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    The Catastrophic History of You and Me
    The Catastrophic History of You and Me
    The Catastrophic History of You and Me
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Catastrophic History of You and Me

    Written by Jess Rothenberg

    Narrated by Suzy Jackson

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Jess Rothenberg perfectly captures the all-consuming heartbreak of teen romance in her splendidly realized debut novel, The Catastrophic History of You and Me. Lovestruck Brie doesn't just think she's going to die-she actually dies-when her boyfriend reveals he doesn't love her. Now in Heaven, Brie finds herself accompanied by a spirit guide named Patrick-who might just hold the key to healing her broken heart.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateFeb 21, 2012
    ISBN9781464038518
    The Catastrophic History of You and Me
    Author

    Jess Rothenberg

    Jess Rothenberg is a writer and freelance editor. A former editor of books for young readers, including the bestselling Vampire Academy series, she was also the author of The Catastrophic History of You & Me, published in more than a dozen countries and The Kingdom, a futuristic thriller. She lives in New York City with her husband and son.

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    Reviews for The Catastrophic History of You and Me

    4/5

    48 ratings44 reviews

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    • 1/5
      By Jess RothenbergDying of a broken heart is just the beginning…. Welcome to forever. BRIE’S LIFE ENDS AT SIXTEEN: Her boyfriend tells her he doesn’t love her, and the news breaks her heart—literally. But now that she’s D&G (dead and gone), Brie is about to discover that love is way more complicated than she ever imagined. Back in Half Moon Bay, her family has begun to unravel. Her best friend has been keeping a secret about Jacob, the boy she loved and lost—and the truth behind his shattering betrayal. And then there’s Patrick, Brie’s mysterious new guide and resident Lost Soul … who just might hold the key to her forever after. With Patrick’s help, Brie will have to pass through the five stages of grief before she’s ready to move on. But how do you begin again, when your heart is still in pieces?Review:To be honest I just didn’t like this book. I just couldn’t connect with the character, or what she had to go through. Mostly I just wanted to be finished with the book, because once I start a book, I usually try to finish it…unless it just horrible. This book in my opinion is bad, but not horrible. Mainly Brie is just horrible. I understand that she just died, and it sucks to know that people are moving on without you, but she’s selfish. She tries to hurt almost everyone in her life. However, my biggest issue with this that I feel like Rothenberg gets distracted from telling her story. It’s all the side details, that make me violently dislike this novel. I don’t understand how you can feel so violently in love that you actually die of a broken heart, then all of sudden you realize “oh, I didn’t like that much, I just thought I did, but in reality we really should be friends” huh? I feel like Rothenberg brings in so many elements to this story, to try to make it more complex than it really is, or should be, and by the end she tries to force a happily ever after. The only way I’d recommend this is you borrow it from a library, and you finished all your homework and read all other books you wanted to read, and you just had nothing — I mean nothing, better to do.
    • 2/5
      Who else thought how awesome The Catastrophic History of You & Me sounded when they read the summary? Dying because of heartbreak? Wow. That’s different.When I read the book, however, I had thought that Rothenberg would bring more details. Scientific and biological evidence of how and why Brie’s heart broke in half. Perhaps it’ll be something like from The Sky is Everywhere—a hidden heart problem that no one seemed to catch—or maybe a heart problem that has always been there, but the stress of heartbreak was the final straw. What happened was that Rothenberg introduced a new illness: BHS, Broken Heart Syndrome. Really? Really. Desk, meet head; head, prepare for pain. There are biological anomalies everywhere and I get that this is a work of fiction, but I felt robbed almost. Since I’m already amped up, let’s talk cheese.What do you do when the MC is a girl that you do like not? Loathed at times even. Well you keep reading and hoping that you will grow to like her. There might be a string of sympathy, or empathy, that sets off a domino effect with a final hit of ‘wow, I wish I knew that girl’. But no, The Catastrophic History of You & Me left me thankful that I didn’t know Brie. (I didn’t get the cheese nicknames until a third way in because I’m not a big fan of cheese so I have very limited knowledge of cheese names.)While her best friends and her boyfriend(s) and family loved Brie, I could barely tolerate her. She was selfish: selfish actions with selfish motives that did no one any good. It was all about her, her, and oh yeah, her. Brie didn’t care that she might have ruined someone’s life: college plans, friendships, public