Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Movie Tie-in Edition)

By Jesse Andrews

The book that inspired the hit film!
 
Sundance U.S. Dramatic Audience Award
Sundance Grand Jury Prize
 
This is the funniest book you’ll ever read about death.
 
It is a universally acknowledged truth that high school sucks. But on the first day of his senior year, Greg Gaines thinks he’s figured it out. The answer to the basic existential question: How is it possible to exist in a place that sucks so bad? His strategy: remain at the periphery at all times. Keep an insanely low profile. Make mediocre films with the one person who is even sort of his friend, Earl.
        This plan works for exactly eight hours. Then Greg’s mom forces him to become friends with a girl who has cancer. This brings about the destruction of Greg’s entire life.
        Fiercely funny, honest, heart-breaking—this is an unforgettable novel from a bright talent, now also a film that critics are calling "a touchstone for its generation" and "an instant classic."

Includes a discussion with Jesse Andrews and an annotated excerpt from the screenplay!

STARRED REVIEW
“One need only look at the chapter titles (“Let’s Just Get This Embarrassing Chapter Out of the Way”) to know that this is one funny book.”
–Booklist, starred review

STARRED REVIEW
“Though this novel begs inevitable thematic comparisons to John Green's The Fault in Our Stars (2011), it stands on its own in inventiveness, humor and heart.”
–Kirkus Reviews, starred review

New York Times bestseller!

Capitol Choices 2013 - Noteworthy Titles for Children and Teens
Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) Choices 2013 list - Young Adult Fiction
YALSA 2013 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
YALSA 2013 Best Fiction for Young Adults
YALSA 2014 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults

• Language: English
• Publisher: ABRAMS
• Release date: May 26, 2015
• ISBN: 9781613128862

Book preview

THE FIRST DAY OF SENIOR YEAR IN CONVENIENT SCRIPT FORMAT

So I guess we should start with the first day of senior year. Which was actually awesome until Mom got involved.

I mean, awesome is a relative term. My expectations were low, obviously. Maybe awesome is too strong a word. The sentence should be: I was pleasantly surprised when the first day of senior year did not make me want to freak out and hide in my own locker pretending to be dead.

School is always stressful, and then the first day of any school year is especially insane because the hangout spots have to be realigned. I failed to note in the previous chapter that the traditional groups of Rich, Jock, Smart, Theater, etc., are further subdivided by grade: The sophomore gothy dorks live in resentful terror of the senior gothy dorks, the smart juniors are dismissive and mistrustful of the smart freshman, etc. So when a class moves out, all of the spots that they used to occupy before school are up for grabs, and there’s usually some weirdness as a result.

Mainly it made for a busy morning for me. I showed up stupidly early to see how things would play out, and there were already some kids staking out their ground. These tended to be representatives of Benson’s more dicked-upon groups.

INT. HALLWAY IN FRONT OF THE LIBRARY — MORNING

JUSTIN HOWELL is hovering nervously near the door to the library, hoping to claim it for the theater kids. He is pacing back and forth humming THE THEME FROM RENT OR MAYBE CATS. With visible relief, he notices GREG approaching.

JUSTIN HOWELL

clearly relieved that it is not a jock or gangbanger or anyone else who will immediately call him a faggot

Oh hi Greg.

GREG GAINES

Justin, good to see you.

JUSTIN HOWELL

Good to see you. Greg how was your summer.

GREG

It was hot and boring, and I can’t believe it’s over already.

JUSTIN HOWELL

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.

OH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.

This seemingly innocuous JOKE has caused Justin Howell to completely lose his shit. Perhaps it is the MIND-DESTROYING ANXIETY of being back at school.

Meanwhile, this was not quite the response Greg was hoping to get. He had intended to say something bland and unmemorable. Now he is SHRUGGING and FIDGETING AWKWARDLY and attempting to avoid EYE CONTACT, which he usually does when people are laughing at a thing that he has said.

JUSTIN HOWELL (CONT’D)

turning his eyebrows into a weird shape

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.

MRS. WALTER, the librarian, arrives. She is glaring at both of them. She is almost definitely an ALCOHOLIC.

JUSTIN HOWELL

Hi Mrs. Walterrrr.

MRS. WALTER

with dislike

Hhngh.

JUSTIN HOWELL

Greg that is too funny.

GREG

All right man, I’ll see you later.

I was obviously not gonna go into that library and have a lengthy bro-hang with Justin Howell, for reasons I’ve already explained to you. It was time to move on.

