Episode 5.6: ‘How We Fall Apart’ by Katie Zhao
It’s time for the finale of season five already and we can’t believe it! What a season we’ve had.
We’re closing out the season with ‘How We Fall Apart’ by Katie Zhao which has been on our radars for a good few years because of the prep school setting and promise of deep, dark secrets.
Crazy Rich Asians meets One of Us is Lying in this electrifying YA thriller where students at an elite prep school are forced to confront their secrets when their ex-best friend turns up dead.
Nancy Luo is shocked when her former best friend, Jamie Ruan, top-ranked junior at Sinclair Prep, goes missing, and then is found dead. Nancy is even more shocked when word starts to spread that she and her friends - Krystal, Akil, and Alexander - are the prime suspects, thanks to "the Proctor," someone anonymously incriminating them via the school's social media app.
They all used to be Jamie's closest friends, and she knew each of their deepest, darkest secrets. Now, somehow the Proctor knows them, too. The four must uncover the true killer before The Proctor exposes more than they can bear and costs them more than they can afford, like Nancy's full scholarship. Soon, Nancy suspects that her friends may be keeping secrets from her, too.
Katie Zhao's YA debut is an edge-of-your-seat drama set in the pressure-cooker world of academics and image at Sinclair Prep, where the past threatens the future these teens have carefully crafted for themselves. How We Fall Apart is the irresistible, addicting, Asian-American recast of Gossip Girl that we've all been waiting for.
But can it be dark academia as well as a thriller?
In this episode we discuss:
The comparisons to ‘Gossip Girl’, ‘Pretty Little Liars’ and ‘Mean Girls’
How knowledge of the setting (NYC) and the shows it reflected created the setting more than the writing did
Why we always end the season on a bum note…
You can listen to it here:
TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘How We Fall Apart’ by Katie Zhao
‘One of Us is Lying’ by Karen McManus
‘Ace of Spades’ by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’
‘Madam’ by Phoebe Wynne
OTHER MEDIA AND POP CULTURE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘Gossip Girl’ (2007-12)
‘Pretty Little Liars’ (2010-17)
‘Mean Girls’ (2004)
‘Crazy Rich Asians’ (2018)
If you fancy taking a chance on ‘How We Fall Apart’, we’d love it if you considered using our bookshop.org link below to purchase your copy of the book which helps us fund ‘The Dark Academicals’ and gives back to independent bookshops at no extra cost to you.
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