Young Adult Literature; Comedy; Tragedy
Why We Broke Up is a horse of a different color, meaning it can't be easily categorized. You could make a convincing case for calling it a comedy or a tragedy, which means that it's neither—or both. If the book were a TV show, we'd call it a dramedy. On one hand, it's funny, and it ends on a hopeful note, but on the other, its narrator is angry and heartbroken, and we know from the start that the relationship she describes is doomed to crash and burn.
Since the subject of Why We Broke Up is young love, it's recognizable as young adult (YA) literature. But it doesn't adhere to many YA conventions: All the drama is in the breakup itself, instead of some external crisis like, say, cancer, or being thrown in a murder arena. Still, though, you'd be hard-pressed to find a teen who can't relate to at least some component of this book.