Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Unavailable
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: A Novel
Unavailable
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: A Novel
Unavailable
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: A Novel
Audiobook6 hours

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: A Novel

Written by Jesse Andrews

Narrated by Thomas Mann and RJ Cyler

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

()

Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

THE BOOK THAT INSPIRED THE HIT FILM!

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 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.

This audiobook is read by the stars of the movie adaptation, Thomas Mann and RJ Cyler, as well as Keith Szarabajka, Hillary Huber, Kirby Heyborne, Abigail Revasch, and Adenrele Ojo.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 12, 2015
ISBN9780147520845

Related to Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Related audiobooks

YA Social Themes For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Rating: 3.5465547932960892 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

537 ratings70 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    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.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    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.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    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.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I started off liking this book and Greg's narration, but soon became very annoyed with him and tired of the book. Glad to finally finish it!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    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.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    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.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    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.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    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.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    As a reader, I found this novel to be... for the lack of a better word, accurate. It was as true to life of an experience as a book can get. The author manages to encase a series topic in non stop humor. The character narrating his experience is relatable, actually, each character introduced can be related to in some way. There is no otherworldly entity out for blood. There isn't mention of unimaginatively corrupt governments, traitorous spies, or other semi realistic terrors. The reader is just to focus on an approximately eighteen-year-old boy and the people he interacts with in a normal-if not extremely awkward at times-manner. Perhaps, the best quality of this work is how normal it is. The events in this book could happen to anyone. That is a wonderful characteristic to have been exposed to.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Did particularly like the book. I think the main problem was that the protagonist was unbelievably immature, and uninsightful for a senior in high school. The type of jokes he was making seemed a lot more like junior high jokes. I just couldn't get passed that one character. I thought the rest of the book was OK. Earl, and Rachel, the dying girl, were interesting characters and the plot held my interest.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    When you read the title and look at the cover of the book, you imagine a sad cancer story about a boy who is in love with a girl, who dies in the end. Which causes the boy to become clinically depressed and not want to live on this world anymore. In which case you are wrong...Me and Earl and the Dying girl, is a story about an overweight 18 year old Greg Gaines who just wants to go though high school without being noticed or sucked into any high school cliques. When all of a sudden He finds out one of his old friends form Hebrew school, is diagnosed with leukaemia. Now Greg, being Greg, he doesn't want anything to do with any drama and kind of stay on the "down low". So him and his friend Earl are forced to do things with Rachel, to make her feel better about dying slowly from cancer. Now, Greg and Earl have a little secret. They have been making movies together since they were young and haven't sown anyone. And when Earl shows Rachel one of their movies and seems to enjoy it, they feel obligated to make a movie about Rachel and her dying wishes...I gave this book 5 stars because it was beautifully written. It was one of the funniest books I have ever read, as well as one of the most crude books as well. Although there is constant cussing and inappropriate references, but I don't know what I was expecting knowing it was written in the POV of an 18 year old boy... I say you should read it if you you don't mind inappropriate references and occasional drug usage. The story line and jokes were amazing and if I could give it a thousand billion stars I would.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    "sometimes,you care"

    I had high expectations for this book. Judgey,sceptical,high expectations. Part of that was the cover's fault. It said something about "the inevitable comparison to "
    'The Fault In Our Stars' "blah blah etc and there ya go. Boom.Instant judgey. Because I read 'The Fault In Our Stars' and I also read the journal,letters,reminiscences by and of Emily and there was gonna be no way that a fictional account of that world could measure up.

    Turns out,it wasn't even trying to. Turns out,it didn't care to try. Turns out,it knows it's an epically untalented, ridiculously deluded-into-thinking-it-could-even-try-to-say-anything-relevant and it honestly can't stop to care about how it's gonna be recieved. It just is,because the writer had to. And that is what makes it weirdly truthful. And relatable. And quietly,deeply enjoyable. It's ok to laugh,and cry. It's ok to feel squirmy because you recognize some of the behaviors. It's ok to feel numb because something just went down and you aren't sure how it affected you. And when you realize a writer just did those things to your mind,you also realize "Huh. wow. Good Job". Especially when,in the beginning,you weren't going to give that writer an opening.