lives, etc. Brie’s mind only seemed to consider the immediate results from an action. Any long-term effects or consequences never popped into her mind until it hit her face on. Even then I felt like she couldn’t have figured out how it all came to be.Would I call Brie psychotic? At times, yes. Her actions were extreme: breaking car windows, pushing an oncoming bike down, tripping someone where it breaks their leg, and so forth. Heartaches hurt. It sucks to be dumped and it sucks even more when you are lied to. But to assume only makes an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’. And Brie did was assume the worst. I think being dramatic makes life more fun, but I would not to be her friend just in case she might stab me in the back (literally and figuratively).While we’re talking bad things let’s continue on about the big reveal in the end. Everyone gets a HEA (happy ever after), but the build up to the HEA was clunky. A little foreshadowing here and there (but it’s pretty much the same scene each time) then BANG. I had a little trouble swallowing it—just a little—especially with the great emotion upheaval that makes me want to puke. We’re soul mates even though just a couple chapters ago I professed that my greatest love broke my heart and killed me so I should now try to kill him because “If I couldn’t have him, nobody could” (ARC 173). L-O-L. Freaking LOL. You’re 15 going on 16 going to jail if you were still alive. This was her first boyfriend.I couldn’t connect to the love interests. They seemed more like good friends.I didn’t understand her father’s infidelity. Maybe it’s because The Catastrophic History of You & Me is told through 1st POV and Brie is not the most astute character.I couldn’t wrap my head around the mechanics of Heaven and being dead. (If there are extras to the novel, I hope they would include a couple of chapters from the D&G handbook.)I did, however, like the dog. He rocked.I liked the other characters that were dead. They had personalities.Brie was not the only thing about The Catastrophic History of You & Me that has a connection to cheese; the entire novel was cheesy in the end.
    • 3/5
      The Catastrophic History of You & Me is a book about heartbreak -- literally. For everyone who felt like they could die of a broken heart, the narrator of this book is proof that it really can happen. It's a concept that teens can definitely relate to. Brie died from a broken heart and in the afterlife, decides to get revenge on her boyfriend, who caused her death. We get the story from Brie's perspective but also see how her death affects her friends and family. Recommended for teens (probably girls).
    • 3/5
      Originally posted at The Wandering Fangirl.Following the afterlife of a girl who dies from a broken heart -- literally, her heart breaks in two -- this is a sweet, quirky novel about what it means to move on. Brie spends most of the novel going through the various stages of grief over her own death, and though they're clearly written out in the narrative and by Patrick, her guide to the afterlife, it's all very well done. It's not a perfect novel, and at times I really wanted to shake Brie, but I devoured it in two sittings (as I waited in line for The Hunger Games and in bed after!).
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book, it was a really nice break from the Nicomachean Ethics, which I've been reading in my English class. My problem with this book is that I felt like the pacing was weird, which was, I think, intentional (showing how time flies when you're dead), but it left me feeling disconnected from the characters. The romantic part of the book was kind of hard to get into, because even though technically a lot of time has gone by in the book, you haven't actually been a part of all of that time, so it's hard to see where the emotional connection between characters is coming from. I also felt like the ending happened too abruptly, and ended too happily. Literally everything was fixed by the end. It made me mad that Brie didn't have to deal with any of the consequences of the things she did while she was dead, because the ending fixed everything with a weird time-warpy type of thing. I also felt like the end wasn't explained well enough; while it's easy to understand the general idea of WHAT happened, you don't really know HOW/WHY it happened. I did really enjoy the voice of the novel though, and I also liked the idea (dying of a broken heart? I haven't read anything like this before :) ). Overall, this was a quick, enjoyable read, and I just wish the ending had been better explained and less happy/more bittersweet.
    • 4/5
      Whoever said that a broken heart wouldn't kill you, did not know Brie. When her boyfriend admitted on their date that he didn't love her anymore, Brie ceased to exist on this earth, and moved to a new one. Now Patrick, the resident lost soul, is supposed to guide her through her adjustment period. Can she learn to let go of the life she had and start a new one?This book delves into the eternal question: is there life after death? Rothenburg does a great job of answering it while forcing us to look at what grief can do to a family. Be warned; it's a tearjerker, but one that is worth every tissue.
