Why We Broke Up / Characters

Characters / Why We Broke Up

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Minerva "Min" Green

Jewish and Nerdy: She's Jewish and a bookish film buff.
Like an Old Married Couple: With Al. She insists they're Just Friends, their friend group thinks otherwise. They're not half-wrong.
Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Deconstructed. While Min is a quirky, idiosyncratic heroine in love with a brooding, arguably boring male, the story is hers, not Ed's, and we hear it in her words; she doesn't exist to further his character development. He, ultimately, exists to stimulate hers.
The Movie Buff: Old films are something of an obsession for Min.
Nerds Are Virgins: She isn't by the end of the book, though.
Oblivious to Love: Min is utterly unawares to Al's feelings for her.
Single Girl Seeks Most Popular Guy: Played with, but averted, since Min, of social anonymity, only inadvertently ends up dating Ed, the Big Man on Campus. She's uninterested in, perhaps even a bit daunted by, his popularity.

Academic Athlete: Ed is best known as a basketball star, but he's also secretly a gifted math student who carries a protractor in his back pocket.
Big Man on Campus: Ed is athletic, intelligent, and has captured the hearts of his high school.
Jerk Jock: Initially, we see him as more of a Lovable Jock, though he reveals himself to be much more of the former.
Missing Mom: His mother is apparently incredibly, possibly terminally, ill. He refuses to discuss it.
Politically Incorrect Villain: He repeatedly uses homosexual slurs.

Girlfriend in Canada: Girlfriend in Los Angeles, actually, but all the same, she's nonexistent.
Like an Old Married Couple: With Min. She insists they're Just Friends, their friend group thinks otherwise. They're not half-wrong.
Mistaken for Gay: By multiple people, most notably Ed, who refers to him with slurs against gay men. His Girlfriend in Canada probably does nothing to help these rumors.
Operation: Jealousy: Al invents a girlfriend from Los Angeles to make Min jealous. She doesn't even notice.
Patient Childhood Love Interest: Al was a little too patient, waiting until Min was involved with someone else to confess his feelings.

Cool Big Sis: Min is almost more impressed with Joan than she is with Ed, her boyfriend.

Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She compliments Min and reassures her that Ed loves her, while carrying on an affair with him.