    I don't usually write reviews. It feels.....intrusive,and it also feels false. Judging someone's art feels more personal and subjective than judging someone's skin,or their clothing. It's like judging their MIND and I don't like doing it.

    But sometimes you care.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    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.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Hilarious, and somewhat touching, book about Greg, who is pressured by his mother to re-befriend Rachel, who has just been diagnosed with leukemia. Laugh out loud funny in many places, particularly in the first 2/3 of the book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    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.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    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
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Greg doesn't really know Rachel anymore, but when his mother forces him to become friends with her his senior year, ruining his high school record of fitting in everywhere and nowhere, he gives in. Rachel has leukemia after all, and it's probably a good thing to do, right?This book is WONDERFUL. It's not really a cancer book, though Rachel is dying of cancer. Greg and Rachel don't fall in love, and, as Greg says throughout the book, Rachel doesn't spout wise sayings gained through her struggle.But: this book is heartwarming and sweet, but also sad and completely hilarious. Now, in keeping with being told by a high school senior who is a boy, and whose best friend, Earl, is a bit rough around the edges, the humor is very dirty, with an emphasis on sexual humor. And it is laugh-out-loud funny. An absolutely fantastic read for older teens.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Greg Gaines flies under the social radar at school. He has no friends and he has loads of friends, as he refuses to align himself with any one clique. He has one 'real' friend: foul-mouthed, "enraged" Earl. They're brought together by their love of movies and subsequent movie-making. When a girl he knew from middle school, Rachel, is diagnosed with Leukemia and Greg's mother guilts him into "hanging out with her." The inevitable happens (Rachel dies) but not before Greg and Earl make her a movie (a general bomb). Along the way, Greg learns much about himself and life (despite his protestations to the contrary)The real beauty of this book likes in the voice of Greg... between self-effacing streams of consciousness and hilarious third-person asides (often in movie script format or as a series of bullet points!) Greg reveals himself to be a thoroughly typical teen. Sidekick Earl treads closely to being a stereotype (African American kid from a highly dysfunctional home). In author Andrews' skilled writing, however, both transcend the usual YA formula.There is a lot of profane language... never mean-spirited and usually or humorous intent... the smart reader will "get over it" and just enjoy the ride. This book will resonate with many YAs, especially boys.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book does not lie. It is absolutely not the typical girl dying of cancer book. Having recently thumbed through a bunch of Lurlene McDaniel books I can say this book was a fantastic change. I liked Greg and his sarcasm. I think this book would really appeal to a teenage boy.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Many years ago, Greg and Rachel sort of dated. Greg was never really interested, but like everything else in his life, it just sort of happened to him. Now his mom is sending him to Rachel's house to hang out and keep her company, just because she's been diagnosed with leukemia. They don't fall in love. Greg doesn't learn Big Life Lessons. And this isn't Just Another Cancer Book.

    I enjoyed this and I'll probably toss it into next year's booktalks, but it's not one that'll be tops on my list of YOU NEED TO READ THIS NOW.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a fantastic book that I read in about one sitting. I just did not want to put the book down and was so intrigued by how different it was. I'm really into YA Contemporary books right and this was incredibly enjoyable! I never would have thought a book about a teen dying from cancer could actually manage to be funny but... it did. Pretty dark humour at times but it certainly made me laugh out loud which is a serious accomplishment, I think! I love any book that can actually make me laugh.

    I was drawn into this one from the first page. Greg's voice is so unique and I wanted to know more about him! What I loved most was how he was just honest. He doesn't sugar coat his thoughts. He just tells it like it is and I loved him for it. Greg is definitely not a popular kid and really only has his one friend, Earl, for company. He's pretty much just trying to get through high school without drawing any attention to himself.

    Rachel has cancer. Greg's mom decides Rachel needs a friend so Greg is pushed into hanging out with her. He's reluctant and not afraid to say it. He's not really friends with Rachel but feels an obligation now since she's so sick. I liked that Greg was honest about how he just didn't want to do this (who would? it's a sad situation to put yourself in!) but he still went in open minded and definitely learned a thing or two.

    Greg's just hilarious. He's honest and raw and tells his tale (and Rachel's) so well. Some parts were just so sad! Greg tried to stay detached from the situation but you could tell it was killing him too. He talks about how he just hates talking about this. Greg has a no-nonsense attitude towards life and makes some pretty funny observations. This isn't your regular YA book about dying kids and I liked that. It focused far more on Rachel as a person than on her disease. Most YA books seem to have female protagonists so this was a refreshing novel told through the eyes of a witty guy just trying to make a girl happy. I highly recommend it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow. I didn't intend to read this one tonight but I started and realized it was impossible to put down. There's so many ways this book could go wrong, but it manages to stay on the tracks (train metaphor!) without crashing into a mountain (plane metaphor!).

    Basically, this book is HILARIOUS and gruff and a little frustrating (but in a way that makes sense and works when I sat back and considered things as a whole). The narrator is imperfect but witty; his friend Earl is phenomenal and smart; Rachel (the titular dying girl) is -- well, I can't say anything without destroying what Andrews has created here.

    Suffice to say, I bought this book on a whim: GREAT cover description that mentions filmmaking HS kids who watch Aguirre, The Wrath of God too much great voice in the opening = winner.

