We Come Apart by Sarah Crossan and Brain Conaghan

Pages:  336
Publish date: 9th February 2017
Publisher: Bloomsbury Australia
ISBN: 1408878860
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – Dymocks

We Come Apart:

I received an ARC of We Come Apart by Sarah Crossan and Brain Conaghan from Bloomsbury Australia in exchange for a review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

I didn’t know how I was going to feel about this one, verse isn’t usually my thing and I had yet to read one that I loved. And although I didn’t love We Come Apart, I still very much liked it.

We Come Apart follows two protagonists, Nicu and Jess who are torn apart both on the outside and the inside. When these two are brought together things start to change for the both of them. And some of those things aren’t for the better.

Nicu; oh how he caught my heart. At first, it’s a little hard to really understand Nicu. It’s one of my first verse novels and he also speaks broken English. But, as the novel went on, I came to love him. And understand exactly how he is feeling. Not only is Nicu in an entirely different county, but he is not welcomed at all. It’s the heartbreaking reality of people moving to a place where they aren’t from, it’s even worse when you don’t speak their language or understand the cultural of said country. All Nicu wants to do is live his life, like his wants. He wants to have friends, and being the odd one out isn’t easy.

Jess on the other should fit in, but she doesn’t seem too. Jess was much harder to get along with simply because of her attitude and the way she went a round things. She had this fire in her and I wanted her to let it go. I wanted Jess to be her. But her home life is shit all and school isn’t that much better. So she has taken to stealing, and it breaks my heart – the things that she does.

The notion of family is a big focus in We Come Apart. But, not in a good sense. I know I say that we need to have a good family portrayal in books, but sometimes Nicu and Jess’ families need to be front and center. Jess’s home life, is full of violence and hate. It’s heartbreaking seeing both Jess and her mum waste away. While Nicu’s family hated leaving Romania and put so much pressure on Nicu. Not only that, they want to marry Nicu off to a nice Romanian girl.

I had a love/hate relationship with the romance aspects of We Come Apart. It all happens fast, and even though I think they have some amazing connection. I am not entirely sure if it was all real. Nicu cared a lot for Jess, like a hell of a lot. But, I am not sure how much Jess felt the same. She is really closed off and even though we were in her head. I still wasn’t sure how she felt.

The writing style of We Come Apart is very unique. Like I’ve said before I haven’t read much verse, but now I am totally intrigued. I haven’t read anything by each of the authors. So, I couldn’t tell the different between the two. I loved the aspect of Nicu’s broken English, but it was also very hard to read at times.

Overall, We Come Apart is a poignant, heartbreaking story of two different people brought together by strange circumstances. It explores the notion of love, family, friends and what it’s like it be different. We Come Apart will tear you apart with this heart wrenching, but also a beautiful story.

Have you read We Come Apart yet? What did you think? Are you planning on reading it? Have you read anything else by the authors? Let’s Chat!