In the Name of Friendship • Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Publisher: Amulet Books
Publication Date: March 1, 2012

Source/Format: Netgalley (Thanks!) || e-galley

[I received this from the publisher. This in no way affects my review.]

Up until senior year, Greg has maintained total social invisibility. He only has one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time—when not playing video games and avoiding Earl’s terrifying brothers— making movies, their own versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics. Greg would be the first one to tell you his movies are f*@$ing terrible, but he and Earl don’t make them for other people. Until Rachel. 

Rachel has leukemia, and Greg’s mom gets the genius idea that Greg should befriend her. Against his better judgment and despite his extreme awkwardness, he does. When Rachel decides to stop treatment, Greg and Earl make her a movie, and Greg must abandon invisibility and make a stand. It’s a hilarious, outrageous, and truthful look at death and high school by a prodigiously talented debut author.

It is rare that I find a book that has me laughing out loud and completely interested in the opposite gender's point of view. ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL just so happens to be one of the very novels I've read from a male POV that managed to crack me up, make me roll my eyes and make me smile. It's a highly entertaining read, certainly different from my normal reading material, and I really enjoyed it!

The Character

Greg, our narrator, is absolutely HILARIOUS and a pretty darn awesome narrator. His voice is definitely distinct - he's really snarky, witty and self-deprecating (though his excessive modesty may become a bit much at times). He's quite the smartass and a bit of a dreamer (as he would often segue into something completely off topic), but I thought it was a story narrated perfectly through his eyes. It was definitely fun to jump into his brain; Jesse Andrews has managed to create a character that's unique and interesting and that I wanted to read about.

The Story

The narration is done so well and so consistently. I really felt like the whole time I was submerged in the brain of a high school boy, who’s not a jock, one of the popular kids or anyone in particular.

It was an interesting take on a girl-with-cancer story, as well as the story of a creative mind. I personally thought it was quite well done because it managed to combine those two aspects in an interesting way. It was really entertaining! The entire dialogue, the insertion of movie scripts and explanatory chapters, the casual tone – it was seriously awesome. I just wanted to kept finding out what happened next as it was seriously awesome, funny and altogether deranged.

Personally, I say you should...

... read this novel if you're looking for fun, fresh and unique novel. It's definitely quirky! It'd also be a good read for fans of It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini.