never been a fan of mysteries written in first person, and I’m sorry to say this isn’t the book that will change my mind.

The whole felt like a young YA read, if it makes sense. If it weren’t for the death and some complex topics mentioned, I’d even say it’s more a middle-grade read that a YA one.

I’m aware that this is a highly subjective matter because everyone has different preferences (e.g., I liked the writing in 
  House of Hollow
 when most people found it repetitive), but for what it’s worth, I found the writing itself agreeable. 

There was unfortunately a lot of telling instead of showing.

Plot

I couldn’t stop thinking through the whole book how similar How We Fall Apart is to One of Us Is Lying (mass texting the whole school, one dead and four suspects, secrets to hide, etc.)

It could be a good hangover killer.

The plot itself was pretty interesting at first, even if it dangled on the dramatic side in the middle and went completely bonkers by the end. A lot of the drama was unnecessary or unjustified, and the seriousness of the story took the toll of it.

And the romance knocked the rating from a 2.5 rounded up to a 2.

Topics Discussed

Here’s a message by the author on what this book means to her and how she shared important topics within its pages.

If You Liked It, You Might Like

- 
  One of Us Is Lying
 (perhaps the series more than the book)
- 
  Control Z

cossette

trigger warnings: abuse, self-harm, violence, parental neglect, panic attacks, drug use, mental illness, a student/teacher relationship, racism, suicidal thoughts, murder, blackmail, fire, suicide, death of a friend

I had the highest of hopes for How We Fall Apart. After all, a dark academia book with a primarily Asian cast that addressed hyper-competitive school environments, strict upbringings, racial identity, the model minority myth, and immigrant success? Those were things I knew all too well. I so badly wanted to like this book, but it just fell so flat for me. I’m not sure if my expectations were simply too high, or if I simply couldn’t connect with How We Fall Apart.

Pitched as One of Us is Lying meets Crazy Rich Asians, and for fans of Gossip Girl, How We Fall Apart follows Nancy Luo, Akil, Alexander, and Krystal shortly after the disappearance — and murder — of their former best friend, Jamie Ruan. When someone named “The Proctor” starts threatening them and leaking their secrets on the school’s social media app, Tip Tap, the four band together once again to uncover who The Proctor truly is, and before all their secrets are revealed. 

Prior to her death, Jamie Ruan was the girl everybody wanted to be. Top of her class, and with enough money that nothing could ever touch her — or at least, that’s how it appeared to be. She’s mean, classist, and just straight up cruel, in a way that had me questioning why and how she even had friends. It seemed like everyone was just scared of being on her bad side, but I really was just so confused. In fact, I wrote “how are they best friends when they all hate her?!?!?!” in my notes while reading it. Unfortunately, a lot of Jamie’s behavior seemed to retroactively be addressed by saying she had her own issues, and challenges with her mental health. Which isn’t an excuse — you can have things going on, you can have bad mental health days, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to take it out on the people around you, nor does it give you an excuse to be classist and just awful. I also wasn’t entirely sure how the quintet all became friends in the first place, and would’ve liked more backstory. 

In all honesty, I found the characters pretty unlikable. I wanted more depth from them, more character development, and we didn’t get any of that. It felt like these life-changing secrets were being dropped, and instead of feeling guilty or any sort of remorse about what had happened, they were more concerned about how this would affect their reputation and the way they were perceived. These secrets also just didn’t really make sense? I was surprised at how quickly these bombshells were dropped, and then everyone just moved on past it, despite the gravity of these secrets. I really had to suspend a lot of disbelief to keep reading. 

Speaking of things I had to suspend disbelief for, I was really shocked that all four characters, who weren’t really friends anymore, could rejoin and reunite so quickly. But even more so, I was shocked that all four characters, who came from varying classes and cultures, would all respond to being accused of murder in the same way. How We Fall Apart fell flat for me in many ways, but the most disappointing one was the lack of nuance. Everything felt very superficial, particularly the topics I looked forward to the most: the discussions of the model minority myth, the myth of the American dream, the discussions of mental health… everything. 

As someone who also went to an incredibly competitive high school, I’m all too familiar with how that affects your mental health, and how that intersects within Asian immigrant culture. Had the characters (particularly the adults) in How We Fall Apart acknowledged their role in this, or even the school, I might’ve enjoyed this book more.

I think the best mystery-thrillers are ones that drop little clues here and there along the way, and then when the big reveal is done, you go: “why didn’t I see that all along?” or the ones that you figure out just before the characters do. Sadly, I found How We Fall Apart a little too predictable in that aspect, so I wasn’t shocked when the big reveal happened. Although, I do question if How We Fall Apart is supposed to be marketed as a dark academia mystery-thriller, or something else altogether. 

For what it’s worth, How We Fall Apart is a fast-paced and short read, and I did resonate with some of the quotes. I was pretty disappointed with the ending, until the very last page, when it does leave on a cliffhanger, and makes room for a potential sequel — which alone, gives it an extra ½ star.

find the full review & others on my blog 🤍

Emily 

Sanjana Sridhar 

“In inceptum finis est” If you’re looking for a good light read with a predictable ending and story structure this is the book to read. 
The book is quite interesting until the big reveal of who really is the proctor. The whole switching of characters for the proctor reveal was a huge let down. They could have touched more on each character giving them proper backstories and could have shown more of Jamie and her life through her perspective than through Nancy’s. 
Also this is my perspective but the way Nancy describes Jamie and her relationship with her sounds so much like she has a crush on her but is unaware of it.

Laura Flórez

This was promising until the whole changing identity thing. It was very nonsensical and it was very “shallow” regarding the ideas they were touching.

How We Fall Apart

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