REVIEW: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Meet Greg Gaines, amateur film-maker and professional social floater. In Benson High, the top of the popularity food chain isn't the Jocks or the Preppy Kids or the Pretty Girls, but rather not a social group at all. There's a black hole there, instead. There are cliques, all competing for that top spot but failing. Greg made it his goal to be in with all of the groups, and still not hated by anyone. As in, he made it his goal to have no friends and no enemies and basically be invisible. First Exception: Earl. Greg and Earl weren't friends-- they were coworkers. They'd been making amateur films since they watched Aguirre, The Wrath of God and decided to recreate it. And then there's Rachel, aka the Dying Girl (not that they actually call her that in the book. They just call her Rachel or Kushner) who just got diagnosed with leukemia and Greg's mom decided that the Good Thing to Do (in her eyes, the Only Thing to Do) was for Greg to be her friend. Then there was the films, which were secret until Greg's mom told Rachel, who understood that Greg wanted them to be secret, but who Earl showed them to.

I'm not sure where to start with this book, to be honest. And there's a lot I want to say, and I'm going to have to try really hard to keep this spoiler free. I guess I'll start with what I liked.

Firstly, I really liked that this wasn't a love story, and Earl makes this very clear from the beginning. In YA Fiction today, love is usually a main part of the storyline. Which, don't get me wrong, I adore. Reading about love and relationships is one of the best ways to learn about those things, in my opinion. And hey, I'm in high school, and yeah, I think about love and relationships a lot. But I also think about other relationships too, like friendship. And this book is about a 17 year old guy realizing what friendship is in the least cheesy way possible. So that's a good thing to have in the world.

Another thing I really liked about this book is one of the more debated features: the unorthodox storytelling techniques. Often times there are parts formatted as a script, which, given Greg and Earl's "job," is totally fitting in my opinion. The lists didn't bother me either, but rather were a nice break from the normal form of storytelling. This is a bit controversial, and I can understand why because it can distract from the story, but it suits the story and is entertaining.

What else? What else did I like? And I actually have to think about it for a minute, which says a lot.

The humor is constant, and had me laughing sometimes, but I found that it was too reliant on crude humor. I couldn't take the book seriously, because the humor relied on cusses and inappropriate references and honestly was mostly inane. Sure, it was entertaining but the jokes were there for the purpose of being jokes, not in conjunction with a story. The book started slow, never picked up, and, to be honest, nothing really happened. The story dragged and there were some times in the book that I honestly just skipped pages and pages because they neither forwarded the story nor served any other purpose other than to be funny.

That took an interesting turn. But hey, as long as we're here. Greg was annoying, and I understood why Andrews wrote him as self-depricating and yes, it was entertaining, but he never went through any character growth and it wasn't endearing the way I think it was intended to be. His "modesty" wasn't modesty but depression. Well, depressing.

Earl... he was a good character, and he was really real, but I couldn't handle him. I liked him, sure, but I think that for the most part I couldn't handle the contradictions in his character. He was at both times more mature than Greg and a better person than Greg and more immature and crass than Greg. His character was ambitious, but in the end I think he was really ineffective. I understand that Greg is who he is, but I can't help but wish he'd handled Rachel the way Earl did. It would have been more characteristic.

I finished the book, but it was kind of exactly what I expected. I thought I'd really like this book, but in all honesty I only finished because I was too far in to not, and Rachel was a good character. Andrews has promise, and the premise was good, but there was no character development, there was a lot of honesty in the book but none of it was honesty that actually mattered, and the main character was kind of extremely unlikable sometimes. Andrews relied far too heavily on Greg's honesty about sex and swears to have really made a mark as an author. I can understand using these to benefit the story, but with Andrews it comes across as amateur and immature.

Sure, I enjoyed the book well enough. But I won't read it again. I haven't decided yet, but I do kind of regret spending the time I wasted today reading this book instead of something I'd actually have enjoyed. In my mind, books worth reading stick with you. When I finished We Were Liars, I couldn't pick up another book for a day and I waited to watch Netflix for a few hours because I was still trying to comprehend the book. With this book, I was already thinking about what book I'd read next while reading it.