INT. HALLWAY IN FRONT OF THE BAND ROOM — MORNING

LAQUAYAH THOMAS and BRENDAN GROSSMAN have not been let into the band room yet. Despite not having instruments, they are poring over some SHEET MUSIC. You can sort of tell that they are doing this to show everyone that they are good enough at music to just casually sit around reading sheet music.

BRENDAN GROSSMAN

Gaines. You doing orchestra this year?

GREG

apologetically

Couldn’t fit it in.

BRENDAN GROSSMAN

Whaaaaat.

LAQUAYAH THOMAS

incredulously

But you woulda got timpani this year! Now who’s gonna play timpani?

BRENDAN GROSSMAN

mournfully

It’s gonna be like Joe DiMeola.

GREG

Yeah, probably Joe. He’s a better percussionist than me anyway.

LAQUAYAH THOMAS

Joe gets the sticks all sweaty.

GREG

That’s because he’s so focused.

INT. AUDITORIUM — MORNING

Two senior gothy dorks, SCOTT MAYHEW and ALLAN McCORMICK, are camped out in some seats near the back playing Magic cards. GREG enters cautiously, his eyes darting from side to side. The auditorium is perhaps the school’s most valuable real estate. It is highly unlikely that this little goth colony will survive the WAVES OF JOCKS, THEATER KIDS, AND GANGBANGERS that will doubtless arrive later this morning.

GREG

Hello, gentlemen.

SCOTT MAYHEW

Good day to you.

ALLAN McCORMICK

blinking rapidly and forcefully for probably no reason

Yes, good day.

The gothy dorky kids are very low in the social hierarchy, but at the same time they are almost impossible to infiltrate. Maybe it’s because they’re so low in the hierarchy. They’re insanely suspicious of everyone who tries to talk to them. This is because pretty much all of their characteristics are targets of ridicule: their love of elves and dragons, their trench coats and long un-groomed or maybe-too-well-groomed hair, their habit of striding around way too fast while breathing really hard out of their noses. Getting them to accept you is difficult without becoming a gothy dork.

Actually, I feel kind of a soft spot for them because I completely understand their worldview. They hate high school, just like I do. They’re constantly trying to escape it and instead live in a fantasy world where they can spend all their time striding around in the mountains, jabbing people with swords under the eerie light of like eight different moons or something. Sometimes I feel like, in an alternate universe, I could have been one of them. I’m pasty and chubby and completely insane in social situations. And if I’m being honest, attacking people with swords is awesome.

That was what I was thinking a little bit, crouching there with them in the auditorium. But then I had a realization.

SCOTT MAYHEW, after much deliberation, plays a CARD entitled Horde of the Undead.

ALLAN McCORMICK

Curses.

GREG

Scott, great horde.

My realization was that I could never actually live a life where I had to be constantly doing things like praising a dude’s horde.

So that made me feel better about myself.

It did not take me all that long to respectfully get the hell out of there.

INT. AREA IN FRONT OF THE SOUTH STAIRWELL — MORNING

All four members of MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICAN JUNIOR SUB-CLIQUE 4C are positioned near the doors. Meanwhile, a lone sophomore church kid, IAN POSTHUMA, has spread his stuff farther down the hall and is grimly waiting for REINFORCEMENTS.

This is a classic situation in which you try to engage people as little as possible, because if you look like you’re part of one group, the other group will take notice and ostracize you. I mean, being ostracized by sophomore church kids would not be the worst thing in the world, but my one goal in life was to not be ostracized by anyone. Were there times when this goal seemed like the goal of a moron? Yes. But honestly, name one life goal that does not occasionally seem like the goal of a total moron. Even being president would completely suck, if you really give it any thought at all.

GREG gives IAN POSTHUMA a low-key head-nod greeting. Then the RUBBER BALL that JONATHAN WILLIAMS has been flinging against RANDOM SURFACES ricochets into one of GREG’S TEETH.

In previous years, there would have been no dignified way to deal with this. The ball-throwing group would have burst into raucous laughter, and my only course of action would have been to stride briskly away, probably while being further pelted.

But pretty quickly, it became clear that this year, things were different.

Instead of glorying in the fact that his ball has bounced into GREG’S TOOTH, JONATHAN WILLIAMS tucks his head into his shirt with embarrassment.

DARNELL REYNOLDS

visibly annoyed

I told you you would hit someone.

DONTÉ YOUNG

Dude’s a senior.

JONATHAN WILLIAMS

mumbling

Sorry.

GREG

It’s all good.

DAJUAN WILLIAMS gives Jonathan Williams a shove.

DONTÉ YOUNG

cleaning a fingernail

Can’t be throwing shit.

Basically, being a senior means that when people throw things at your teeth, it’s accidental. In other words, being a senior is awesome.

