Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews: 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.
THE READING ROBYN BOOK REVIEW RATING: FOUR OUT OF FIVE STARS
I knew that I 
needed to read Me and Earl and the Dying Girl the second I set eyes on that cover art. The design team behind this book did a stand out job!
For a debut novel the tone of the writing in this book is beyond fantastic. If I hadn’t looked it up I would have thought that this was Jesse Andrew’s fifth book, not his first. Andrews manages to convey a very strong and complex personality in Greg. The writing feels incredibly natural in how direct and self aware it is. I also love the formatting and the way that script style dialogue is integrated seamlessly into the story. It wasn’t overdone and it fit with who Greg is as a writer directing his own story and controlling just what narrative he wants to tell.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is actually very successful at taking a different approach to what is becoming a very familiar story in YA. This book isn’t a love story and it isn’t about hope or inspiring anyone. Instead the plot focuses on the idea of friendship and compassion written about from the perspective of a teenage boy who is very detached and passive. The plot also chooses to focus on day to day events rather than big sweeping ideas about life and death, which was very refreshing!
However, I can’t say that I super enjoyed the book as a whole. There were plenty of things I loved about it, especially for the first half of the book, but then the closer I got to the end the less I was digging it. The Epilogue somewhat won me back, but those last couple of chapters were not the best. Especially when I compare it to the fantastic beginning.
There were some things that I just outright couldn’t get on board with. Earl was a very hit or miss character for me. I can understand what Andrews was attempting to do with Earl and sometimes that translated into a very interesting kick-ass character. BUT then there were the times were the joke crossed the line and made me roll my eyes and try and move on as quick as possible. For example, Earl makes some ignorant remarks about bisexuality as a goof/joke. It was so entirely unnecessary and the more I think about those sort of shock value moments the more annoyed I become. It was by no means a death sentence to the book as a whole, but it was a sour note in something that I was really enjoying.
So I’m not as over the moon about this book as I could have been, but I still think it deserves four stars. Remember how much I was gushing just a few moments ago? Well the positives manage to be so awesome that the negatives are being balanced out. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was incredibly interesting and quick to read. I seriously could not put it down. I’m very interested in seeing what Jesse Andrews decides to write next.
ADAPTATION INFORMATION: Watch the Film!
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl has officially been adapted into a film with the screen play written by the author Jesse Andrews and staring Thomas Mann as Greg. Since the release Me and Earl and the Dying Girl has won 10 awards at various film festivals including the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance! (Congrats!)
If you plan on reading the book WARNING the official trailer does have some mild spoilers, primarily bits of dialogue that are word for word from the book. Otherwise, feel free to check out the trailer below or click to go to Letterboxd or Metacritic to read the reviews.