    • 5/5
      This was one of my most wanted upcoming reads. I thought the story sounded beautiful and maybe a little mysterious. It was everything I wanted and nothing like I expected all at the same time. The story mostly shifts between present day Earth and a sort of inbetween, heaven-like place. I really liked Brie as the narrartor. She was angry and immature a lot of the time, but given her circumstances, that makes the story stronger. Regardless of how mean or childish she is behaving, she finds a friend in Patrick. Long time resident of the strange inbetween. Patrick was the best kind of male lead, because he was sweet and caring, but he didn't always bend to Brie and he even cracked jokes on her from time to time. I love the world Jess Rothenberg created for these characters. The slice of heaven that is a lot like home, but not quite, and with a lot of practice they can make it whatever they want it to be. It was fun to learn, with Brie, about what her new existence can really be. They had such great banter and were so much fun to read. I also enjoyed spying on her friends and family with her, and it definitely added an extra sense of longing to the story. She could watch and want to do or say things, but she couldn't really get involved and being helpless is a hard pill to swallow. I like stories that are set in the after of life, exploring various different possibilities of what it might be like, and how the here and there collide. This book was full of so much. There was love, sadness, heartbreak, betrayal and hope. All of them woven together so well, to tell Brie's amazing story and let you live in her world for just a little while. This is a world you will want to visit the first chance you get!
    • 5/5
      Brie died of a broken heart, literally. Right after hearing the words "I don't love you" from her boyfriend, her heart split in half and she died right there at the table. Now she has to overcome the five stages of grief in her 'little slice of heaven' while she watches her family and friends fall apart. Luckily she has Patrick there to help her through it all.I was really interested to see how 'dying of a broken heart' was played out and how the author explained it, scientifically. Brie's dad is a cardiologist, so the fact that his daughter died because of her heart really weighed on him and made him feel like he had to figure out what happened, since a heart doesn't necessarily split in half too often, especially in a 16 year old.I didn't expect this to be so sad. Well, I expected some kind of sadness, but this story really gets deep and emotional. Especially when Brie see's what is happening to her family and friends after her death, and how much her death affected them. There is so much I really want to elaborate on, but I don't want to give too much away. I really think you all should just read the story to find out, because I was pleasantly surprised by everything and really enjoyed it all.This is a different take on the afterlife. I have to admit that I was confused at times, because Brie's after life takes place in almost an alternate universe where all the dead go before they can move on. Basically, it's like a Limbo, but it's in the form of Bries hometown. So when Brie goes back and forth between the two worlds, I had some trouble trying to decipher whether she was in her 'slice of heaven' or the real world. I really liked the idea of 'zooming' and them being able to jump back and forth between worlds, which explains how there could be ghosts. It was also fun to see Brie mess with her friends.Now, Patrick. I loved him. He was the comic relief of the story. I loved everything he said and enjoyed every minute he was around. That being said, I did get annoyed with Brie at times, especially with the way she treated Patrick. I couldn't understand why Patrick would want to be with her at times because she was so rude to him. But Patrick was always there for Brie whenever she needed him. Especially when Brie was trying to come to term with her death.The ending was what really made me love the story. Everything came together perfectly and I definitely didn't see it coming. It was a little confusing, but I knew that going into the story, so it didn't throw me off too much.Overall, I really loved this story. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a new twist on the afterlife.
    • 3/5
      I'm not quite sure what to say about this book without making it sound completely vague. I had a lot of trouble with the tone of the narration. I did not know whether to take things seriously or if there would be a "just kidding!" at some point. The story has hilarious parts and very sad, depressing parts, and I just had a hard time facing both of them so closely intertwined together.The premise is quite something. A girl dying of heartbreak? Really? Then, there's the characters. Brie was not easy to digest because she was extremely childish and self-centered. And Patrick never quite felt right either. It might be just me, since I've been seeing nothing but glowing reviews for this one, but Patrick's character was flat and unrealistic.The writing was pretty good and I liked the uniqueness of the names of the chapters and Brie's love of 80's music and how that fit in with the plot, but everything else, including the overdone drama during the climax and ending, was hard to deal with for me. Its quite a shame that an author with such potential for wittiness and sass tackles such depressing and cheesy issues in an otherwise fun fresh read. They don't fit together...
    • 4/5
      I fell in love with the Catastrophic History of You and Me from page one. Protagonist, Brie, had a voice this reader couldn’t help but love. The dialogue was crisp and engaging. I love the humor laced within. Parts made me laugh and others made me tear up. I could totally see this on the big screen someday. The plot was unique to other YA novels I’ve recently discovered. Poor Brie dead by broken heart and left to watch the family and friends she left behind struggle.The story moved at a steady pace and kept me interested. Not often you read from the POV of a dead person. I just loved it! The music references were an added bonus. As an 80’s music fan myself, I felt Brie was a kindred spirit. I love that the author used song lyrics as chapter titles and throughout the book. So clever and fresh!A wonderfully entertaining read. I’m eager to see what this talented author brings us next.
