Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Movie Tie-in Edition) Paperback – May 26, 2015

Loved everything about it. Structurally, this isn't set up in the same way most people think about novels. It's part screenplay. Part random asides. Part novel. All of that worked though and worked well. It was all cleverly done.Character's voice was fantastic. Side characters were fun. Plot points kept me interested and regularly surprised.My only complaints are minimal. First, the language was a bit much for me. I can see why it made sense for the story and characters, but for me personally I like a cleaner book.I wanted something from the ending that I didn't get. Not sure what, but I was left with a bit of an emotional hole. Now, to be clear, the author warns the reader from the get-go to expect this so I can only complain so much. But on the other hand, it made for a slightly dis-satisfying ending.

This book is so hard for me to review because I was so conflicted throughout its pages. Like honestly I’m about to start writing things here and I’m not completely sure what I’m going to say. But that’s why book reviews are fun sometimes. Sooooooo here we go:THE GOODLet me start with things I did like, because there were quite a few:THE VOICE OF THE NARRATOR.This is true at least in the beginning. His character and voice are really unique and realistic and just relatable. He’s just your average teenage boy. Like Greg purposefully sets out in high school to be neither popular nor a loner. To be friendly to everyone but be close friends with no one. To just blend it without standing out. And so he’s just average. But his voice is funny and inviting and real.THE HUMOR.This book is pretty funny. I think that is it’s main draw, honestly. With Greg’s very open and honest voice as the narrator, he says some pretty funny things. Like this, for instance: “Who else is there to lead the masses? The smart kids? Please. They have no interest in politics. They’re hoping simply to attract as little attention as possible until high school is over. Then they can escape to some college where no one will mock them for knowing how an adverb works.” Lol. And I’m an English major so I can laugh at that. But he was just never afraid to keep it real and say the truth without being politically correct.THE SET-UP.This book was set-up really well. The real book is written by Jesse Andrews. But the book itself is “written” by Greg Gaines, the narrator. Who is writing about his experience with Rachel, the “dying girl.” Or actually it’s basically a story about himself, but whatever. So it’s essentially a book within a book. And I liked that. This book-ception thing going on. At least in this green copy I have, they put all the copyright info in the back so you don’t even see Andrews’ name besides the cover. So when I opened the book and started, they have this little introduction from the “author,” and I read it thinking it was Andrews but it was actually Greg. They kind of “fool” you into thinking Greg is really the author of the book, which gives it a lot of credibility and I actually really liked that.Along with this book-ception concept, this is not an ordinary book. It’s filled with lists and most of the dialogue is written in screenplay format (because Greg’s a filmmaker) and the breaking down of the fourth wall and it’s awesome. It’s creative and fresh.THE BADNow let’s get to what I didn’t like…because when I started, I actually really enjoyed it. I even purchased it before I read it (which I do very rarely)…but it sounded like something I would really like. And I started off really liking it. And then at the end, I just felt mostly conflicted and underwhelmed.THE VOICE OF THE NARRATOR.“What?” You might be asking. “Carlisa, you just used this same thing as a good thing. What in the sam-hill are you doing?” I know, dear reader. I know. This is why I was so conflicted and why I noted I only liked his voice in the beginning. And I don’t think his voice changed. It’s just that as I got to know Greg more, see his character and personality, I got really annoyed with him. He’s very egocentric. And very, very passive.FLAT, FLAT (LIKE PAPER-FLAT) CHARACTERS.The characters stay 100% the same from the beginning to the end (with the exception of one person). Page 1 Greg is also Page 295 Greg. Bah. That just drives me crazy. Why did I just take this journey with you if you’re not taking a journey yourself, you know?And Rachel has no personality. You basically learn nothing about her the entire book. Except that she has cancer.THE CRUDITY.It’s pretty crude sometimes. Really it’s only one character, Greg’s friend Earl…and then Greg who goes along with it not to rock the boat (*cough passive cough*). And maybe boys actually think like this all the time? Maybe that’s true (I wish it weren’t). And like I said, his voice is very real. So if it’s real, I guess it’s represented well? I just personally don’t like it.THE RESOLUTION THAT DOESN’T COME.The entire book you’re waiting for a resolution. For Greg to grow up a little or just really anything to happen. You’re waiting for a reason this book was written. But there really isn’t one. And we’re warned of this, but still. What’s the point of the book?OVERALL…The reason why I’ve been so conflicted over this book is that all the things I didn’t like about it were done purposefully. The characters are supposed to be flat and I don’t think we’re really supposed to like Greg at all. There isn’t supposed to be a moral. And we’re very openly exposed to that. In the little intro, Greg says, “My point is this: This book contains precisely zero Important Life Lessons, or Little-Known Facts About Love, or sappy tear-jerking Moments When We Knew We Had Left Our Childhood Behind for Good, or whatever.” So, yes. It’s very clear. But I think as readers we still expect something to happen. Something to grow. I don’t know.It’s just like Andrews purposefully created these things that we will both love and then hate. So, I’m conflicted. And I gave it 2.5 because it’s hanging around the middle somewhere but felt more dissatisfied than satisfied. So, yup.But I’m still excited to see the movie. It looks good in those hipster-movie kind of way. And it looks like it’s focused more on Rachel than on Greg, which is a huge plus. But it’s not showing in my area right now (what the heck).