All morning before school, and then all day, that was how things went. It was kind of a perfect day in that regard. I spent a few minutes in the parking lot with a gaggle of ill-tempered foreign kids led by Nizar the Surly Syrian, then exchanged some hellos with the soccer team, and this year none of them tried to grab and injure my nipples. Dave Smeggers, noted stoner, began telling me a long and excruciatingly pointless story about his summer, but was soon distracted by some birds, at which point I made my escape. Vonta King tried to get me to sit with him across from room 318, so I pretended I was on my way to a meeting with a teacher, and he accepted it without argument. And so on and so forth.

Also, at one point I almost walked into one of Madison Hartner’s boobs. Her boobs are about at eye level for me.

LET’S JUST GET THIS EMBARRASSING CHAPTER OUT OF THE WAY

For the purposes of this god-awful book, I have to talk briefly about girls, so let’s see if we can get through that without me punching myself in the eyeball.

First things first: Girls like good-looking guys, and I am not very good-looking. In fact, I sort of look like a pudding. I am extremely pale and somewhat overweight. I have kind of a rat face, and my mediocre vision makes me squint a lot. Finally, I have what has been diagnosed as chronic allergic rhinitis, which sounds interesting but basically just means a constant booger problem. I can’t really breathe through my nose, so most of the time my mouth is hanging open, which gives the appearance of major stupidity.

Second: Girls like confident guys. With that in mind, please reread the previous paragraph. It’s hard to be confident when you look like a chubby, squinty, mentally defective rodent-human who picks his nose.

Third: My girl tactics need work.

Failed Girl Tactic #1: The Non-Crush. In fourth grade, I realized that girls were desirable. I had no idea what you were supposed to do with them, of course. I just sort of wanted to have one, like as a possession or something. And of all the fourth graders, Cammie Marshall was definitely the hottest. So I had Earl go up to Cammie Marshall on the playground and say: Greg doesn’t have a crush on you. But he’s worried that you have a crush on him. I was standing about five feet away when Earl did this. The hope was that Cammie would say, Secretly, I totally have a crush on Greg and want to be his girlfriend. Instead, she said, Who?

Greg Gaines, said Earl. He’s standing right over there.

They both turned to look at me. I took my finger out of my nose to wave. That was when I realized that I had had my finger in my nose.

Nope, said Cammie.

Things did not really improve from there.

Failed Girl Tactic #2: The Nonstop Insults. Cammie was obviously out of my league. But her best friend, Madison Hartner, was also pretty hot. In fifth grade, I figured Madison would be starved for attention, given that Cammie was so hot. (Note: In retrospect, at seventeen, it’s hard to understand how a ten-year-old could be hot. At the time, though, this made perfect sense.)

Anyway, with Madison I used a tactic I had seen work for other fifth graders: insults. Constant vicious insults. Insults that didn’t even make any sense: I called her Madison Avenue Hartner, not knowing what Madison Avenue was. Bad-ison. Fat-ison. It took me a while, but eventually I discovered Madison Fartner, which made some other kids giggle, so I used it all the time.

The thing was, I was relentless. I went way too far. I told her she had a tiny dinosaur brain and a second brain in her butt. I said her family didn’t have dinner, they just sat around and farted at each other because they were too stupid to know what food was. At one point I even called her house to tell her that she washed her hair with barf.

Look, I was an idiot. I didn’t want people to think that I had a crush, so I decided to give everyone the impression that I truly, honestly hated Madison Hartner. For no reason. Just thinking about this really makes me want to punch myself in the eyeball.

Finally, after about a week, the day came when I made her cry—something about Booger ChapStick, I forget the specifics—and the teacher gave me the elementary school equivalent of a restraining order. I quietly accepted it and didn’t speak to Madison again for like five years. To this day, it remains an unsolved mystery: The Week Greg Was Filled with Unexplained Hate for Madison.

Christ.

Failed Girl Tactic #3: The Diversion. So, Mom made me go to Hebrew school until my bar mitzvah, which was a colossal pain in the ass and I don’t want to talk about it. However, Hebrew school had one thing going for it: a terrific boy-girl ratio. There was just one other boy in my class, Josh Metzger, versus six girls. The problem: Only one of those girls, Leah Katzenberg, was hot. The other problem: Josh Metzger was sort of a stud. He had long bleached-out frizzy hair from swimming. He also was sullen and untalkative, which made me afraid of him and at the same time made him very attractive to girls. Even our teachers used to hit on him. Hebrew school teachers are all women, mostly unmarried.