    • 4/5
      I read a lot of young adult literature and work with young adults and I will definitely be recommending this book to them. There are so many things in the book that my students will love. Brie is telling the story from somewhere after death. She has died from a broken heart shortly before her sixteenth birthday. After she dies she meets Patrick. He acts as her guide through this afterlife. Brie goes back home (Half Moon Bay, CA) to see what's going on with her friends and family. She learns things that she did not know before she died.The story is well-written and funny. Despite being told from the dead girls perspective, the novel is not morbid. It deals with emotions and truth. I love that each chapter title is lyrics from 80's songs. The novel is a teen romance with a new twist.
    • 4/5
      Jess Rothenberg does a fantastic job of handling death: she adds some humor—such as heaven being a pizza place—but she never lets us forget that the situation is sad. The first few chapters, especially, are killer. There are times when you want to cry, but shortly after you’re cracking a smile. Because this balance is so similar to the way we actually handle loss, Catastrophic History is completely believable, despite its ridiculous premise.Rothenberg’s writing style is adorably quirky: Brie sounds just like a fifteen-year-old, complete with “OMG!”s and silly name-calling. This really gives the book as a unique personality, and definitely makes it memorable. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Rothenberg’s style at first, but after getting used to it, I found it fun.Brie is one of those characters that all girls can relate to: if I had died of a broken heart, you better believe I’d react the same way she did. She goes through all the stages of grief (the book is split up into parts), and while it’s not always pretty, Brie acts real. Plus, she’s quick with comebacks, which makes almost every page of dialogue humorous. (Although I must admit, at times her comebacks seemed a little too well-planned.) The supporting characters are great, too, and the surprises that they hold are always genuinely surprising (for lack of a better word).The Catastrophic History of You and Me is a cute contemporary read that touches upon the subjects of death and grief in a tactful and lovely way. The story sounds cheesy, but you’ll find that Catastrophic History is more than it appears. I’d definitely recommend this one to younger YA audiences because of Jess Rothenberg’s writing style, but older readers will also enjoy Brie’s story.
    • 5/5
      Let me start by saying that this book, for me, started very slow. I had trouble getting into it, until about 70 pages in. But, after that, I read the entire thing in 1 day. The last third of the book was incredible. The journey the Brie took was compelling. You learn so much about her and who she "really" is. I loved it. Her transformation and her story are fascinating. I loved the many different elements brought in, including how her death impacted her family and friends, how desperate she was, and how she tried to fix things for everyone. At times, I was so mad at her for being so selfish and angry, but her story kept me going. I am just so thankful that I had the opportunity to try out an excellent new novel that is outside my typical genres. I will absolutely be recommending this book to a lot of patrons. I have several in mind already!
    • 5/5
      Oh my god! The chapters were titled in SONGS!!!! Okay, being someone who LOVES all different kinds of music- I absolutely LOVED this little detail!Examples: Don’t You (Forget About Me) Take Another Little Piece of My Heart Now Baby Send Me An Angel Shot Through The Heart, And You’re To Blame California Dreamin’ Somewhere Over The RainbowRIGHT?!?! Okay, okay…THEN… The first page- YES, the FIRST PAGE, the author utilizes the word EPIC, and we all know how EPIC I deem this to be… AND makes references to Wesley and Buttercup, Harry and Sally and breaks out the 80′s theme music to boot! EPIC WIN!Needless to say after this, I’m singing, “Our love is like a storybook story…” over and over in my head for about four hours and making my kids watch Princess Bride with me! Shhhhyea I did!Anyway, moving ON- “Love’s super-sneaky like that. It creeps up the second you turn your head to check how cute your butt looks in that new pair of jeans. The minute you’re distracted by SATs, or who kissed who at your best-friends Sweet Sixteen, or the fact that you didn’t get the lead in Into the Woods (I hate you, Maggie Elliot), and now you have to play Cinderella , when everyone knows it isn’t as good a part as the witch.”I know right?! SQUEE hardcore! If you can’t tell by now Brie is walking us through the throes of her broken heart and doing it will making us laugh hysterically! This is one of those books that I literally wanted to copy down almost EVERY OTHER SENTENCE to use in my review… “Falling in love is pretty much the same thing as being eaten alive by a grizzly bear.”Brie was 15 when she LITERALLY died of a broken heart. *tears* even though some people blame the heart murmur she had since the day she was born- she knows different. Her heart was broken IN HALF by Jacob Fischer… Or Hottie McHotterson. *giggles*Well, by the end the the first chapter I’ve got big, huge crocodile tears rolling down my face… Laughing insanely and crying intently in the same chapter? The FIRST chapter no less? Um yeah., definitely a sign of freaking EPICness.And then I’m laughing and crying some more… And laughing WHILE crying! “I’m not really sure what I expected the whole After Life thing to look like exactly, but I was pretty sure it would’ve had something to do with fluffy clouds and giant watersides and golden-doodle puppies and, like, galloping around on a black stallion all day, every day. Not quite.”The Catastrophic History of You and Me is PHENOMENAL!!!! Beautiful, tragic AND hilariously funny… You will not be able to put this book down. No, I’m completely serious. I stayed up all night (*ahem… on Christmas!) reading it!
