Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Feb 16, 2012 Maja rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-for-rainy-days, contemporary-fiction, debut-author, male-pov, netgalley, arc-2012, ya, reviewed-in-2012

3.5 stars

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a very strange book indeed. I’m sure some of you read the blurb and thought: Not another cancer book! Really, are books about teens with cancer the new black?! Yeah, I thought so too. It turns out that this book has very little to do with cancer. It has more to do with several other, completely unrelated things like filmmaking, high school social structure, odd friendships and nagging parents. It’s certainly not a sob story. The only tears I’d shed whil...more 3.5 stars

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a very strange book indeed. I’m sure some of you read the blurb and thought: Not another cancer book! Really, are books about teens with cancer the new black?! Yeah, I thought so too. It turns out that this book has very little to do with cancer. It has more to do with several other, completely unrelated things like filmmaking, high school social structure, odd friendships and nagging parents. It’s certainly not a sob story. The only tears I’d shed while reading it were caused by laughter.

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. And, unlike most books in which a girl gets cancer, there are definitely no sugary paradoxical single-sentence-paragraphs that you’re supposed to think are deep because they’re in italics.

This is where I would normally write a lengthy plot summary, but I’m afraid my usual reviewing patterns simply won’t work for this book. Greg Gaines is a normal, awkward teenage boy who prides himself in the fact that he doesn’t belong to any of the usual groups in high school, but is on friendly terms with everyone. He only has one real friend, his complete opposite, Earl. When a girl from his school gets leukemia, Greg’s mother makes Greg spend time with her, and as much as he doesn’t want to, he’s too afraid of his mother to say no.

Greg Gaines, our main character, assumed the role of the author, which led to a lot of self-deprecating humor (and made me think that he was also, at least partly, an author surrogate). Although I’ll be the first to admit that his observations about his own writing were often hilarious, I did feel that the whole thing was overdone at times. A good joke can only be good for so long before it becomes downright annoying. Here’s just one example:
And that’s part of the backstory for me and Earl. It’ll probably be relevant later, although who really knows. I can’t believe you’re still reading this. You should smack yourself in the face a couple of times right now, just to complete the outstandingly stupid experience that is this book.
That is just one example in which an invisible line was crossed and Greg’s story stopped being funny and became eye-roll inducing. That doesn’t mean, however, that this book didn’t have incredibly funny moments. It is, after all, based almost entirely on humor, and the kind of humor that actually worked for me most of the time. It is what kept me reading even after I realized that there isn’t an actual plot to speak of. The fact that it took me a while to even notice says enough about the kind of narrative we’re dealing with here.

I honestly think that I’m not the intended audience for this book, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying it. In many ways, it provides a realistic insight into a teenage boy’s mind, and that’s something we (I) don’t see enough of. Do I think you should read this book? Definitely. It’s not a book that you’ll read compulsively, so it’s best to pick it up when you’re otherwise preoccupied. It’s one of those books you can abandon for a while and go back to whenever you feel like it. There are times when that’s exactly what I’m looking for: a light, fun read that will allow me to focus on other, more important things.
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Mar 02, 2012 Aleeeeeza rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-release, arc-netgalley-galleygrab, 2012-read, the-lulz-oh-my, 2012-faves

This is me during, hmm, let's see, 90% of this book:

I kid you not. This book made me laugh my ASS OFF. I have never in my whole life laughed this much while reading a book. Jesse Andrews, for this alone, YOU ARE AWESOME.

M&E&tDG is one of the weirdest books I've ever read. Nothing much really happens--in terms of both plot or character development--and despite that, driven alone by the MC, Greg's, humorous voice, the book ends up being an awesome read.

Just to lay out how hilarious Greg's...more

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May 23, 2012 Emily May rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-na, 2012, contemporary

I don't mean to sound so cold-hearted when I say this, but I normally hate "cancer books". Or illness and dying books in general. They're so hung up on leaving the reader with a beautiful message about life and/or death, so intent on making you cry and showing how a person can gain a new outlook on life from either having a terminal illness or being close to someone with a terminal illness. In real life, very few people are lucky enough to take something amazing away from an experience like thi...more

I don't mean to sound so cold-hearted when I say this, but I normally hate "cancer books". Or illness and dying books in general. They're so hung up on leaving the reader with a beautiful message about life and/or death, so intent on making you cry and showing how a person can gain a new outlook on life from either having a terminal illness or being close to someone with a terminal illness. In real life, very few people are lucky enough to take something amazing away from an experience like this. Andrews knows that, and he does such a great job of delivering a book that is hilarious with colourful characters, that contains a girl with cancer, but doesn't strain itself to give us a life lesson.

