Reviews with content warning for Physical 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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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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