    • 4/5
      The Catastrophic History of You and Me is every girl’s worst nightmare. Brie is dating this awesome guy and they go out to dinner and – BAM – he tells her he doesn’t love her. Next thing she knows, she’s dead. That’s right, she literally DIED of a broken heart. And her dad is a cardiologist so he starts digging into this notion that one can die of a broken heart. But Brie has to go through the stages of grief before she can “move on” to a better place.This book is definitely cute. It was lighthearted and fun while dealing with this theme of death. Brie sees how her various family members and friends handle her death and grieve for her loss. Everyone deals with her death in their own way and it was interesting to see how Brie, herself, dealt with her death. 16 is definitely too young to die – I’m sure everyone would agree with that statement.I was really enjoying this book up until about 80% of the way through the book. It took this weird turn that I was confused about. It made a good story and really came full circle for Brie’s counterpart, Patrick, but I was confused on why/how the book got to that point. It’s not that I didn’t like it, it just seemed to come out of nowhere. If you’ve read the book, tell her your thoughts in the comments.Definitely a solid debut and I really enjoyed Jess’s writing. Looking forward to seeing what she comes out with next!
    • 3/5
      By title alone, The Catastrophic History Of You & Me sounds like it should be full of drama and heartbreak that brings about the end of the world. I had high hopes after the first few pages, but after a while I started to wonder where the story was really going. While the heartbreak does lead to all of Brie’s misfortunes, I feel like the story had too much sweetness to spend enough time with anything too deep. There were the frequent cutesy nickname-dropping and usual teenage girl idiosyncrasies, but if I take all that away and look more closely at the serious issues of family meltdown and self-destruction, the story seemed to have cookie-cut answers that did not do much for me. I expected something along the lines of before i fall, but this did not impress me as much despite all its fun sparkles.
    • 3/5
      I just finished this one and would definitely recommend it to young adult readers....
      I usually enjoy YA, but this one border lined on being a tad too juvenile for me.
      It played off of quirky parts and left out the romance I desired.
      It's about a girl who is "Dead and Gone". She walks us through her life after death and also shows us what led up to that pivotal night.

      When she reaches heaven she meets a boy and they instantly click. Together they go back to earth and give her ex a little dose of his own medicine. As their time together progresses Brie realizes that maybe there was more to her death than she thought.

      Secrets are slowly revealed and the ending will leave your jaw on the ground!
      I didn't expect the turn it took, but it added to the storyline for sure.



      While the story was fast paced and intriguing... I think it is DEFINITELY for teens and not for a woman in her twenties. When I read that it was for fans of Before I Fall I thought I would enjoy, but this one fell short. The writing wasn't as mature in this one.
    • 4/5
      Loved the opening of this book-unique perspective on broken hearts and death. Each chapter was the title of an 80's song (which was clever), while moving through the stages of grief helped to unify the different sections of the book. I cared about the protagonist-my only complaint is that in the end, everything was tied up in a neat little package-all wrongs were righted and everyone is left a little too happy and perfect.
    • 4/5
      I thought I should at least read a few pages of this book before it had to go back to the library. This story with a deceased heroine named Brie lured me into the story right away. Roughly set up to mimic the five stages of grief, we follow Brie's journey after her heart breaks and she dies while at dinner with her boyfriend, Jacob. I was never sure if this was the story of Brie and Jacob or Brie and resident Lost Soul, Patrick. But, the book flows together nicely and in the end, all the characters are shown to be important. And fans like me, who like good chapter titles, will enjoy these ones very much.