One of the best things about this book is that the illness is a subplot in an otherwise really funny novel. This is the most I've laughed at a story in a very long time. Greg is a fantastic protagonist and the jokes vary between witty sarcasm and a bit of ridiculous schoolboy humour - who knew breasts could be such a source of hilarity? And the even better thing is that Andrews doesn't try to manipulate the reader's emotions, I didn't feel like I was being forced to cry or pity Rachel, and I appreciated the author's message that sometimes shit happens, things go wrong and people die, and we don't necessarily learn anything useful from it other than the fact that shit happens, things go wrong and people die.

Greg feels like he should be moved by Rachel's illness, he feels like he should hang out with her, and yet Andrews allows him to acknowledge that he isn't moved, he doesn't really want to help out or get involved, in fact he finds himself wishing he could ignore the whole situation, carry on with his life, and pretend it isn't happening. Maybe you won't like this sentiment, but it felt a million times more honest and real than any other book about illness that I can remember.

I haven't read John Green's story about cancer - The Fault in Our Stars - but I think that what I like about Me and Earl and the Dying Girl might be what's lacking in Green's work, if the reviews are anything to go by. I also think Green and his middle-aged teenagers will struggle to compete after I enjoyed this book so much. If you're looking for a honest and funny (in my opinion, anyway) story with a great cast of characters, I'm pretty confident Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is for you.(less)

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Mar 21, 2012 Heidi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Four Stars: This book will appeal to a select audience, if you are a fan of Catcher in the Rye, you will appreciate this novel.

Reading the title of this book, inevitably you expect to read a story that relates the emotional turmoil and life changing implications of facing death. I am going to tell you that Mr. Andrews is completely honest and informs you right up front, that this is not that kind of book. I admit, I started reading this expecting to find that he was lying and there would indeed...more

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Oct 14, 2012 April rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-review, ya, netgalley, ereader, contemporary

For a book with a dying girl, Me and Earl And The Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews serves up laugh after laugh after laugh. I have a very crass, low brow sense of humor and loved the shit out of Greg Gaines’ profanity-laced narration of Me And Earl And The Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews.

Read the rest of my review here

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May 17, 2012 RandomAnthony rated it 4 of 5 stars

Okay, I'm going to review two books at once. There may be a way to do so on GR but I'm unaware. Here we go.

The other book's review can be found here:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

The two books are Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I'm reviewing them together because they're both, for lack of a better phrase, YA cancer books.

HOW I CAME TO READ TWO YA CANCER BOOKS IN A ROW

I know no one with cancer, so this choice wasn't personal. O...more

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Aug 02, 2012 Raeleen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, favorites, made-me-cry, sexy-cover, want-to-reread, own, mature-ya, 2013-rereads

Oh my goodness... What did I just read?

I finally have a gif to describe my feels...

Here it is, folks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3e_2...

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Jan 06, 2012 Carla rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: lolarious

this was ridiculous. and by ridiculous I mean FUCKING AWESOME

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Mar 09, 2013 ♥ Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-na, issues

This is not a book about cancer. The ‘dying girl’ is a secondary character, a mere plot device, the quiet background noise to an obnoxiously hilarious narrative. But, if you take away the funny bits, the bullet point lists, the scene-script dialogues, the texts, the quirky family, the short, angry black friend, and the secret films, then what do you really have? What was the point of The Dying Girl?

On one hand, Rachel’s death obviously changed Greg’s life. Not only did he actually break his “fri...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Isamlq rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc-galley

3.5/5

Me, Earl and the Dying Girl is quite the surprise. Our guy has a tendency to go off on tangents, funny, humorous tangents that revealed not only his self-deprecating humor but also that he’s an ability to state things as they really were (or maybe not.)

Because while Greg reads ordinary, he is disconnected. He doesn’t want to make waves. He doesn’t want enemies, but neither does he want friends. Curious guy, I thought. Except, paring it down, we see that he’s so afraid of what others see a...more 3.5/5

Me, Earl and the Dying Girl is quite the surprise. Our guy has a tendency to go off on tangents, funny, humorous tangents that revealed not only his self-deprecating humor but also that he’s an ability to state things as they really were (or maybe not.)

Because while Greg reads ordinary, he is disconnected. He doesn’t want to make waves. He doesn’t want enemies, but neither does he want friends. Curious guy, I thought. Except, paring it down, we see that he’s so afraid of what others see and think as it related to him. And it’s such things that drives him to be as he was, which is I repeat, disconnected. But if he was that at the beginning of the book, he certainly wasn’t that by its end.

Yet I did enjoy this story. Mainly, I laughed at how thing were stated. Because the best thing in it was how he’d take the making s of a conventional thing and turn it on its head. Put a dying girl and boy who had no real close friends to call their own together. A romance was likely to develop, yes? Right? Or take the same boy, who’s basically terrified of a lot of things (most especially what others thought of him,) then take a tough guy who’d just as soon as kick you than look at you. And ask yourself, do these two have the makings of an unconventional friendship. Would one take the other under his wing? Would the other? Maybe. Most of all though, I respect how Greg called things out as moronic: other people, other people’s behavior, but more often than not, himself… because he really could be such a moron.