Anyway, in sixth grade, it was time to throw some game at Leah Katzenberg. In order to win her over—get ready for record-setting stupidity—I decided that I would try to make her jealous. Specifically, by flirting with Rachel Kushner, an average-looking girl with big teeth and hair even frizzier than Josh Metzger’s. Rachel Kushner was also not especially exciting to talk to, because she talked really slowly and never seemed to have anything to say.

The one thing going for her was that she thought I was the funniest guy in the entire world. I could make her laugh by doing literally anything: impressions of teachers, going cross-eyed, Dance of the Pigeon Man. This was awesome for my self-esteem. Unfortunately, it was not awesome for my chances with Leah Katzenberg, who rapidly came to think that Rachel and I were a cute couple, and one day after Hebrew school told us exactly that.

Suddenly, I had a girlfriend. And it was not the girlfriend I wanted.

In the words of Nizar, the surliest and least-English-speaking of Benson’s ESL kids, Fuck dick shit ass.

The next day, I informed Rachel over the phone that I wanted to be Just Friends.

That’s fine, she said.

Great, I said.

Do you want to come over? she asked.

Uh, I said. My foot is stuck in the toaster. It was idiotic, but needless to say, this got a huge laugh from her.

Seriously, do you want to come over, she asked again, after literally thirty seconds of helpless giggling.

I have to sort out this toaster thing first, I said. Then, knowing that there was no going forward with that conversation, I hung up.

This joke went on for days, then weeks. Sometimes when she called, I said I was glued to the fridge; other times I had accidentally welded myself to a police car. I started branching out to animals: I have to fight some angry tigers, or I’m digesting an entire wombat right now. It didn’t even make any sense. And eventually, Rachel stopped thinking this was so funny. Greg, seriously, she started saying. "Greg, if you don’t want to hang out, just tell me." But I wasn’t able to tell her for some reason. I would have felt too mean. The stupid part was, what I was doing was way more mean. But I didn’t realize this at the time.

I just punched my own eyeball.

Hebrew school became incredibly awkward. Rachel stopped wanting to talk to me, but this didn’t help things with Leah at all. I mean, obviously. She thought I was a huge jerk. Actually, I may have helped convince her that all boys were jerks, because she became a lesbian not long after the whole Rachel fiasco.

Failed Girl Tactic #4: The Boob Compliment. In seventh grade, Mara LaBastille had a terrific pair of boobs. But it’s just never a good idea to compliment a girl’s boobs. I had to learn this the hard way. Also, it’s somehow worse to draw attention to the fact that there are two boobs. I don’t know why this is, but it’s true. You have nice boobs. Bad. You have two nice boobs. Worse. Two boobs? Perfect. F minus.

Failed Girl Tactic #5: The Gentleman. Mariah Epps’s family moved to Pittsburgh in eighth grade. When she was introduced to us on the first day of school, I was so fired up. She was cute, she seemed smart, and best of all, she was completely unaware of my history of dickhead behavior around girls. I knew I had to move quickly. That night, I broke down and asked Mom what girls really wanted.

Girls like gentlemen, she said. She was being kind of loud. "A girl likes to get flowers every so often." She was glaring at Dad. It was the day after her birthday or something.

So the second day of school, I wore a suit and brought an actual rose to school, which I gave to Mariah before first period.

I would be honoured and delighted to escort you to an ice-cream parlour this week-end, I said, in a British accent.

"Would you," she said.

Greg, you look like a fruit, said Will Carruthers, a nearby jock.

But it worked. Unbelievable! We actually went on a date. We met at a place in Oakland, and I bought us some ice cream, and we sat down, and I thought, from now on, this is how my life is going to be, and that kicks ass.

That’s when The Talking began.

My God, that girl could talk. She could go for miles. Invariably it was about her friends back in Minnesota, whom I didn’t know. It was all she wanted to talk about. I heard hundreds of hours’ worth of stories about these people, and because I was being a gentleman, I wasn’t allowed to say, This is boring, or I already heard that one.

And so the problem became that the gentleman tactic worked too well. The expectations were ridiculous. I had to wear my nicest clothes to school every day, pay for stuff constantly, spend hours on the phone every night, etc. And for what? Definitely not sex. Gentlemen don’t get to fool around. Not that I really knew, back then, what fooling around was. Plus I had to keep talking in that stupid British accent, and everyone thought I was brain-damaged.