    • 2/5
      I had pretty high hopes for this book based on the summary and a few reviews as well as the gorgeous cover, but it definitely didn't live up to them. I listened to the audiobook version and was so irritated the almost the entire time I was listening (and not because of the narrator). The beginning was not actually all that bad and I enjoyed the parts where Brie was at her own memorial. It all went downhill from there. The characters were annoying and vengeful. They were shallow and bickered the whole time. (not in the cute flirting way) I also found that the plot got more and more ridiculous and unnecessary. I realize that the whole premise of the book was that Brie needed to go through the 5 stages of grief, and so maybe there would have been some character development. However, I just couldn't get through even the second stage. I definitely feel like I wasted an audible credit.
    • 4/5
      This story starts right off in the head of the main character Brie. It’s a bit like working backwards at first, then the reader catches up to where Brie is in her own story and we ride it out with her. Since I wasn’t invested in the character yet, the first few chapters were not that interesting to me. Once the reader catches up to Brie and Patrick enters the picture, the book gets on a roll. The concept of the main character being dead and working her way through the stages of grief sounds depressing. However, this book is anything but. Each stage of grief brings about new revelations for Brie. Even though this is a fiction book, the events that unfold reminded me people’s lives are not always what we think they are. Everyone has secrets or things they didn’t know. Brie gets to see these hidden things from her life in the afterlife. All these things you think lead her to accept she’s dead. But that’s not the end goal. The book takes a twist that makes this book a much more romantic read than I originally expected. The two main characters, Brie and Patrick, end up quite likable. At first, Brie acts like the teenager she is, but by the end of the book I quite liked her. Patrick is a great guide in the afterlife and helps Brie through her stages of grief. There are complications in the story that add to the intrigue of what is really going on in Brie’s former life and current afterlife. Rothenberg does a nice job of interweaving these two aspects carrying the reader to the same conclusion Brie eventually comes to. The ending wraps up well except I do have one nagging thought. Brie does something in the end that leaves me to question her and Patrick’s ‘status’. This is a stand alone novel, so my main complaint is that not all was firmly explained to my satisfaction. In a stand alone I don’t like being left with any questions. Other than that, I enjoyed the book.
    • 5/5
      i read this when i was still in high school and decided to listen to it. it really is a great story, not your typical romance story and i love the twist with patrick so yes, you should definitely read this❤️
    • 5/5
      I loved this book with a passion. Brie is hilarious, even when filled with grief. The story is extremely well written, and manages to take a rather morbid topic and turn it into something heartwarming, entertaining and joyous. This is Brie's story, of how she literally died of a broken heart. It takes progression through a series of emotional steps to finally see the whole truth. No matter what she does, how she tries to fix things or get revenge, there is that unyielding fact that she is still dead. Cute 80's boy Patrick is there to help her the whole way... but what if there is something more to their relationship? Yeah... that description doesn't give it near justice. This book is not just beautifully written, it is beautifully packaged and formatted. That may seem silly to say, but it makes a big difference. The book is split into parts based on the five stages of grief that Brie must evolve through and each chapter starts with a song title or lyrics that hold some truth in that chapter. Plus the cover: perfect. I liked it when I saw it, but it really fits the novel and that I really appreciate. All that needs to be said is: read it! Especially if you like contemporaries, because The Catastrophic History of You and Me is wonderful and unique - genius really.
    • 4/5
      When I saw for first time this book, I thought for a moment that it would be something similar to Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. In some aspect I was right, but not completely. This book, although is about a girl who just died and talks about family problems and friendship, it's completely different. Brie is like any other girl. She has normal problems, she has a family that loves her, good friends and a really good-looking boyfriend. But her life ends when her boyfriend tells her that he doesn't love her, and then, she dies, of broken heart. Yes, two parts. Now Brie is watching her life from another point of view. She is not there anymore. She is dead, and now she will watch her family and friends suffering, but she will find and discover some painful truths. Her life wasn't so perfect at all. I must say that this book is heartbreaking from the beginning to the end. It's a sad story that will make readers think about their lives, their families, friends, and all the people that they love, and of course, it will make some of them cry.The way the story is told is really good. The author makes you feel what Brie is feeling, and understand why she do what she does. Even though I felt sometimes that the story was going anywhere (That there were any development), it was impossible to me to stop reading until I reached the end. The ending was a little bit predictable, and maybe too fast. I think the author took too much time talking about feelings and that kind of thing, instead of focusing in events and developing the story. But of course, you won't read about a ghost and a ghost-hunter, or anything paranormal like that with a lot of action and a happy ending. This book focus in real life issues. And I think that is what it makes it so special. The characters are really nice. I really liked Brie, she is a complicated character. She did a few things that I didn't enjoy at all, but I understood why she behaved the way she did, and I think this is the most important thing. Patrick was really nice, but I would have liked that he had more participation in the story. The supporting characters were good and their participation was good enough.Something that I really liked about this book is that it has a soundtrack. Yes, a soundtrack! Although music is not the principal topic, or an important topic of the story, the author uses a lot of songs in the book, like for example, as a chapter title, or a simple phrase that Brie says. At the end we will find a list of the songs, that I highly recommend to listen to, because they will help us to transport to the world Jess Rothenberg has created. I read a few comments about the songs (they are from the 80s). Some people criticized that the songs were from the 80s and not modern. They believed that a teenager now doesn't know those type of songs, and I can't disagree more. I'm young, I'm a young adult and I love all kind of music, and I have in my Ipod hundreds of music from the 80s, so why not Brie?The only thing I can do is recommend this book to everybody who likes this kind of books and those who read Before I Fall and enjoyed it. You won't be disappointed. Happy Reading!