The saddest part of it is the level to which he’d did not believe in him self. The depressing state of his self-confidence was funny and sad (but really, mostly funny.) Yet, things did change. Slowly. And while one would think that it’s due to the dying girl, it really isn’t. His moment of clarity comes from the most unexpected of sources. And I love, love, love this fact.

So, take heaps of self-deprecating humor, some really crass, gross jokes, a dying girl and then two boys, and color me surprised. I enjoyed this one.

Thanks Net Galley!(less)

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Mar 28, 2013 Holly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, comedic, kindle, young-adult

This book was an odd, crazy, funny, wild ride. And I really enjoyed it.
There were several laugh out loud moments, especially early on in the book. I loved how unique the story was, and really look forward to reading whatever Jesse Andrews has planned next.

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May 20, 2012 Kaitlin Stainbrook rated it 5 of 5 stars

First: This cover. Damn. I really dig it.
Second: This book. Damn. I really dig it.

Greg and his only friend Earl play a lot of video games and make a lot of bad movies together. They don't really care that their movies are so crappy, because they only create them for themselves.

But then Greg's mother bullies Greg into hanging out with and making a video for a girl named Rachel, who's been recently diagnosed with leukemia. What follows is easily the funniest book I've read all year. (Bet you weren...more First: This cover. Damn. I really dig it.
Second: This book. Damn. I really dig it.

Greg and his only friend Earl play a lot of video games and make a lot of bad movies together. They don't really care that their movies are so crappy, because they only create them for themselves.

But then Greg's mother bullies Greg into hanging out with and making a video for a girl named Rachel, who's been recently diagnosed with leukemia. What follows is easily the funniest book I've read all year. (Bet you weren't expecting that sentence to follow one in which the word leukemia is used, did you?)

I was really hesitant to read a Teen Cancer Book after the perfection otherwise known as John Green's The Fault In Our Stars. I feel all cancer-themed books are ruined for me now because nothing can improve upon Tfios. But! Even though there is the Big C in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, the cancer isn't quite the focus here. It's more like this thing going on in the background that is definitely present and Greg really worries about making a movie for Rachel, but the author, Jesse Andrews, seems more focused on just portraying... teenagers.

And I realize that portraying teenagers is what (it is safe to say) *all* YA authors and writers are after, but Me and Earl and the Dying Girl just does it extremely well. Like, Rachel is not turned into a manic pixie dream girl, none of the three title characters are described as being at all attractive - they're very average in appearance, Greg and Earl are not talented movie makers, and their high school populace's response to Rachel's diagnosis is spot on and I say this from personal, legit high school experience. There isn't a beautiful moment at the end and Greg doesn't really come to any brilliant insights about life or love, yet this is still a beautifully done book.

Also, this book is funny. Genuinely hilarious and quite possibly the funniest book I've read in an extremely long time. Greg's narrative voice is great and self-deprecating and sarcastic and self-referential/meta (seriously, Greg acknowledges he's writing a YA book) and though I don't know if I would want to be his friend, I loved hearing him talk about his life. (And hearing all the characters who live in his world, especially Earl!) I also loved how Greg would smoothly integrate movie scrips into his narrative structure. It worked so well and made perfect sense with how Greg understands and interprets his world.

It's strange that while there isn't a lot going on plot-wise, this was still one of those books that for me, I couldn't stop reading and looked forward to picking back up again whenever I set it down. I read Me and Earl and the Dying Girl when I was having a not-so-great week, particularly due to having a really, really bad cold (on my birthday no less!), and this book was one of the very few bright spots in that week.

This is Jesse Andrews' debut novel believe it or not and I can not wait to see what he writes next.(less)

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May 09, 2012 Heather Ponzer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: funny-edgy

This book was absolutely hilarious. I haven't laughed so hard in a while. My husband listened to about every other page because I just HAD to stop and read it out loud.

You know, even though it was so, so, so funny. It was still very touching, and felt so honest. I just started The Fault in Our Stars, which is maybe a mistake coming off the hangover of this book. Already it feels not as 'authentically teenager' as this. I may eat my words since I just started the other.

I've recommended this book...more

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Mar 05, 2012 Carrie Ardoin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, posted-on-blog, from-netgalley, funny

Greg Gaines has worked hard to be a totally neutral, sort-of friend to all and enemy to none throughout his entire high school career. As he goes into his senior year, he fully hopes to make it through as easily as possible in just the same way he has been doing it for the last 3 years.