There's a lot to say that includes spoilers, so I'm going to do all of my ending stuff and then write the spoiler-y stuff.

Rating: 1.5/5 (AT MOST a 2)
Would I Recommend It: Maybe
To: Someone looking for something to read quickly and without having to think about it at all.
If You Liked...
uhm... a funny book. Honestly I'm just excited to write the shitty part of the review.

My Playlist for This Book:
I'm drawing a blank for this...
Seriously I'm trying, but any good songs would be totally soiled by being associated with this book.
Plus there isn't exactly a plot for this book. The book's entire plot could be condensed to a page.

Links:
Buy this book on Amazon here, Barnes and Nobles here, Powell's here, or be a boss and Buy Independent!!!
Find it on Goodreads here and Shelfari here.
Find the author's (entirely unhelpful) website here (not holding that against him. If you want to actually read anything from him on social media, try Facebook) and a positive review of it here, because a lot of people disagree with me. Which is not unprecedented.

Okay, if this is where you leave us... Au revoir!

WARNING MAD SPOILERS ABOUT TO FOLLOW. ALSO RANTINESS. AND SWEARS. LOTS OF SWEARS.

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*


Okay. Last warning...

READY GO.

Oh my god the most annoying thing is how terribly some of this is written. Because calling the book you're writing and expecting the reader to get through "stupid" and treating it like it's shitty (which, let's be fair, it kind of is) is just stupid. It's not an effective writing technique by any means. And let me just say: not explaining WHY he's writing the book if he thinks it sucks so much and if he hates writing it so much until the effing EPILOGUE... that's a stupid tactic. And all of his self-deprication and his putting down the book he's writing doesn't actually achieve his goal of appealing to a college office worker. And like, lets be honest, talking about the time you thought you got high after sneaking some of your teacher's soup isn't exactly the best way to appeal about this. Plus talking about boobs and swearing and talking about sex and drugs is obviously not something you would do if writing to a college. Basically, it comes off like Andrews realized that Greg didn't actually have a reason for writing the book and threw it in at the last minute.

And the character development-- or should I say lack thereof, because Greg didn't effing change through the whole effing book. When Rachel caught pneumonia on top of her leukemia, Greg finally realized how little he knew about Rachel and how poorly the movie he made for her captured her. But even then he just cried like a baby then regretted it then quit movie making. Fucking just pick your sorry ass off the ground and just become a better person.

One of my biggest biggest biggest pet peeves in books is when the author doesn't write the main character as the age he or she is said to be. It's why I couldn't like Geek Girl. Greg is 17, and so am I, and he's literally so naive that I found myself just thinking that he sounded more like a freshman. Plus the fact that, according to Earl, Rachel's death was the only bad thing that happened to Greg. Fuck that, everyone has something bad happen to them before they turn 17. Come on, use logic.

I'd understand better if this wasn't published why the purpose of the book wasn't revealed until the epilogue. My big freaking problem here is that it really reads like a book the author didn't want to write. So I guess Andrews succeeded in making it clear that Greg didn't want to write it. Pretty fucking obvious.

Rachel. The saving grace of the book, and it turns out "we didn't even know her" because we didn't know everything about her. Maybe if Greg had shut the fuck up and stopped saying inane fucking things that in real life aren't fucking funny we would have gotten to fucking know her.

THERE IS NO PLOT. This is the story you tell at a dinner party when people ask about your high school experience, not the one you tell to impress someone, especially not this way that makes you sound like a fucking asshole. Greg doesn't understand regular human emotions because only selfish idiots can't understand death until they're 18. Like fucking realize there's someone else other than just fucking you, because come on, I understand that your mom forcing you to hang out with someone sucks but grow a pair and realize she fucking needs someone right now. Stop being a fucking pansy, stop being so self-absorbed and actually BE A GOOD PERSON.

It's not that fucking hard to be a good person.

I'm done.

Just wait till I've seen the movie...

peace
(again)

R


(sorry about the swears and negativity, I was just really disappointed)