    I am not sorry I succumbed to the whim purchase. and now I will begin to champion this book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved this book. All the best heartbreaking endings come at the end of comedies.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    If you took all of the profanity out of this book it would be a novella. And if you took all of the bathroom humor out it might be a short story. That being said, it is a tale about two typical high school boys who like to make films. Greg and Earl do their best to make it through high school with a minimum of effort and drama. Both seniors, Greg lives in a Jewish household and Earl in an extremely dysfunctional and violent household. One day Greg's mother approaches him with a mission to visit Rachel, a middle school friend of his who has been diagnosed with leukemia to try and cheer her up. Up to this point Greg's life was centered around making truly terrible movies with Earl. They do manage to watch great films which give them incentive and ideas for their own films. But they have fun with their creations and Earl breaks their unspoken agreement to keep the movies to themselves and gives them to Rachel to watch. This moves a private part of Greg's life into the spotlight which makes him even more uncomfortable than he already is.As Rachel's health plummets, so also do the boys' creativity and Greg's school work. The book is written from Greg's point of view and is interspersed with events depicted in script format. A teen reading this book might not find the language unusual but an adult might wonder how (or even if) teenage boys outgrow this and become lucid members of society.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Oh wow, did this book entertain me. I mean, really, really entertain me - I giggled, then I laughed out loud, and then I laugh-snorted; this book is impossible to resist. This book and the unique blend of humor and pain contained within is charming, odd, gross and wholly readable, though it does have a few flaws. This is three hundred pages of pure, unadulterated teenage boy; main character and star of the show Greg S. Gaines ventures from beyond being a mere figment of the imagination into a three-dimensional, occasionally rude, person. Both characters and the humor are the most noteworthy aspects of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, and while this is indeed a dreaded "cancer" book, this is nothing like the Nicholas Sparks brand of the same. As Greg himself so succinctly put it: "This book contains precisely zero Important Life Lessons, or Little-Known Facts About Love, or sappy, tear-jerking Moments When We Knew We Had Left Our Childhood Behind for Good, or whatever. And, unlike most books in which a girl gets cancer, there are definitely no sugary paradoxical single-sentence-paragraphs that you're supposed to are deep because they're in italics."Right away, readers will know how they feel about the main character: they will love him and root for him through his foibles or they'll dislike him and his immature brand of humor. His voice is fresh and very observant and absolutely without a filter. While I personally clearly found Greg to be more than lol-worthy, I also felt a lot of pity for the kid. I like that he's a conflicted character; he struggles with friendship and death but grows as a person while doing so over the course of the book. At the beginning of the novel, Greg avoids any kind of associations, friendships because he is so scared of what anyone else might think of him - and has done for years. He describes himself as an adept at "high school espionage" but all I saw was a sad, lonely kid that isolates himself on purpose from others, so he can say his constant state of aloneness is what he wanted. He's so insecure he doesn't trust other people to like him - hence the reliance on Earl for years, and the lack of any real connection even between them.Earl and Rachel are the side characters, the background characters to Greg's star, but they are the heart of the novel. They are what kept me invested after I was worn out on gross-out humor and Greg's issues. While Greg worms his way in with awkwardness and the aforementioned off-note humor, Earl's brash attitude and no-nonsense approach to life, home, and family quickly endeared him to me. Earl and Greg complemented each other quite well; neither has a solid set of social skills so their unlikely pairing was authentic and believable. I also have to applaud the author for not taking the easy and quite popular route with Greg's family - they're a varied, lively, engrossing bunch and it is always, always rare and refreshing to read a loving family environment in the young-adult genre. Rachel, the "dying girl" of the title was far more remote for the three hundred pages; she's not accessible like Greg who jokes his feelings, or Earl who has a face for every emotion. She's more unknowable, to both the reader and to the boys and that's one of the things that makes her situation so sad and compelling to read.The style of the novel is fairly simple - it's Greg narrating his life over the last few months with Earl and Rachel. What's interesting about the book is that instead of regular novel format, is (1) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl will occasionally sift into a screenplay format and (2) It occasionally reads like Greg himself is breaking the fourth wall and actually addressing his audience, i.e. the reader themself. While the second part is cleared up til later (and I am not going to spoil it for new readers) I thought the switch between formats was a very clever way to illustrate how important film is to Greg; it's how he usually expresses himself so that was a very nice touch on the part of the author's. Obviously, there's not much traditional about the structure of this book, but that works quite well for how Greg narrates. I also appreciate that the cover looks like a reel from an old film - it ties in very nicely with the plot and the most important movie that Gaines/Williams will make: Rachel the Film.As in life, so with books: all good things must come to an end. Greg Gaines, like many high school boys I know/knew, just doesn't know when to call it good on a joke. He never quits with the asides and deflections - not even when it seems to be time to do so. This book often surprised me with its unique brand of humor, but after a while, certain jokes and gags wore out their welcome. I started to want more reaction from Greg than a quick quip or an elaborate riff on... alien barf or Gross-Out Mode. Everything in proportion is better and if the humor had eased up more towards the end and y'know, the emotional part, this quite likely would've been a 5-star read. Despite the oversaturation of gags and humorous awkwardness, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a winner. It's a nice palate cleanser of a cancer book - it's emotional and affecting but not in the saccharine and overproduced ways so popular among most cancer books - the goal here is to make you laugh, not to make you cry.