This is changed when his mother tells him that Rachel, a girl he kind of dated for a week or so in middle school, has been diagnosed with leukemia...and wouldn't it be nice if he could go spend some time with her...more Greg Gaines has worked hard to be a totally neutral, sort-of friend to all and enemy to none throughout his entire high school career. As he goes into his senior year, he fully hopes to make it through as easily as possible in just the same way he has been doing it for the last 3 years.

This is changed when his mother tells him that Rachel, a girl he kind of dated for a week or so in middle school, has been diagnosed with leukemia...and wouldn't it be nice if he could go spend some time with her?

Greg does what his mother wants him to do, because that is the only way to get her off his back. He visits Rachel a few awkward times and discovers that he is good at making her laugh. Then, he visits her and brings along his only close friend/coworker, Earl.

Earl lets Rachel in on a secret: he and Greg are filmmakers. Since Rachel is sick, they agree to let her see the films that only they have seen. As Greg and Earl spend more time with Rachel, the dynamic becomes interesting. And just maybe Greg can learn something from his time with Rachel.

So, I read this book in about 4 hours, even though it is over 300 pages. It was just that awesome. I LOVED everything about it.

First of all, Greg as a narrator is awesomely and awkwardly hilarious. It is so different to be about to see into the mind of a teenage BOY for once. And I loved what I saw. His thoughts are random but coherent. He tells the truth about how things are, even if he is a bit self-deprecating.

Earl is also great. At first I took a little offense to why Greg would be speaking properly while Earl, the black kid, spoke ghetto slang and improper sentences. But as the book neared its' end, I completely understood why Earl and the author did things this way. I won't say why, so I don't spoil things for you, but it was something fantastic.

Even though this is technically a book about a dying girl, Rachel is not characterized too much, and she's not really in that much of the book. I can also understand the reason for this, also sometimes I think I may be reading too deeply into things.

The plot was very believable--every only son wants to please his mother, right? Not to mention that the Gaines family is Jewish, so if we're being a bit stereotypical that makes him want to please her even more.

This book made me laugh out loud countless times, and I still can't believe how fast I read it. Basically I knew as soon as I started it, I had to finish it. If this is the first novel for Jesse Andrews, I cannot wait to see what improvements, if any can be made, come with experience. (less)

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Jun 27, 2012 Autumn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: boys, bromances, first-person, funny, social-class, teenagers, death

This book is cracking me up. It's about a couple of teen nihilists who worship Werner Herzog. Did I WRITE this book? Sadly, no. I'm not even halfway through yet, but this is in my top 5 of the year so far. OK, update: I read this book so hard I was late to work. Can a book with so many swears in it win the Printz award? This guy is in Zindel-land, with heretofore unrivaled depictions of reality and how people actually act. It's like FioS's profane little cousin. Is Earl based on Earl Sweatshirt?...more

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Jan 07, 2013 Lyn (The Heartless) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, kindle, teen-lit, trauma

You can also read this review at Great Imaginations!

This isn’t your typical, run-of-the-mill sap-tastic cancer story. No sobbing, sticky sweet terminal romance is to be found here! (Don’t get me wrong, I cried for a long time after The Fault in Our Stars – I do love me some candy flavored romance books). However, every once in a while, you need something a little tougher on your “haz cancer” shelf. Me, Earl and the Dying Girl pulls away from the norm and instead uses cancer as a catalyst and an...more You can also read this review at Great Imaginations!

This isn’t your typical, run-of-the-mill sap-tastic cancer story. No sobbing, sticky sweet terminal romance is to be found here! (Don’t get me wrong, I cried for a long time after The Fault in Our Stars – I do love me some candy flavored romance books). However, every once in a while, you need something a little tougher on your “haz cancer” shelf. Me, Earl and the Dying Girl pulls away from the norm and instead uses cancer as a catalyst and an opportunity to explore friendship and the role of how people connect with one another. I’m a huge sucker for the urban legend stories that get deposited into your e-mail from time to time, about animals who save the lives of babies and about mysterious strangers buying all of the poor children new jeans for Christmas after their dad and mom were laid off from their three jobs. It is inspiring to read about people who change their lives after a tragedy. I need that vein of human compassion in my life. Without it, I become a puddle of emotional rage about the unfairness of life. Young Adult fiction is a breeding ground for life shattering, fate altering storylines and bleeding heart protagonists. But the field could also use a healthy dose of reality from time to time. This story isn’t about “How I Will Change My Life Because of Tragedy." This book is about “What To Do When Tragedy Just Mildly Inconveniences My Life, But I Feel Like a Crappy Person Because I’m Not That Upset." I believe I can say that we have all been in that horrible situation. We cannot take every sad event and turn it into a life altering one. It isn't possible. Life is difficult enough without having to avenge every wrong in the world. And thankfully, an author was brave enough to put it down into words.