    • 4/5
      In The Catastrophic History of You & Me, Brie dies from a broken heart at the tender age of fifteen. Dramatic? Yes, but Jess Rothenberg expanded this somewhat silly-sounding storyline into a heartfelt novel that tugged at my heart strings.“I don’t love you” are the words that bring Brie’s life to a screeching halt. While this simple sentence could be damaging enough for anyone, for Brie it breaks her heart in two — literally. The book follows Brie into the afterlife as she goes through the five stages of grief. There were certainly depressing parts throughout, and it was easy to feel the anger and loss that Brie went through, but Rothenberg also managed to infuse humor and charm. The chapter titles taken from songs (“The Cheese Stands Alone”, “I Was Walking With a Ghost” being examples) were a delight and Brie’s relationship with Patrick, her guide in heaven, was wonderfully paced and developed.The book not only delved into Brie’s personal mourning, but it also gave a look into the life of her loved ones following her death. The dynamic of her family was completely shaken up and I think Rothenberg was able to grasp the loneliness and isolation that many can feel after the loss of someone. In addition to that, Rothenberg touched on the “glue” that holds friends together. Brie’s group of friends was absolutely loyal and I loved getting a look at their bond. Strong friendships are always a highlight for me in my reads and that was definitely present in this book. Finally, there’s Jacob, the boy who broke Brie’s heart. It was easy to grow fond of him as Brie thought back to their relationship, but just as easy to feel the rejection from his initial confession. Still, it was made clear that he, too, greatly suffered from Brie’s death and that he carried so much guilt. Rothenberg didn’t simplify any of the character’s emotions and instead made all of them, and their relationships, fully layered.Overall, I found this to be a quirky, charming read that managed to capture the honesty of love, loss, forgiveness, and all the other gory bits of life (and death) and growing up. Jess Rothenberg offers a refreshing voice to the YA genre and I will definitely look forward to what she writes next!
    • 5/5
      The Catastrophic History of You and Me is one of those rare books that I instantly fell in love with after the first line. I read this: "There's always that one guy that gets a hold on you." and just like that I was hooked. This novel is a masterpiece and Jess Rothenberg seems to have a key to my very deepest thoughts, because everything about Brie I could relate to myself. Brie was so real and so alive (but, dead...) on the pages. She was everything I have been looking for in a protagonist. Funny, caring, sweet but with a dark side that's almost always hidden. Nothing could have prepared me for how much I adored this book. I was in English class one day, reading of course and honestly, the guy sitting next to me probably thought I was some emotional wreck.. This book will make you laugh and it will make you cry, all on the same page. Having a love for music will be a great thing while reading this story. At every chapter, with each new song for the title I would either be singing it in my head, or those rare ones that I didn't know I would look up and fall in love with. The music-chapters set such a great mood for this book!And of course, where would this review be if I did not talk about Patrick? The boy was hilarious and heart-broken. Absolutely gorgeous and what every teen girl hopes to find in their little slice of heaven when they die of a broken heart. His story is one of the biggest spoilers I can give to this review, so I'll just cut off here by saying that Patrick and Brie are officially on my list of all-time favorite characters. Plus, they're up there with Harry, Ron and Hermione. Wow, is all I can say. Despite the tears I shed over this book, it is definitely not a sad story. It has joy and hope and love and loss and everything else in between. I rarely cry while reading, but this one had me reaching for the tissues at some of the saddest parts, and the happiest. The Catastrophic History of You and Me was not like anything I was expecting, but it was so much better. The story is clearly over, but I am still yearning for more.If you have not yet read this book, I highly recommend that you do. Rothenberg made this quirky, magical and unforgettable world that I loved more than I can ever say!