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is basically an acid trip in book form. Told in first person, we go inside the crazy mind of Greg, and seriously Greg needs happy pills. He's quite a character...weird, brutally honest, insecure and a pervert. Author Jesse Andrews writes the way your head process thoughts. You know like when your driving the same route you go everyday and your mind wanders to the most random thoughts. Anyway, it's a entertaining read, but if you're expecting a insightful read about death, and cancer look elsewhere.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    VOYAGreg Gaines has always been invisible at school and in life. That is the way he has engineered his entire existence: he is not a part of anything, but no one bullies him either, despite his being short and squat. His closest acquaintance is Earl, who is shorter and angrier. Together, they have discovered classic movies, and they now make their own in secret. Rachel, a girl Greg dated in middle school, is now dying of leukemia and his mother makes him spend time with her. When Greg volunteers to show her his movies, it forces him to become visible at school, and his peers begin to notice him. This book is hilariously written by Greg himself, with Greg stating right at the beginning that there will be no lesson learned at the end, no happy ending, nothing but his foibles during his senior year. Laced with profanities, anatomical descriptions, sexual and drug references, this book nonetheless conveys great truths about life as an unpopular high schooler. Greg's stream of consciousness and the movie scripts he writes in his head about his current situations are the same fascinating, self-absorbed monologues many teens have. It is sure to be popular with many boys, including reluctant readers, and will not require much selling on the part of the librarian. The language, however, makes this a read for older teens.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Earl is ostensibly a high school senior who has used anonomity to get through both middle school and high school. He's geeky, chubby and not too bright (in my opinion). His black friend, Earl, is short, geeky, and driven to 'gross out' comments.One October day Doug's mother lets him know that a school mate, Rachel, has leukemia and suggests that she needs a friend in these hard times. He should be the friend. So, Me, Earl and the Dying Girl is a book written by Doug describing his life, his thoughts, his horrendous films made with Earl, his thoughts on Rachel (he's definitely not attracted to her) and more inanity (is this a word?).The problem(s) are: (1) Doug and Earl come off as 6th graders, not 12th graders. Their antics and language and thoughts are juvenile. (2) There's no depth to this book; the humor isn't funny, the feelings aren't real. (3) Then SPOILER ALERT>>>>>>>>>SPOILER ALERT>>>>>>>>>Rachel all of the sudden gives up and dies by January. Yikes.This book just doesn't do it. (By the way, I just convinced myself to give it 2 1/2 stars instead of the 3 stars I originally gave it.)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The title of this book drew so much attention that I hopes the book would be as amazing as it seemed. I was pleasantly surprised. Greg has managed to navigate high school and avoid drama at the same time. He attends a very cliquey high school and tying yourself to one particular group can be dreadful because it means that there will almost certainly be another feud happening with another group. Greg has avoided this by doing something no one else has ever accomplished. He has managed to fit into every group though never tying himself down with them. See, no one group can see Greg with their rival group. So he floats in between them but never allows himself to be friends with anyone aside from misfit Earl, a trouble maker who only has one thing in common with Greg: their love of film.Everything is going nice and calm in Greg's life until his mother drops a bomb on him: Rachel, a girl he once sort of dated in the past, has been diagnosed with leukemia. Greg's mother says that Greg should be there for her and makes him call her and get together with her.At first Rachel is not interested but slowly she allows Greg to spend time with her. But Greg finds himself in a position he is not used to. He now is expected to be seen in public with Rachel. He can no longer remain groupless any longer.I liked that this book was not a love story. Aside from A Walk to Remember, I am not a fan of books where the characters fall in love all the while knowing that by the last page one of them will die. In this book it was more about Greg opening himself up to a friend and then trying to deal with the fact that this friend has limited time left.Greg and Earl are amateur filmmakers but they have never shown their movies to anyone until Rachel comes along. She finds them entertaining and they decide as a way to cope with her illness that they will make a film just for her, with hilariously sad results.Nothing seems to work. They try to go for the documentary perspective, speaking with Rachel's family for memories of her but her family is too heartbroken and it winds up being a very sad movie, not uplifting for Rachel, as they had hoped for. So they try a stop motion cartoon of Rachel fighting the cancer cells. But they don't get the affect they want. Attempt after attempt is a complete failure. To me this book is about a teen boy realizing that there is life outside of frivolousness of high school. Greg has spent all of his high school years alone and just floating through until Rachel comes along and he slams into Earth. This is such an interesting book. It's dealing with such a sad subject but the quirkiness of the characters makes it so it's not an overly sad book. Greg is so awkward and unsure of himself and Earl is such a wildcard that I was always on my toes in this unique and unpredictable novel.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    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.