Shannen Camp - The Breakup Artist

Saturday came faster than I expected it to, and I was shocked when I woke up on the morning of prom, completely excited for my first real high school interaction. I got my hair done that morning at a salon, where they pulled it up and twisted it back into an elegant knot on the back of my head. I had decided to stay blonde for prom since I hadn’t really decided on a hair color I liked just for myself yet. David told me he didn’t have a preference either way, and I was glad he wasn’t one of those boys who thought any girl, no matter how dumb or how unattractive, was instantly “hot” because she was blonde.

By the time David picked me up that evening, I was feeling the butterflies that I was sure were customary for these types of situations. My mom had stuck around long enough to take pictures of David and me together before leaving to wherever it was she went.

“You look amazing,” David said, giving me a smile that could melt butter.

“You don’t look too bad yourself,” I replied as I beamed at him. We hadn’t bothered matching his tie to my dress since I didn’t know the color of my dress until a few days before prom. Instead he wore a nice black suit with a black skinny tie. The old fashioned look suited him perfectly.

“I have something for you,” he said suddenly before we walked out the door. I raised an eyebrow at him inquiringly and he pulled out a little velvet box. “Remember how I told you my mom makes jewelry?” I nodded, urging him to continue. “Well, I asked her for some lessons and I… I made you a bracelet. It’s not as amazing as the stuff she makes, but I thought you might like it.”

Feeling overcome with the love I felt for this boy, I opened the box he had handed to me to find a small pink gold bracelet covered in champagne-colored stones. “It’s amazing,” I said honestly as he secured it around my wrist.

“I thought following tradition has never really been our style, so instead of a corsage, this would do nicely.” Entwining my hand with his, I gave him one long kiss that was interrupted by a knock on the door. David and I exchanged confused looks, but I answered the door since there really wasn’t much other choice, unless we wanted to spend prom night locked in my house… but we wouldn’t get into that possibility at the moment.

As the door swung open, I saw Nate standing on my front porch. He was wearing a suit much like the one David had on and looked as if he’d been crying for hours. His rosy cheeks were especially red today and they matched his bloodshot eyes.

“Nate, what’s wrong?” I asked urgently. David was by my side.

“I finally got Karen’s mom to really talk to me,” he said, between sharp intakes of breath, “I guess she’s really not doing so well.” I had never seen a boy cry-which was saying something since I was in the breakup business-and the scene before me truly broke my heart.

“What did she say exactly?” I urged, hoping to get more information out of him to help me assess the situation.

“I told her that I was on my way to pick Karen up for the prom whether she wanted me to or not, and she told me that Karen was too weak to even get out of bed. Her mom’s really worried about her.” A few tears ran down Nate’s rosy cheeks, and I looked at David for a moment as we silently exchanged an understanding between us.

“Nate, can you take us to Karen’s house?” I asked. David and I were both perfectly healthy at the moment, and I knew Nate would never compromise Karen’s health, so there didn’t seem to be too much harm in our visiting her. “If she can’t go to the prom, we’ll just have to take the prom to her,” I said resolutely.

Nate brightened slightly at this suggestion, and he jumped into his green car, with David and I close behind, and drove to Karen’s house.

It took some convincing to get Karen’s mom to let us in to see her, but in the end I think she was happy that her daughter wouldn’t be left out of the festivities of the evening. As the night wore on and the four of us began to talk about our plans for the future, plans Karen might not ever get to live out, I wondered if maybe we all just wanted to belong somehow. Maybe the reason I had been so scared of sinking to the level of everyone else my whole life was because somewhere, in the back of my mind, I feared that I wouldn’t measure up. Maybe I worried that the experiences I thought I should have in high school wouldn’t measure up to my own expectations.

Though it should have been a sad occasion to see Karen lying in her bed, looking pale and weak as we talked about the trip we would all take this summer, just because we could, it was a happy moment. Karen laughed feebly as Nate held her hand, and I was immensely grateful for all of the things I had always taken for granted-the future I had always assumed everyone was entitled to.

In the end, I had come to terms with myself and what my life was. It wasn’t particularly bad or good. And as my mom tried to say, even with her poor communication skills, the individual journey of our lives doesn’t really label us bad or good. Life was whatever I chose to make of it.

And though I traded in what I thought was an important high school experience, almost pivotal to my feeling that human connection, what I gained was so much more than I could have ever imagined. Something much richer.

I discovered love.

1. Throughout the book we’re given information by Amelia, our narrator. She seems to tell the audience and those she interacts with about the unique bond she has with her mother. When we discover the truth about the disconnected and almost nonexistent relationship between her and her mother, we start to find that our narrator is not wholly reliable. Why does Amelia feel the need to stretch the truth about her relationship with her mother? What other half-truths does Amelia give the reader that we soon see the reality behind?

2. Amelia makes a point of stating over and over again that she does not participate in normal high school life because she does not want to be reduced to a simple stereotype. If this fate is so loathsome to her, why does she categorize her clients based on their clothes, music, and friends? Does this mean she thinks less of the people who hire her? Does her perception of others change as the story progresses?

3. When Amelia is breaking up Rachel McKlintock and Alex Swensen, she can’t help but notice that Rachel’s mother comforts her daughter in her time of need. How do you think this affects Amelia emotionally? What contrasts can you see between Amelia’s mother and Rachel’s?

4. Throughout the story David talks with Amelia about his family and how close he is to them. We never see David’s family in the story, and Amelia is never introduced to them. Unlike the often unreliable descriptions of reality we get from Amelia, should we assume David is telling the truth about his perfect family? Why do you think Amelia is never introduced to them?

5. Amelia has spent her entire high school career thus far trying to remain anonymous and only interact with people when her job calls for it. She makes no human connections until David comes along and sacrifices a normal high school experience for something she originally felt was better. Do you think Amelia regrets the ultimate consequences of her seclusion? When do you think she starts to admit to herself that living separate from the high school experience may not have been the best choice?

6. When Amelia first learns why Karen and Nate can’t be together, she imagines a “Romeo and Juliet” scenario. Is this another instance of Amelia categorizing people or is this somehow different? What differences do you see between this form of categorization and her typical jock, nerd, and punk categorizations?