Greg Gains, the main character of the book, is a severely flawed character. In fact, each of the main characters in the book does not try to be anything but themselves. Greg’s friend (or “coworker”), Earl, has his own fair share of complicated and negative traits. Rachel, the “dying girl”, is profiled as a bland character and never really shows any of her own personality, and tends to take a backseat to the plot. However, all of this made the book feel like it could have been based on a true story. A very low key, run of the mill, normal every day person story. After finishing the book, I realized that Andrews set out to write a story about the real side effects of the mortality of people and friendships, not about the long term effects of a major illness.

The dynamic between Greg and Earl lays the foundation of the book. Greg is a soft, middle-class Jewish kid who contrasts starkly with Earl, a black, foul-mouthed teenager, who is one of a handful of step brothers and half brothers scraping by in his virtually absent mother’s household. The odds seem constantly stacked against Earl throughout the book. However, the pint-sized Earl is often the redeeming factor in the book. The reader is often dosed with Earl’s thoughtfulness and wisdom beyond his age. For example, Greg constantly is obsessed with “hot” girls throughout the book. He’ll only really care about a girl if she is attractive and has, what Earl calls, “big-ass titties." I was ready to knock off a star from the book after reading the billionth time that Greg mentions how insane girls are and how he only gives a girl the time of day if she is attractive. Luckily, Earl steps in and calls Greg out on his shallowness and stupidity. Towards the end of the book, Earl explains how you can only help people who want to help themselves first. As I had stated earlier, Greg is a severely flawed character, but Earl, the surprise saint wrapped in an underage chain smoker who loves to use “fuck” and “pussy” in every other sentence, is the real hero of this book. Earl is the character who calls out Greg about his shallow behavior and point blank lays it out on the table that being invisible to people and only caring about attractive people doesn’t make you a good person, it makes you, in fact, “shitty.” Outside of the constant quest for “the hot chick," Greg does have issues that I believe all of us can relate with. High school IS the worst time in your life. The percentage of people who loved high school is a very small minority. Greg faces the common dilemma of fitting in, escaping ridicule, and overall trying to discover where he fits in, and what he should do. He is self deprecating and tends to hide away any part of himself from high school.

Overall, the book is touching, and leans more towards realistic than inspirational. If you adore the realistic genre, then I would high recommend this book to you.(less)

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Sep 30, 2012 Ligeia. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: covers-i-love

Greg tiene diecisiete años y está en su último año de instituto. Vive en Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, y acude al instituto Benson en el que, como en cualquier instituto del mundo, la gente se divide en diferentes grupitos: están los ricos, los raritos, los de la orquesta, los de la iglesia, los drogatas, los deportistas, los góticos,...
Greg nos cuenta que no pertenece a ninguno, pero en cambio está en todos a la vez... es decir, no se involucra más de la cuenta con nadie, pasa desapercibido, pero...more

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May 29, 2012 Amanda (Pearl the Book Girl) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-release, march, own, young-adult, contemporary, dealing-with-death, illness-disease, light-humor, bir-2012

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is Fantastic (yes with a capital F)! It's so hilarious I was literally loling through the entire book. It's kind of like if John Green was a sarcastic a-hole (and I mean that in the most affectionate way possible). Most of the time I find rambling tangents kind of annoying, but I loved the humor, even though sometimes it got to a place that made me more than a little shocked.

No seriously. I was mostly cracking up, but every now and then I'd be like "Oh dear God!"....more Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is Fantastic (yes with a capital F)! It's so hilarious I was literally loling through the entire book. It's kind of like if John Green was a sarcastic a-hole (and I mean that in the most affectionate way possible). Most of the time I find rambling tangents kind of annoying, but I loved the humor, even though sometimes it got to a place that made me more than a little shocked.

No seriously. I was mostly cracking up, but every now and then I'd be like "Oh dear God!"....but mostly laughing hysterically. A word of warning, the humor is a major part of the book, and it is NOT kid friendly, so if crude humor and swear words aren't your style, approach with caution.

One of my favorite aspects of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is the stylistic choices. The story is told in a variety of ways including bullet point lists and screenplay style, which makes it so much fun to read. I also just really enjoyed the writing style. Greg is very self deprecating and there are a ton of silly interjections that just made me laugh out loud.

However, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl isn't all dirty jokes (I promise). I think there's a pretty deep message too, maybe not a happy one, but a message all the same. It talks about how not everyone is a fighter, and not everyone has profound moments when faced with death. Sometimes people just die, and even though you may know that person, it doesn't mean your life will be all that changed. There's a lot of pressure on people to feel SO SORRY that someone is dying, that everyone has to drop everything because they know someone who is sick, even if that emotion is fake and forced. And a lot of times people care more about the guilt they feel about not caring then they do about the actual dying person. We make a person's death about us, and we'll do things we think they'll want (such as make a movie commemorating their life) without really considering who the dying person actually is and what they would want. This message isn't hopeful or heartwarming, but it's way more honest than a lot of other illness and death books out there.

