This is a
non-spoiler review
Title: Me
and Earl and the Dying Girl
Author:
Jesse Andrews
Pages: 304
Published
by: Atlantic Books
Rating: 3/5
“Highschool
sucks.” This is an universally acknowledged truth, which Greg Gaines lets the
reader know as soon as you start the first chapter of this book. Greg managed
to get through high school keeping a low profile, so at least his high school experience
doesn´t suck as much. Everybody knows Greg, nobody dislikes Greg and he and Earl
can continue making mediocre to bad movies. Until the first day of senior year,
when his mom forces him to become friends with the Jewish girl, who has just
gotten cancer. This inevitably brings destruction in his life.
This book
was fine. I can see why so many people love it, but it just isn´t
something for me. Maybe this is another case of me having too high expectations, since it got hyped up a lot on booktube etc.
I found the main character Greg to be quite unsympathetic and
unlikeable. Even though he was quite realistic and dorky, which lead to a lot
of funny moments, he was also really stuck up and I couldn´t relate to him at
all. Also I wasn´t a huge fan of the story itself, due to the issues I had with
Greg. The things he said/did were really rude, for example: He just didn´t care
about Rachel. Like at all. Apart from Earl she is his only friend and he just
sees her as a burden. Also Rachel has
like zero personality. It´s like she is a robot. But probably the most annoying
thing was the story. You want to know why? Because there is none! Just like
there is no character development, which is a pity, if you, like me, dislike
Greg. Yes, Greg says at the beginning that there is no point in this story, but
I expected at least a bit more, seeing how beloved this book is. You would think that being auround Rachel and becoming friends with her would have an impact on Greg, but no.
But on the
contrary there were a couple of great things in this book as well.
1. The humour.
The humour in this book is great. It´s just so funny. Even though it didn´t make me laugh out loud,
which is admittedly really hard, it had lots of big smiles on my face. I
am in love with Greg´s father, Mr. Gaines. He is the best person on earth and I
aspire to be like him one day, as should everybody else in this universe
2. The formatting
This book
is written in a very different way to most books. 50%, or maybe even more, is
not normal text, but rather scripts, bullet points etc. It broke the fourth
wall very well and engaged the reader into the story. (As far as possible
because there is basically no story) It made the book so much more enjoyable
and hadn´t it been for the formatting, I probably wouldn´t have finished the
book.
3. It isn´t a “Typical cancer book”
This book
doesn´t romanticise cancer, or illness in general. It isn´t even a love story.
It is an honest book about friendship (Again not very well done because Greg
doesn´t even really like Rachel, but you get the point) It takes a different
spin on the whole “sick girl with cancer” trope, which I haven´t read before.
All in all,
pick it up if you are want a light read, with a bit of a more serious topic/
have a desire for a new take on an illness YA book. Just don´t expect too much
from it, like I did (but still the formatting is REALLY cool) I am still excited to watch the movie, as I think some of my issues will be solved in it.
What about
you guys? Have you read Me and Earl and the Dying Girl? And if so what did you
think of it? Can you recommend me any other books with an unique formatting?
Tell me down, in the comments below!
Read on xx
Lena
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