So I had to put a stop to it. But how? It obviously wasn’t an option to be honest and say, Mariah, if spending time with you means paying lots of money and listening to you talk, then it’s not worth it. I considered a

Reviews for Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Movie Tie-in Edition)

[howifeelaboutbooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book kept me laughing, and the self-deprecating humor Greg displays had me rooting for him to become something more than he was in the start. I don’t think that really happened, and while the book was entertaining to read, it was pretty long for having no payout at the end. As insensitive as it probably makes me sound, the cancer sections went on a bit too long with nothing really happening. I appreciate that it wasn’t a gooey “girl with cancer” book that seems to be all the rage right now, but it wasn’t really that great of a read. To be fair, Greg says that repeatedly in the book, and implored me often to stop reading. So the blame is solely mine.

[erika.d · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I just wanted this book to be another fault in our stars but it wasn't! I liked the writing style but not the characters or rough tone.

[tina_thebookworm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

So if you think this book is like the Fault in the Stars because it has a girl with cancer and want to read it because of that. You will be disappointed; you will not like this book at all. But if you go into this book not comparing it to the Fault in Our Stars then yes, you will probably enjoy this.

Truth be told, the cover really drew me into getting this book and so did the title. I saw people on Instagram and goodreads talking about this book so I wanted to pick it up. Thankfully, my local library had it so I picked it up and dove right in.

The Story
Me, and Earl and the Dying Girl is told in first person point of view. I guess you could say it is in somewhat diary form and it is told by Greg.

It begins at the start of senior year; you know that year in high school where you are finally at the top of the food chain. Underclassmen saying your name with the statement “she/he is a senior” so automatically you’re like cool because of your status.

And so we meet Greg his senior year, the year his mom told him to befriend his ex-girlfriend Rachel who was recently diagnosed with cancer. She told him to spend time with her, make her laugh, make her forget for a couple moments that she has cancer. After a lot of nagging, he finally goes to befriend Rachel.

So the story is about his life senior year, his friendship with Rachel and his friendship with Earl and the future.

What I loved most about this book is that Greg didn’t want to spend time with Rachel, he didn’t want to deal with her having cancer, he just wanted to move on with his life. And Jesse made it that okay to feel like that because let’s admit there are things that happen in life that we just wish to ignore and move on with our lives. IT WAS REALISTIC.

Some of my favorite parts of the story were the bullet points and the script form; they really helped the story and really made it feel like a personal journal with actual thoughts and actual feelings.

The Characters
The characters felt like real people, in the sense that they spoke like REAL teenagers. They weren’t having deep discussions about life and death. They simple had discussions we probably had as teenagers.

Greg – Greg is the kind of guy you either love or you hate. I personally loved him. I hang out with a lot of guys and I can say Greg reminded me a lot of the guys I hang out with. He doesn’t censor his thoughts; he’s vulgar, awkward and doesn’t do friends. He’s just the kid that floats from group to group not really belong to one cliché group or the other. It’s how he has survived high school all these years. I loved how he felt like the average high school kid. I loved how I could easily see myself hanging out with him.

Earl – Earl’s ability to turn just about EVERYTHING into something vulgar and his ability to cuss. I was impressed. Like I wish I had that talent. I wish we had seen more of Earl, I felt like he could’ve really delivered more to the book but I know the story was more about Greg.

Rachel- and she’s the dying girl. Rachel’s not even the main focus of the book nor is her cancer. The moments we see Rachel, you just have to like her. She’s sweet; she has all the right posters in her room. She laughs at Greg or tells him when to shut up.

None of these characters are special, they are average. They are not over here giving amazing speeches. They are not delivering any special message other then “shit happens, things don’t always go around to plan and people die”. Again, if you’re looking for a deep message from this book don’t bother you won’t find it.

Overall,
This book was funny.
This book was realistic.
Greg’s reaction to things was realistic because all of us react differently to things. I tend to react a bit like Greg.

So yes, I loved this book and this probably not the best written review for it. But, I couldn’t review it the way I usually do my reviews simply because I’d spoil the whole story for you.

[olivermagnus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Greg, the narrator of this story, is an awkward high school senior in Pittsburgh. He's annoying and hysterically funny at the same time. He breaks down the school cliques (jocks/geeks/stoners) in a surprisingly insightful way, but also one we've read about many times before. Greg cultivates his invisibility in the school, an acquaintance to all and an enemy to none, and spends most of his time in a history teacher's office watching art films with his friend Earl. When Greg's mom urges him to renew an old friendship with Rachel, a girl dying of cancer, he's mostly just worried that all that anonymity will be put in jeopardy. Greg and Earl decide to make a movie to cheer Rachel up, but it turns out to be the worst movie ever made and causes a major turning point in all their lives.This isn't a story about a dying girl, true love between the two main protagonists, or even everything working out happily ever after or not. Overall, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a fast read but fell flat in terms of plot and character development. On the plus side, Earl and Greg's friendship and exploration of the films they both loved was really well done. On the negative side, the reader will be inundated with numerous detailed references to oral sex, homosexual sex, masturbation, drug dealing and gang activity. I'm not in one of the of the age groups this book is written to appeal to, so a three from me is very good. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either.