So basically, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl will appeal to a select audience. If you're looking for a sentimental coming of age story where the MC learns a profound lesson through the death of a manic pixie dream girl, move along, this is NOT your book. However, if you're looking for a realistic view of how effed up death can make you and how it's not something that can be tied up in a neat little package of revelations and self discovery told in hundreds of pages of laugh out loud ridiculousness, then run (not walk) and get Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.
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Jul 31, 2012 Crini rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: a-ya, netgalley, released-2012, genre-contemporary, r-great, t-death, lang-english, s-standalone, read-2012, to-reread, pov-male

Obwohl schon die Anmerkungen von Jesse Andrews im Voraus darauf hindeuten dass dieses Buch nicht das sein wird, was man nach dem Lesen des Klappentextes erwarten würde, war ich trotzdem vom Inhalt überrascht.
Denn eigentlich erzählt Jesse Andrews eine traurige, deprimierende, bedrückende und alles andere als glückliche Geschichte. Man sollte sich aber auf eine Stimmung einstellen, die das Cover perfekt wiedergibt: chaotisch, farbenfroh und lustig.

Jesse Andrews hat mit seinem Charakter Greg und se...more Obwohl schon die Anmerkungen von Jesse Andrews im Voraus darauf hindeuten dass dieses Buch nicht das sein wird, was man nach dem Lesen des Klappentextes erwarten würde, war ich trotzdem vom Inhalt überrascht.
Denn eigentlich erzählt Jesse Andrews eine traurige, deprimierende, bedrückende und alles andere als glückliche Geschichte. Man sollte sich aber auf eine Stimmung einstellen, die das Cover perfekt wiedergibt: chaotisch, farbenfroh und lustig.

Jesse Andrews hat mit seinem Charakter Greg und seiner Geschichte geschafft, auf verschiedene Weisen aus einer schmerzlichen, traurigen Geschichte ein amüsantes Lesevergnügen zu machen.

Dass es beim Lesen immer wieder was zu Lachen gibt und die bedrückenden Situationen so aufgelockert werden, liegt vor allem an Greg selbst, der auf witzige und sympathische Weise verpeilt ist. Mit ihm ist Jesse Andrews ein einzigartiger und besonderer Charakter gelungen, der mir gleich so sympathisch war, dass ich ihn zu gerne mal kennen lernen und seine mir seine selbstgemachten Filme ansehen würde.
Und wenn man glaubt mit Greg einen tollen, ungewöhnlichen Charakter getroffen zu haben, dann tritt plötzlich Earl auf, der dem ganzen noch die Krone aufsetzt und die Geschichte noch lustiger macht.

Das Buch ist komplett durchsetzt mit Handlungen von Gregs unglücklich verlaufenden Leben. Egal ob Gregs Alltag in der Highschool, den er auf so wunderbar ironisch, witzige Art erzählt, oder den Moment, in dem er von seiner Mutter die Nachricht bekommt, dass seine alte Schulfreundin sterbenskrank ist, es wird alles auf eine frische, unkomplizierte und witzige Weise beschrieben, die genau meinen Humor getroffen hat.

Was mir besonders gefallen hat, ist die Erzählperspektive. Nicht nur dass die Geschichte aus der Sicht von Greg erzählt wird, sondern vor allem, dass dies so eingesetzt wird, dass man den Eindruck bekommt, Greg würde mit einem reden, stünde vor einem und erzähle einem gerade diese Geschichte.

Hinzu kommen Stellen die in Form einen Scripts geschrieben sind. Beim ersten Mal war ich darüber noch sehr verwundert, aber mit der Zeit mochte ich diese Stellen immer mehr, da sie mal etwas völlig anderes waren und die Geschichte zusätzlich aufpeppen.

Möchte man einen Eindruck bekommen, was für eine Geschichte in diesem Buch steckt, sollte man sich weniger auf den Klappentext verlassen, als auf die wunderbare Aufmachung dieses Buches.
Jesse Andrews hat mit seinem Humor bei mir eine Punktladung gemeistert und mich mit Greg, Earl und ihrer chaotischen und witzigen Geschichte vollauf begeistert.(less)

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Apr 13, 2012 Paul Hankins rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: funny, ladders-to-tuesdays-with-morrie, mr-hankins-says-don-t-miss, young-adult-edgy, young-adult-humor, young-adult-issue-don-t-miss, young-adult-tender-touching, march-2012-reads, young-adult-reader-advisor-book, young-adult-loss-and-grief-healing, young-adult-social-issues

April 13th, 2012:

Jesse Andrews's name and this particular title have come up in two separate conversations or interactions this week. This means that the book is on the reading radar and the two people I was talking to this week know books. They know titles.

