Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - How We Fall Apart

I liked the more realistic aspects of this book but the mystery aspect was disappointing and somehow I liked and disliked the ending in equal measure.

The main characters are a group of Asian American students at an exclusive private school, brought together through a mutual friendship of sorts with a popular girl and through what the pov character refers to as "The Incident": something that they had all participated in two years before and sworn to secrecy about. It's obvious what the thing was and the way the narrative dances around it is annoying. The popular girl dies suddenly, and suddenly the friends are being threatened via social media using secrets only the dead girl knew. The resolution to this is ridiculous and some of the secrets are a bit silly.

The better part of the story is the focus on the characters themselves, especially Nancy. As the daughter of immigrants who gave up everything to come to America there is immense pressure to perform, be strong, and reach that elusive American Dream. The way this plays out in Nancy's relationship with her mother was really well done. The other characters are less three dimensional but do illustrate this in various ways.

I liked the ending in the way that it demonstrated who Nancy was at her core - this isn't a game but she's going to win it - but it bugged me that the reader never gets to find out what the big secret is.

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saumya29's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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racheldkidder's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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soljovis's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

0.25

I’ve thought about nothing for the past 24 hours except how angry this book made me. Every adult in this book failed every child. A 14/15 year old girl in a relationship with an adult man is a victim of a predator. This happens TWICE in this book with no consequences for either of the predators but both girls are publicly shamed and portrayed as the seducer. Fucked. Also the characters were shallow and unlikeable and the twist ending was like a bad episode of PLL. I understand what the author’s intent was with this book but all the messages were overshadowed by melodrama and overtly problematic plot points. I have so many more issues with this book but I will leave it here.

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plumpaperbacks's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I’ve really been enjoying dark academia books these last few weeks, and definitely wanted to read this book after seeing so much hype surrounding its release.

Overall, I liked it. The characters were complex and well-written, and honestly, I felt bad for most of them. Sinclair Prep’s cutthroat nature kind of terrified me, as a white person that attended a public school and never truly tried to be top of my class. That and the anonymous person leaking secrets gave me Ace of Spades vibes, and it worked well.

Zhao did a decent job crafting the mystery, and an excellent job balancing the dual timelines. The main reason for my rating is that I found so much of this book’s plot predictable. Although I never imagined the culprit’s identity, didn’t even come close and was quite surprised by the reveal, I guessed almost everything else. I’m not sure if this is on the book for being predictable or on me because I’ve read a fair amount of thrillers, but nonetheless, I figured most things out early, and that took away from a lot of the story’s suspense and intrigue.

Despite that, I do still recommend the book, and I can see myself picking up more of Zhao’s YA in the future.

Representation

Chinese protagonist and side characters
Chinese bisexual side character
Korean sapphic side character
Indian side character
side characters of color

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rb2706_123's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

"Back then, I did not understand what Mama was asking for, what granting her wishes would cost me. Then, I did not know a debt of life could only be repaid with life. With blood"
How we fall apart is set at Sinclair Preparatory School were students fight tooth and nail to stay at the top of the class.
Jaimie Ruan has always dominated the school, always at the top, she was the queen. Untill, she's found dead leaving her 4 friends: Nancy Luo, Krystal Choi, Akil Patel and Alexander Lin the main suspects as the mysterious proctor continues incriminating the main 4 via an anonymous app called tip tap.

This book was fast paced, mysterious and maintained a tense atmosphere throughout. I finished it in 1 sitting and was delighted with the novel in general. My only problem was that the plot twist at the end was sprung out of the blue.

There was no foreshadowing, no red herrings or a good climax leading up to it. I felt like the ending was a bit rushed and anticlimactic
Secondly, I absolutely adore our cast of characters. Nancy Luo is an amazing protagonist and the author has done an amazing job in writing her! She is a relatable character and perfectly embodies how parental expectations derail the life of children.

3.25/5, I recommend this book to fans of ya thrillers, this is absolutely unputdownable.

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rcreeley's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'd seen the author on Instagram a couple months back, so immediately I ordered this the day it came out. To me, the main place this book shined was the characters and their depth. Even the "villains" were double-sided and had their own stories, which made this a super enjoyable read. I did manage to guess some of the ending and who was the Proctor, but the symbolism in the ending really stood out for me.

It was genius of Zhao to craft a story all about students who had 'a mask' to get through high school and then have the big reveal be a girl who hid behind a mask to get what she wanted

The writing style was good, but nothing special. One thing I did notice that dragged down my rating was a simple thing: there were so many cliches. Around one each page, it was exhaustive and made the writing seem more juvenile. Other than that, this book was extremely fast paced and enjoyable. I finished it in one day and I look forward to Zhao's next book.

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