[salsabrarian · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Narrated by Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler and cast. Greg Gaines is an under the radar slacker of sorts. He's not part of any crowd but works to be not liked nor hated by people at school, just nominally accepted. His one regular friend is Earl with whom he shares a love of movies and creates amateur movies. He learns that his former Hebrew school classmate Rachel has leukemia. His obligatory visits to Rachel rattle his established ordinary life. Mann nicely performs this work with the sullen indifference that is Greg's. There's no sentimentality, just a slouchy teen finding himself up against the unexpected.

[sassy_seshat_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great use of voice, despite the morbid title, it is laugh out loud from the beginning. Reminds me of my own teenage brother in many ways. Again, GREAT realistic voice.

[begivens · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is very John Green-like and not at all because it's about a dying girl. The writing style, character development, etc. reminds me very much of John Green. But, this book actually got fairly boring in the last third or so. There was nothing really new to carry the story along at some point.

[kaliwrites · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4 Stars

“If after reading this book you come to my home and brutally murder me, I do not blame you.”

After reading a very deep book that I'm still emotionally recovering from, this light and quick read was a breath of fresh air. It was completely inappropriate, had almost no plot, and had me laughing out loud 50% of the time. It wasn't the deep, heartwarming story about cancer and love that you'd expect from the cover. In fact, this book teaches no deep lesson except maybe that life doesn't always have to be so damn serious.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

ZERO stars

From the book jacket: ME My name is Greg Gaines. I am seventeen. I am the one who wrote this book. … EARL Earl Jackson is the only person who is even sort of my friend. We make mediocre films together. … DYING GIRL During my senior year, my mom forced me to become friends with a girl who had cancer. This brought about the destruction of my entire life.

My reactions
I wish this had brought about the destruction of this book. He comes off as being about 10 years old, not seventeen. His “humor” is juvenile, mostly related to bathroom and bodily functions. His attempts at self-deprecation were just sad and sometimes even disturbing. I kept reading because it had some rave reviews, and I thought it might get better. (It didn’t.) I finished it only because it satisfied a few challenges.

A complete waste of time, IMHO.

[briars_reviews · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is such a unique read with it's mix of story telling in typical paragraph format but also in screen-writing/script format.

This book hit hard. My Dad had the same kind of cancer "The Dying Girl" has and I honestly didn't realize this was going to be a book with cancer in it. Yeah, I should have known (what else was a teenager likely going to die from?), but boy... This one hit right in the heart.

Regardless, this is an interesting contemporary tale of friends making memories together. It's a tough read emotionally, and it's kind of "make the best of what you can" kind of story. There's incredible sarcasm and horrible humour, and also lots of introspection near the end of when death really hits you. You can tell this book is just about kids in a really crappy situation.

Don't expect a love story. This is just a book about kids being kids.

Three out of five stars.

[kakadoo202 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

That was really funny. Dark funny. Easy read without have a bad writing style. Actually no writing style at all.

[ashleypelleti-219062 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book was ok. I wouldnt readit again. I would maybe recomend to a teenager. I personally thought the boom was for a teen not an adult. It also had a wierd story line.

[jscape2000 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to enjoy the ride of the self-centered young man who is struggling to find his place in the world, but I found many sections deeply uncomfortable in the way everyone around him serves as a cardboard cut out.  Deeply problematic in its depiction of its central Black character.

[archer_mom · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book wasn't at all what I was expecting. Like other reviewers have said "you either hate it or love it". Although I thought the story was interesting I don't have a very strong liking for it. The writing format and stereotypical descriptions of Earl really pushed me away from it. There are also many inconsistencies with Greg being the narrator but that's all stylistic issues for me. I did enjoy the realistic nature of two high school students dealing with a girl with cancer and not fully understanding it. It sets this novel apart from the other adolescent novels about cancer and love and whatnot

[Noemlectoraojerosa · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was a light and often funny read. In my perception, it doesn't fall into the typical cliché of the teenage protagonist studying in high school. The theme of cancer is not treated with sentimentality; making me like it and at the same time not. The way the book is written surprised me, but to be honest, I expected more and unfortunately the ending didn't fully convince me.

And for movie lovers, there are a lot of quite amusing movie references in the book. (Translated from Spanish)

[DaniParedes22 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I didn't like the book much at all. It has a good plot but I couldn't connect with it in any way.