    • 5/5
      I LOVED IT SO MUCH IT WAS SO GOOD
    • 4/5
      This book was not what I was expecting at all. I thought it was going to be a fluff book about a girl who died and would have to choose from going back to her life and her boyfriend who literally broke her heart or stay in heaven with an angel she fell in love with. Not so. Not at all.First, the fact that she died at 15 and her dad is a heart surgeon is catastrophic to him. He feels like he should have been able to save her. He beats himself up about it. Second, she died at the very moment when her boyfriend told her "I don't love you." When they autopsied her, her heart was actually split in two. So she wants revenge. Now, I can identify with that. Someone broke my heart around that age and I would have loved to have gotten revenge, but frankly he didn't care. Brie's revenge though is more like catastrophic. It's life changing. And her Angel, Patrick is with her trying to guide her from making these mistakes, but she is hell bent on wreaking havoc.She feels betrayed by a friend and wreaks havoc on her life as well. It's as if she's become a tornado of destruction. She's mean spirited and angry and can't be reasoned with.Patrick warns her that she has to go through the five stages of grief Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Sadness and finally Acceptance. He's there to help her through those five stages. And yes, each stage is accurately portrayed. And part way through the story you start to wonder about Patrick's story. Very few clues are given about him. But you know, you just know he isn't her angel by accident. There are humorous times that lighten the rather heavy tone of the book. Patrick makes all kinds of cheese nicknames about Brie's name calling her Cheeto breath among many others. There is the first time they "fly" back to earth which is actually falling. But those times don't make up for the time she spends with Hambone, her Basset Hound who can actually see her. He follows her around and God was I crying. I am a sucker for animal involvement of any kind and my heart was breaking. So get the tissues out. There are plenty of times you'll need them.I think I would have rated this higher if I hadn't been expecting a fluff book. It was well written and the feelings were portrayed realistically. From her friends, to her brother to her father, they all showed their grief in different ways and I think that it is very true to life.The ending though was problematic. I didn't understand it. I had no idea what was going on. You'll have to read it and see if you understand it. I think the whole big drama could have been left out and just the misunderstanding could have been cleared up and it would have ended just fine.In the end it was a good book, It just didn't knock me out. I would recommend this for YA readers 14 and up. There is mention of losing your virginity, but it isn't graphic. I think someone going in not expecting a fluff book will enjoy this a lot more than I did. It did have some funny moments and some romance and some very dark moments. It really is good and I recommend that you read it.
    • 4/5
      When I first read the description for “The Catastrophic History of You & Me”, I wasn’t sure whether I’d actually like the story. A girl dying from heartbreak? It sounded a bit silly. In the end, however, I found that I adored this story. It was funny, it was heartbreaking – it was nothing short of enjoyable.The story is about Brie, a fifteen year old girl who dies after her boyfriend tells her that he doesn’t love her. Her father, a cardiologist, is puzzled by Brie’s death. A heart simply doesn’t break into two pieces. Except Brie’s did. After finding herself in Heaven, or more like Slice of Heaven (a pizza shop), Brie meets Patrick – the resident lost soul. With Patrick’s help, she seeks revenge against Jacob, the boy who, literally, broke her heart. But Brie lets her emotions get the better of her and she ends up taking things way too far.I absolutely loved the journey that Rothenberg took the characters on. We don’t just get to know Brie. We get to see how Brie’s death affects the lives of her closest friends and her family members. And we ultimately get to see why Jacob broke Brie’s heart. Each of the characters in this story plays a part: Brie, Patrick, Jacob, Sadie (her best friend), etc. They all have something to give to Brie’s story.Honestly, I’m glad that I took the time to read this one. I was pleasantly surprised by Brie’s story, and I’d suggest picking this one up come January.
    • 4/5
      The Catastrophic History of Me and You follows Brie Eagan's journey through the five stages of grief after her own untimely death. I have mixed feelings about this book overall. I relly liked the premise of the book and I thought Brie's progression through the stages was very believeable. I felt her emotions throughout the book and found her to be a well developed character. I also liked the way the book ended, I thought it was a very fitting way to end the story. The only part of the book that I have reservations about is the part about Patrick and Brie. Without giving anything away, the storyline between Patrick and Brie didn't seem to fit with the rest of the book. I liked the Brie's storyline and I liked Patrick and Brie's storyline but I'm not sure I liked them together in the same book. They seemed to belong in two different books. That being said, I did like the way both storylines wrapped up and seemed to come together a bit better in the end. Overall I enjoyed this book and it's unique view of life and death.