This review was originally written on my blog Young Adult Books, found here: [...] 2012/12/me-and-earl-and-dying-girl-book-review.htmlHi guys,I'm sorry I haven't posted in FOREVER, it's just that my schedule is ridiculous. I've been staying up until 2 in the morning almost every night doing homework and projects. I've hardly had any time to read. That's why I'm glad for Christmas Break (even if it is only a week long this year (thanks a lot school board!!!)) Anyway, for Christmas I bought the new kindle paperwhite, and I LOVE IT! It's so much better than my old kindle. I definitely recommend it. When I got my kindle I bought a few books on it, one of which was Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. I haven't read a book since Ten, even though I've tried, but I've been too swamped. So when my parents announced we were going to Baltimore for a few days to see some relatives, I knew I would get some reading done. I heard so much about this book that's one reason I bought it, the main reason I bought it though, was because everyone said it was one of the funniest books they'd ever read. Here's the synopsis from Goodreads:Greg Gaines is the last master of high school espionage, able to disappear at will into any social environment. He has only one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time making movies, their own incomprehensible versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics.Until Greg's mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel.Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia---cue extreme adolescent awkwardness---but a parental mandate has been issued and must be obeyed. When Rachel stops treatment, Greg and Earl decide the thing to do is to make a film for her, which turns into the Worst Film Ever Made and becomes a turning point in each of their lives.And all at once Greg must abandon invisibility and stand in the spotlight.My first impression of this book was really good because of the cover, which is awesome (I love the colors, and the Scrapbook-y feel to it) and I also had a good first impression of this book because of the book review of it by Raeleen from Padfoot and Occasionally Prongs. I love all the characters in this book, they all add to the story line so well. I, obviously, like the three main characters the most, but all the other characters really made this book more life-like. There's really nothing to say about this book that hasn't already been put in the synopsis except that the awkward chemistry between Greg and Rachel is hilarious. My favorite part of the book was there conversation about Pillows... it's the funniest thing I've ever read. I loved the humor of this book up until about the half-way point from then on out some of the jokes started to get a little repetitive and not as funny, but there were some funny parts of the second half of this book. Also, this book is very vulgar, and you guys know I don't really like that... but somehow this book kind of made it work for me, I don't know how, but it did... so that didn't cause a large deduction of star rating power. One thing I didn't like about his book was that it ended too abruptly for me it kind of built up with all the humor and everything going on that once the thing, which you've been expecting the whole time, happens, it just sort of ends... there wasn't a large revelation, or change of heart, or anything... so I guess that's what makes it more like real life, but I just didn't like the ending. So I give this book 4/5 stars because of the annoying humor from the second half, and the abrupt ending. Except for those two things, I loved this book, and I'm glad it got me out of my reading slump. I can't wait to, hopefully, start reviewing more frequently, and my next review will be on Glitches, which will be my first short-story review. This is the prequel to the book Cinder by Marissa Meyer, and I hope to review it soon. Check out Me and Earl and the Dying Girl... it will make you laugh harder than you have ever laughed during a book, I swear! READ IT NOW!