As the saying goes, "It's not you, it's me." ? (Translated from Spanish)

[XimennaParisi · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I didn't have high expectations, and yet it still fell short. (Translated from Spanish)

[snickel63 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved the way this book was written. It was humorous throughout even though the topic can be sad in many ways. It was a quick read and I finished within 2 days. I would recommend it to anyone that likes young adult novels.

[Heyitsmaca · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

"I expected nothing from you, and yet you still managed to disappoint me."

This is how I can summarize this reading; I don't even have much more to say about it. (Translated from Spanish)

[litwitch-727589 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4 Stars

“If after reading this book you come to my home and brutally murder me, I do not blame you.”

After reading a very deep book that I'm still emotionally recovering from, this light and quick read was a breath of fresh air. It was completely inappropriate, had almost no plot, and had me laughing out loud 50% of the time. It wasn't the deep, heartwarming story about cancer and love that you'd expect from the cover. In fact, this book teaches no deep lesson except maybe that life doesn't always have to be so damn serious.

[codonnelly · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In recent years, young adult literature has been littered with cancer-related tragedies. I’m sure we can all think of a few off the top of our heads. In Jesse Andrew’s Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Greg Gaines spends each day of high school trying not to stand out. When his mom forces him to hang out with Rachel, a former elementary school “girlfriend” recently diagnosed with cancer, Greg’s inconspicuous reputation combusts.

Greg is a sarcastic teenager with a dry wit and an obsession with avant-garde film, which is occasionally amusing, but more often than not, a bit too overbearing. Rachel is mostly defined by her room, particularly its celebrity crush posters and bright pink pillows, and of course, by her sickness, a frustrating choice that often makes her appear one-dimensional. But this book is not all about Greg and Rachel. Earl, Greg’s irreverent, yet oddly mature for his age, best friend, and Greg’s dad, a learned professor and exotic food junkie, are the true stand-out characters. While they appear in snippets throughout the book, I found myself begging for more about them, and not more about Greg and Rachel.

Unfortunately, the plot is a worn-out one, and even Greg seems to think so, as he mentions many times in the narrative that what he is writing must be extremely boring to the reader. The main problem is that not a lot happens, which may be a by-product of the high school setting. The only time I felt truly engaged was when Greg described all of the various mock movies he creates with Earl. But I honestly don’t know if that is just because I’m a huge movie fan and enjoyed the references. I must admit though that blending classic films with the mind of pre-adolescent teenagers was an extremely clever move and did add a lot of entertainment value.

Of course, the high school clique stereotype pops up every now and then. Most students are categorized into one group or the other, except Greg, who turns himself a chameleon of sorts. I have always been bothered by this simplified view of high school, and the fact that Greg actually tries to branch out into other groups is refreshing, even if his attempts to do so are only to downplay his awkwardness.

While I had my hang-ups with Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, particularly with my disinterest in its main character’s life and story, the book’s supporting cast helped me enjoy a decent portion of it. While I wouldn’t read it again, if you’re looking for a reading experience that will bring both laughter and (potentially) tears, this is your book. I should also note that the movie, which I viewed recently, was fantastic and I highly recommend it.

[wellreadcatlady · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is not your average young adult novel. The me being Greg who wants to be casually social with everyone and avoid close friendships is guilted by his mom into hanging out with the dying girl, Rachel. Greg has been around Rachel before in Hebrew school, he was always able to make her laugh, but things got awkward when he kept avoiding her invitation to hang out. Now Greg is hanging out with her and still able to make her laugh, with his odd sense of humor. His other friend-but-not-really-more-like-a-coworker-making-&-watching-films, Earl meets her and ends up showing her the films him and Greg have made, no one is allowed to see them, this freaks Greg out that Rachel has seen them, but she understands to keep it a secret and she actually really likes them. Once it is clear Rachel is going to die Earl and Greg set out to make a film just for her, despite not knowing much about her.

What I liked is it’s nothing you would expect from a young adult book about a teenager with cancer. They don’t fall in love, Greg is hanging out with her because she has cancer and his mom pressured him to do so, he can’t truly express what he is feeling, and he is beyond modest when he gets complimented. The story is told from Greg’s perspective, he’s writing a book about the experience. The style of writing got on my nerves, the constant self depreciating and teenage boy talk was over the top. The story is realistic though, Greg knows nothing about Rachel, but wants to make her happy in her final days and when he tries to express what he is feeling it just falls flat, because how can you put that in words. He feels like shit that he can’t define what he feels and thinks he’s a shitty person because he can’t. I loved that, its accurate.

