How We Fall Apart was one of those books I was so excited to read because it seemed like it was tailor-made for me. Gossip Girl plus murder plus high pressure to succeed? Yes, please! But I ended up disappointed. I didn’t really think the details added up.

I am still confused about how a college student who left school ends up teaching at the prep school they attended 2 1/2 years before. Wouldn’t the teacher be actually qualified teachers and not college kids on a break? Did I miss something? They kept saying he was a teacher over and over again. Surely parents aren’t paying tens of thousands a year to have their kids taught by a 20-year-old college dropout?

I expected to have to suspend belief a bit but there were so many parts that simply were nonsensical. It might have worked if the characters were less one dimensional. The rich families were particularly flat which may have been a stylistic choice but since they were such a big part of the book it meant half the book seemed flat and underdeveloped.

I liked the immigrant parents and scholarship students storyline but the rest was a mess.

I think it’s being made into a series and I am tempted to see if they get better, the ideas are there and maybe with what must be a new cast of characters there could be some improvement? I really think the book could have worked without the mystery element but I can’t imagine they are going to drop that.