Someone recommended this book and I'm so glad they did. After a few dull reads, this was just what I needed. I'm so torn on it though! Whizzing through it, laughing my head off, falling in love with the characters, I was sure I would give it a 5 star review. But the ending! It just felt rushed and brutal to me. But I think that was kind of the point...after all death is sometimes rushed and brutal. Going back to why I loved it though...it was funny. Seriously funny. It reminded me of Diary Of A Wimpy Kid only much much better and funnier, and obviously aimed at older people. I loved the character of Greg, the narrator. In many ways, he was a bit of a dick, but he never denied that, and really he had developed this sort of non-personality in order to survive the horrors of high school. His tactic was being marginally friends with all the 'clicks' but not really friends with anyone, in order to avoid being bullied or singled out. And this worked great until his mum insisted he be a friend to Rachel, a fellow student recently diagnosed with leukemia. Greg is horrified by this awkward prospect but goes along with it anyway, and manages to cheer Rachel up with his off the wall sense of humour. I loved his sense of humour too. I was actually laughing out loud a lot of the time, which felt sort of strange given the subject matter....Greg's only real friend is Earl, a brilliantly drawn character from a very colourful family. the dialogue between the two was just fantastic and made me love them more. Obsessed with film making, they start showing Rachel films they have made over the years to make her laugh, and it works. All well and good and I was sort of then expecting her to either get better and become real friends with them, or to die and for them to be changed/affected by it. Thats not really how it played out though and that did unsettle me. In truth, Rachel's personality was never given a chance to shine. We never really got to know her, but again, maybe that was the point. After all, Greg had been thrown into this strange situation where he felt obligated to be her friend and cheer her up. Without giving too much away, the ending did disappoint me a bit, hence 4 stars rather than 5. An interesting read though and one of those I now want my friends/family to read so I can talk about it with them and see what they think. I'm also desperate to see the film and will definitely read more from this author.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I can't believe I held off on reading it for soo long!! I lovvve how this book is written, with it being as through the author, aka the main character Greg, is speaking directly to the reader the entirity of the book. Right down to the beginning of the book where there is "A note from Greg Gaines" which just added that little bit extra something. I love it.This book feels honest, in a brutal way. There wad no holding back when it came to things that you would think not to include and tell people about, because of the awkwardness and out of embarrassment. Especially after we find out who and why Greg is actually writing this book for. But at the same time, Greg is in some serious denial, both about his feelings and when he says how all of this didn't change or affect him. But with all that, it just adds to how realistic this story feels. Even the title is just honest and just tells you exactly what you're in for! But on saying that, it's not a book that just focuses everything on Rachel and the illness, but on the teenagers, growing up and other aspects, and. the illness is just another thing in this book.You get these little parts within the story that look like a film script, which is so fitting and suits this characters personality down to a tee. These little extras are just so perfect, especially considering this book is written in the way that Greg is meant to have wrote it, and Greg states how he more a filmmaker, not a writer.In the Epilogue, there is a funny little thing that was just so funny to me, because of hindsight and because I waited so long to read this book. Greg states how he want be "making a film out of this book. There is no way in hell that is going to happen." This made me laugh so much because I know that they made a film based on this book, so I found it hilarious.I'm so glad I've finally read this book!!!

I bought this book because I bought it. That is I had not read any reviews or been told about it nor seen any advertising. I did not know it had been made into a film.So, I came at it with no preconceptions at all.To begin with I was put out by the unusual style of writing, with for me, strange layouts, and odd ways of showing conversations. I was finding the characters too extreme, too bizarre. Maybe being British and in my 70’s can be held to account for that. I am innately conservative in literary preferences.But this book quickly overcame my problems with gifted writing. It showed very clearly the pain that adolescents go through and their view of their immediate world that is, for them, the only world that matters. And by extension it comments on the similar pains that adults go through when confronted with rarely experienced situations.WARNING:- After this, this review contains spoilers.Greg is a sixteen/seventeen year-old in a big city school. Greg has a huge problem with girls. It is not that he doesn’t like them, on the contrary, he really likes them, but, being inept and clumsy, as well as not very good looking his attempts to ‘get on’ with them are pathetic and funny. This humour is heightened by is appealing self awareness, ‘after the event’.He finally succeeds with Rachel, who he meets in his Bar Mitvah class. But he does not want to succeed with her, he wants to succeed with someone else.His efforts to escape and to tell her he does not want to ‘hang out’ with her are very amusingly told.Then Rachel ‘got acute myelogenous leukemia’.Greg suffers very mixed emotions, he doesn’t know what to feel, he doesn’t know how to act, and the story tells of his mixed emotions and also with his basic honesty to himself.‘Mom was asking me to resume a friendship that had no honest foundation and ended on screamingly awkward terms. How do you do that? You can’t.’But pressed by his mother, and always, in his own mind unwilling, he does resume the friendship, as best he can.Which is when we start to learn about his friend, Earl.And the fact that Greg and Earl are both addicted to a certain type of movie, and have being trying to make one. And their efforts, they think are very bad.As indeed, they are.But they amuse Rachel and the two young men, prompted mainly by Earl, try to make a movie especially for her.The results are not good.The book is, despite its language and sometimes brutish content a delicate look at how we deal with death and dying and how, being unaccustomed for the most part, in dealing with this particular pain we are frequently clumsy and feel inadequate, are inadequate.So, four stars from me.

I really enjoyed this book, it has a very nice a approach to a serious subject. It posses the right mix of comedy and tragedy. Would highly recommend for a young adult novel.My only criticism of the book is a number of printing errors in it make some sections difficult to read, because words will be missing letters or sentences will be missing words.

I was excited to read the book as I had seen the trailer for the film and wanted to read it before I went to see it. I was extremely disappointed. I can't believe I managed to finish the book at all since it took me over a week to finish the first couple of chapters since it was that boring. The characters were annoying, the jokes unfunny and the book didn't seem to have any flow to it at alI. I really hope the have made a lot of changes to the film since I would walk out after 5 mins if not.