[startwithgivens · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is very John Green-like and not at all because it's about a dying girl. The writing style, character development, etc. reminds me very much of John Green. But, this book actually got fairly boring in the last third or so. There was nothing really new to carry the story along at some point.

[karenvg3 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

So I read this book because of the movie. I like to read the book first and see how the movie compares. Unfortunately I was not one of the many that found this book amazing. There was nothing wrong with it, but it just wasn't my type of book. I was not a fan of the main character's constant demeaning of himself. I was torn between a 2-3 star rating because it wasn't horrible, just wasn't my cup of tea.

[AzulClarito · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The truth is that I liked it quite a bit, although I’m not going to say it’s THE BOOK, but it is an easy read that keeps you turning the pages in the story. It’s not your typical book about the girl with cancer... (Translated from Spanish)

[fearstreetzombie · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

"In fact, high school is where we are first introduced to the basic question of life: How is it possible to exist in a place that sucks so bad?"

That is probably the only text in this book that I actually liked and agreed with. The rest of this book is complete and utter trash.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a perfect example of how NOT to write. I honestly have no idea how this book managed to make it to the best seller list. I also stand by the fact this should not be labeled as "Young Adult". It should be Adult, even New Adult. I'll even go as far as saying MATURE YA (which is really pretty much New Adult, but hopefully you get my point)

the main character in this book is just a disgusting slime ball. And trust me when I say Earl TOPS disgusting slime ball. He is the type that really makes you wonder how he has friends at all unless he has a gun to their head saying "we are gonna be friends!" Which.... I actually would not put passed him to do.

I admit part of me wanted to feel bad for Earl. I really did. I mean, you have a deadbeat mom and dad. Your house is falling apart covered in dog poop, vomit, dirty clothes.... The works of any hoodrat. But then I thought, well, I can't feel bad because there are plenty of people in that same situation and still manage to make straight A's, clean the poop and vomit. Ya know. the HUMANE thing to do. And of course we can't exactly feel bad for him when 1) he is a drug dealer and 2) the fact for 2 pages plus more scattered through this book he continuously says degrading things such as "You gonna eat her pussy?" "You better eat dat pussy." "Ew bro ain't nobody trying to hear vagina! that's nasty!" among much more trash along those lines.
Earl turns my stomach. I'm not even kidding. Every time he was brought up, I just wanted to puke.



Do I really need to bring up the 13 year old "TRU NIGGA" neck tattooed, drug dealing, drop out, brother that knocked up some chick? Or is that pretty self explanatory?

Can you believe I hated this book so bad, I literally can not remember the main characters name? Oh well, don't really care. he really is no better. He is crude and makes my skin crawl. He reminds me of one of those creepers that just stand there wide eyed watching your every move throwing out the vibe "I'm going to watch you poop" or something. Ugh!

I noticed a lot of times he went on and on about all these groups that hate each other and the trick to surviving high school is to be in with all of them without them knowing...and he thought he was "all that" because he managed to do that..... I really wonder if it ever crossed his mind that he was THAT much of a loser that he isn't in with ANY group, that they just tiny nod at him in hopes that he won't bother them because really no one likes him. Like even the "gothy dorks" and losers want nothing to do with him. Hmmmmmm..... Would make perfect sense if you ask me. and I hated how he guilt tripped that girl into talking to him. He lied through his dang teeth and made her feel bad. Words really don't cover how low that is and how much it pissed me off.

I have never hated a main character so much in my life and that is saying a lot. Than again, I don't think I have ever hated a book as much as I have this one. Even the parents made me roll my eyes. They are so freaking oblivious to what is going on.


This book was just terrible. The constant change between novel to screen play made me want to scream. The narration was cringe-worthy. The whole "this book is so stupid, why are you still reading" really made me ask myself why the hell I was. But people kept telling me it gets better, it gets better. eerrrrr.....no. No it didn't. Anywho, back to the narration the whole "I should punch myself in the eyeball/I punched myself in the eyeball/you should punch yourself in the eyeball for reading this" on and on and on and on... like really dude? What the hell is the point of saying that? It's stupid and pointless.

I would never in my life recommend this book. There are much better books out there. This is not one of them.

[jothebookgirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is truly a departure from a dying cancer type book. It was a little close to The Fault in our Stars. I actually laughed out loud at times while reading. But then at the chapter, The End of our Lives, no more laughing. I would like to meet Jesse Andrews.

[mtlkch-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very funny, but I didn't really connect with any of the characters.

[catherinehsu · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was alright for me - funny at times, a little flat at others.
But what I really liked about it was that it felt real.

[tabatha014 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This was nothing like what I thought it was going to be. And it was kind of a waste of time that could've been spent reading something else. Definitely disappointing.