Me And Earl and the Dying Girl | Jesse Andrews

Review:

Title: Me And Earl and the Dying Girl
Author: Jesse Andrews
Publication: March 1st 2012 (first published) by Amulet Books
Format: Paperback
Source: Independent Bookseller
Genre:YA; Contemrpoary

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.
        

Thoughts:
I picked up Me and Earl and the Dying Girl in July of last summer.  It had been on my TBR list for a while, but when the movie got such great reviews at Sundance** I made the move to finish reading it before I saw the movie.  Now, several months later I still haven’t seen the movie, but I’m super glad that I got to read Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.

***As it turns out, the movie didn’t get just good reviews, it won awards: 1) Sundance U.S. Dramatic Audience Award  2)Sundance Grand Jury Prize.

Jesse Andrews’ debut novel, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl begins in an *authors note* format as told by the protagonist Greg.  It is to be assumed that the book is from then on written in his perspective, and continues to be told in first person.  Greg frequently moves way from prose and instead features a lot of dialogue in the form of a movie script, as well as going into detail of explaining backstories and history in the form of lists.

But, back to the beginning for a second.  Greg is our protagonist, an ‘average’ high school senior with an extreme keenness fort he social workings at this high school.  I would say that this is a sort of trend with movies and books with male protagonists, although it is interesting because the teenage guys in my life are much less privy to social goings on than compared to girls.  Not to be pulling on sterotypes here, I’m just talking bout the people I know.  Moving on, however, Greg establishes himself as a ‘floater’ with access to every group within his high school.  This fact about Greg is more believable, because everyone knows that one kid who somehow manages to be friends with everyone.

Oh and Greg hates high school.  Another sort of trope that I think authors fall into a lot lately, but who can blame them?  I hate high school, most people I know hate higschool.  If you are perfect little unicorn who for some reason doesn’t hate high school then butt out because most be people do (I’m kidding here.  If you can make the best of your high school years don’t let me stop you).

Anyway, so now we have Greg established, he quickly makes move to introduce the reader to his best friend Earl.  Through a series of hilarious backstories, Greg explains not only Earl’s painful home life and childhood, but also his intelligence and their history as film makers together.  Greg and Earl have a nice friendship, and even though Greg is our protagonist gosh his is sometimes such a little sh*t.  Earl is by far the better friend.

And now we come to the final part of the title, the “dying girl”.  That would be Rachel, Greg’s childhood friend from Jewish school.  And Rachel has leukemia.  Greg is pretty much forced to become friends with Rachel by his mom. Their friendship is of course as awkward as any rekindled childhood relationship is, paired with Greg’s inferior friend making abilities and his inability to handle Rachel’s oncoming death leads to a pretty much disastrous friendship.

I much prefer Earl’s relationship with Rachel.  Less prevalent in the book (because Greg is the protag), Earl is in my opinion, not only an intellectual but socially intelligent.  When Greg blunders and says insensitive things not only does Earl give the upmost criticism, but in turn makes all of the right moves with her as well.

Poor Rachel is probably the saddest character in the novel.  Though at times she puts up a strong front, it is very clear to pretty much everyone except Greg that she is having a really tough time with her upcoming death. (as anyone would, it’s not exactly surprising).  Rachel’s looming death also brings a new character, Madison Hartner.  Of course we need a hot, nice girl randomly pulled into their lives.

The final portion of the novel focuses on Greg’s project for Rachel, and then of course his own struggles with Rachel’s oncoming death.  Greg really struggles with how to handle this.  Although he has become closer with Rachel since her diagnosis, he has an issue with handling the feelings that are associated with death, particularly with someone that he doesn’t know well.

Final Thoughts:

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is so painfully truthful that when I first read it I was upset because everything felt unfinished.  In retrospect, I was upset because it just lacked a happy ending, not a proper one.  This novel is by no means up lifting, it’s not a feel good book or any other death changes your life book.  It’s a story of a teenage guy faced with death of someone he’s gotten to know, and his very realistic incapabilities with handling it.  I think that the character portrayals in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl are spot on and certainly make this book recommendable, but I’m not sure that it would bring anyone joy.  For fans of The Perks of Being a Wall Flower and Maybe One Day, Andrews has told a friendship centered story about death, rather than a romanticized one.

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