I want to share what I had to say about ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL.

I very cheekishly said that I thought Jesse Andrews had created the antithesis to John Green's THE FAULT IN OUR STARS. I want to keep this with thought for must a moment....more

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Jan 17, 2013 Pam Gardow rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

First time author Jesse Andrews hits it out of the park with his first novel! Meet anti-hero, Greg Gaines, who has spent his entire high school career flying under the radar: friendly to all, friends with none. Meet Earl Jackson, black, angry, product of poverty and a dysfunctional home. Greg and Earl both love strange, avant-garde films and spend time secretly creating their own videos. Now meet Rachel, recently diagnosed with leukemia.

Stir and shake vigorously, and you have a wildly funny comi...more

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Apr 13, 2013 Helen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: hub-challenge, booktalks

Socially awkward Greg Gaines has managed to keep a low profile in high school: he's friendly with everyone, but with no real loyalty to any one clique. Greg's true passion is movies and he shares a love of cinema with his friend Earl, with whom he has made some terrible movies. They keep their films to themselves, and Greg is just fine with that. In his senior year, Greg's classmate, Rachel, is diagnosed with leukemia and Greg's mother decides that he should visit Rachel even though he hasn't re...more

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Feb 08, 2013 John rated it 4 of 5 stars

A story about cancer which manages to be funny without being too overtly clever and conveys the guilt and angst of conflicting feelings the character (Greg) has about his classmate (Rachel) who is suffering from the disease. Greg's friend Earl comes from a deeply dysfunctional and violent household and brings compassion to the story informed by his experiences. While there may be no obvious message or stereotypical teary-eyed love fest at the end, the book is not devoid of emotion. Greg and Earl...more

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Dec 31, 2012 Amy (Turn the Page) rated it 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

The cover is probably my favourite thing about this book.

Not that this a bad book — I think it deserves all the rave reviews. Its definitely one of the better cancer books I’ve read about a child dying (though why I keep picking these up I don’t know), as it avoids the horrible, saccharine, cliches you normally come across in these types of books *coughJohnGreencough*. It also has some very funny moments.

The truth is, I found being in Greg’s head a weird mixture of amusi...more 3.5 stars

The cover is probably my favourite thing about this book.

Not that this a bad book — I think it deserves all the rave reviews. Its definitely one of the better cancer books I’ve read about a child dying (though why I keep picking these up I don’t know), as it avoids the horrible, saccharine, cliches you normally come across in these types of books *coughJohnGreencough*. It also has some very funny moments.

The truth is, I found being in Greg’s head a weird mixture of amusing, annoying, dull and tedious… which I think was kind of the point.

Rather than have his characters experience life-altering epiphanies or fall in love or become wiser than their years, Andrew’s gives us Greg. Your average seventeen-year-old who is socially awkward, a bit of an idiot, lazy and very often selfish. In other words, he reacts to his sort-of-friend/classmate dying in a way that is refreshingly honest.

He doesn’t want to spend time with Rachel — but his mum makes him. He has no idea what to say to a girl who’s dying and so ends up saying the wrong thing entirely which leads to uncomfortable silences. He resents the impact this girl’s dying has on his hereto easy, if mundane, life. He’s sad, but mostly because for the first time, he’s faced with the shocking and terrifying realization of his own mortality. He grieves… and finds it remarkably easy to fall back into everyday life. These are not, well… heroic reactions. But I think they are human ones, even if we might not want to admit it.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a cancer book that’s not really a cancer book. I liked that there was no idealism, that Rachel isn’t a saint full of profound wisdom, that no one falls in love and that Greg isn’t a better person at the end of it. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl doesn’t have some life affirming message and doesn’t manipulate you into feeling all the things. It’s the most honest and realistic cancer book I’ve come across, as well as being the first one that didn’t make me feel utterly depressed for days after reading it. While not a personal favourite, (the jokes were occasionally overdone, I didn’t like Earl much and there’s only so long I can take being stuck inside a seventeen-year-old boy’s head), I would definitely recommend picking it up, particularly if you’re a fan of the old Adrian Mole diaries. (less)

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Dec 22, 2012 Abi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: humor, ya-adult-realistic-fict, youngadultreads

Written with wry humor and in irresistible, self-effacing, and highly inappropriate voice of the main character, this book is both deep and hilarious. (Even though the narrator promises repeatedly that it is neither of things, and, in fact, is liable to cause readers to commit a homicide.)

