Me and Earl and the Dying Girl - Jesse Andrews

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.

I... Uh... I'm not sure what I just read. Wait, I don't mean that in a bad way! I just... hmmm...

Okay, so first of all, if you're a traditionalist when it comes to form, you will probably find your brain spinning a bit. There are chapters written in script format, bullet points, movie synopses, and a few done in your traditional full sentences and full paragraphs format. I'm not a traditionalist, so I didn't have an issue with this use of various formats, but I did make for some brain gymnastics at times, to go from one chapter to another and consider the impact of these different styles on the core story. I know, I know, that's my English degree coming out to play in that last sentence. But enough about the format, except to say that it's eclectic and keeps the reading experience from every falling flat!

Now, in terms of the story, let me first start by saying this: WOULD PEOPLE PLEASE STOP COMPARING EVERY BOOK ABOUT ILLNESS WITH JOHN GREEN'S BOOKS?!

Okay, now let me say, it's NOTHING like John Green's books. Andrews is crude and raw and talks about sperm and barf way more than Green ever does in TFIOS. The characters in this novel are also much less likeable in a lot of ways. Earl is a total douche, and Greg is a self-deprecating ass a lot of the time. I think Rachel was the most endearing, but even she could be an irrational individual from time to time. That being said, what I love about these types of characters, is that those moments of kindness and humility really shine through. Earl actually does some pretty great stuff at times, but because he's such an asshole most of the time, those moments really hit you in the gut and make you remember not to judge a book by its cover, to borrow the cliche.

All that being said, I liked this book a lot. Is it a masterpiece? I don't know if I can say that, but it's definitely a book that will stick with you, whether you like it or not. I've read other reviews and people seem to have the most trouble with Greg's self-deprecation and his constant reminders that the book is terrible, and I won't lie, I definitely wanted to shake him more than a few times and tell him to shut up. But then I look at my own life and think about all the times I'm writing stuff for school or my dissertation and I make the same comments as Greg, even when people tell me constantly that I need to stop.

Anyway, all that being said, I really like this book. It's not for everyone, but what book is? I think it's a unique treatment of dealing with illness and value of life and self. So if you don't mind cussing and screenplays and lists and hilarious tangents, then PICK THIS UP!

Recommended

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Living - Matt De La Peña

Image
The Living  recently received an Honor from the Pura Belpré committee. The award recognizes of a work which best portrays the Latino cultural experience in a work of literature for children or youth. As I was at the awards announcements, and having known people who served on the committee in the past, I was intrigued. I had read the winning title and the other honor titles, and was impressed with the choices. So here's my review of The Living : The novel begins with Shy, a young guy working for a snazzy cruise line, offering water to people on the Lido Deck of the ship to combat the heat. Everything is going pretty well until an older gentleman comes out and starts spouting of weird, disconcerting phrases: "You have seen the face of evil."Shy doesn't quite know what to think, so he moves on to a couple of ladies on the other side of the deck. Just as he's handing them their water bottles, he sees movement out of the corner of his eye and realizes the old guy h...
Read more

The Music of What Happens - Bill Konigsberg

Image
Max: Chill. Sports. Video games. Gay and not a big deal, not to him, not to his mom, not to his buddies. And a secret: An encounter with an older kid that makes it hard to breathe, one that he doesn't want to think about, ever. Jordan: The opposite of chill. Poetry. His "wives" and the Chandler Mall. Never been kissed and searching for Mr. Right, who probably won't like him anyway. And a secret: A spiraling out of control mother, and the knowledge that he's the only one who can keep the family from falling apart. Over the course of one summer, two boys will have to face their biggest fears and decide what they're willing to risk -- to get the thing they want the most. This is a phenomenal book, in my humble opinion. There aren't too many books dealing with male sexual abuse, particularly in YA. Sex and sexuality are messy parts of young adulthood, but what this book does really well is discuss consent and the ways in which physical cues can be misinte...
Read more

Girls Like Us - Gail Giles

Image
I have now gone out and made sure that I have all of the books longlisted for the National Book Award. I read and reviewed a number of these previously, so now I have five left to read and review. This is one of those five (but would I expect anything less from the fabulous team at Candlewick?) Girls Like Us  is a unique novel in a number of respects, most notably in the fact that both protagonists are identified (and self-identified) as mentally disabled in some way. Biddy has a learning disability that she was born with, while Quincy is a young girl who is disabled due to the fact that her mother's boyfriend hit her in the head with a brick, disfiguring her and damaging her brain. Once the two girls graduate from school, they move into a house together, becoming caregivers for both each other and an older woman, Elizabeth. The two must rely on each other for comfort, knowledge, and emotional strength, and Elizabeth manages to help them along the way. While I had moments of wo...
Read more