Greg, the main character, has "written" this book (you find out why at the end) about his senior year of high school, when he and his friend (well, they're more like coworkers) Earl share their movies with some...more

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Dec 16, 2012 Tom rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, books-kelly-told-me-to-read, ya-general

Rachel is dying from an especially pernicious form of leukemia. Greg's mother basically tells him to go hang out with her, even though he'd rather make bad films with his buddy, Earl.

Greg narrates the book, and honestly, I never bonded with him. I didn't find him nearly as funny as I was supposed to. I liked Rachel, who was unexpectedly not plucky and brave. Also, some of the second-tier characters were awesome: Greg's dad, Mr McCarthy (teacher/stoner), and Madison, this incredibly hot girl who...more

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Nov 21, 2012 Shonna Froebel rated it 4 of 5 stars

This teen novel is written in the voice of Greg Gaines, Jewish, 17, a senior in high school in Pittsburgh. Greg has worked hard to stay under the radar, aligning himself with none of the different groups at school and generally passing through without fully engaging.
He is the typical teenage boy who is worried about what others think of him, wants to not get beaten up or publicly embarrassed, is drawn to girls but unaware of how to engage in conversation with him. His best friend is Earl, a boy...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Liz Dague rated it 1 of 5 stars

I recently came across this blog with a "Reconsider or Release" article. The idea is that sometimes there are books that we stop reading for whatever reason, and then we have to decide if we want to reconsider them (finish them) or release them (never to read again!)

I've decided to release Jesse Andrews' Me and Earl and the Dying Girl today. I would say I gave it my best try; I'm at page 159-- over half way through the book. But the tone of the book is bugging me. It's not fun to read. I skimmed...more

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Oct 29, 2012 Karin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic, cancer, leukemia, friendship, borrowed-from-the-library, funny, film-making, film-movie-buff, young-adult-fiction, high-school, families, teenagers, awkward-boys

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Greg Gaines has spent his high school career trying to remain detached, aloof, and invisible to his fellow classmates. So far, that’s been working out pretty well, except that his only friend is the foul-mouthed, hard-living, possibly insane Earl (who is Greg’s complete opposite). When Greg’s classmate, Rachel (with whom he flirted back in the 6th grade) is diagnosed with leukemia, his mom makes him reconnect with her, and – because she’s dying and he doesn’t know how to deal with it – Greg make...more Greg Gaines has spent his high school career trying to remain detached, aloof, and invisible to his fellow classmates. So far, that’s been working out pretty well, except that his only friend is the foul-mouthed, hard-living, possibly insane Earl (who is Greg’s complete opposite). When Greg’s classmate, Rachel (with whom he flirted back in the 6th grade) is diagnosed with leukemia, his mom makes him reconnect with her, and – because she’s dying and he doesn’t know how to deal with it – Greg makes a fool of himself as he tries to talk to her and make her feel better. This happens over and over again, with hilarious results. Rachel finds out about the secret films that Greg and Earl have been making since they met, and when Earl discovers the dying girl wants to see them, he shares them with her (much to Greg’s embarrassment). Somehow Earl and Greg get roped into making a film to commemorate Rachel’s life, which brings Greg right into the spotlight – exactly where he doesn’t want to be – when it’s shown to the entire school. It’s not the film he or Earl wanted to make and it doesn’t even come close to expressing who Rachel is or what this whole strange trip has been about. That’s what this book is for – to explain what happened, what Greg was thinking, and hopefully, to get Greg another chance to get into college.

Written in all kinds of styles (Greg is quite taken with film scripts) with witty chapter headings (Chapter 1: How It Is Possible to Exist in a Place That Sucks So Bad) and narrated first-person by Greg Gains himself, this book will make you laugh, but it’ll also get under your skin. Greg’s awkward fumblings through adolescence and his tentative and inexplicable relationships with Rachel and Earl are funny, touching, honest. Lots of quotable moments here.

Excerpt:
2. Let’s just say that it would explain a lot of things if there were a fungus eating my brain. Although that fungus would have to have been eating my brain for basically my entire life. At this point it’s possible that the fungus has gotten bored and left, or died from malnutrition or something. (p. 2)
(less)

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Oct 28, 2012 Melbourne on my mind rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, young-adult

Plot summary: Greg is just started his last year at high school. He's worked things out perfectly so that he can interact with any social group without being seen as part of that group. But when his mother discovers that Rachel - a girl Greg went to Hebrew School with - has leukaemia, and tells Greg to hang out with her, his days of being invisible are over.

Thoughts: I have read a LOT of books about dying teenagers in the past few months. It's more than a little depressing, and I should probabl...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
2013 Hub Reading ...: Me & Earl & the Dying Girl	3	11	May 15, 2013 05:54am
Mock Printz 2014: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews	11	81	Dec 27, 2012 07:08am

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