Review: 'Me And Earl And The Dying Girl' By Jesse Andrews

When his mother forces Greg into spending time with Rachel, a girl who has recently been diagnosed with leukemia, Greg's world is destroyed. After spending his whole school career managing to stay under the radar Greg is suddenly thrown into the limelight and out of his comfort zone. When it becomes clear that Rachel isn't going to get better, Greg, and his co-worker and almost-friend, Earl, are convinced to make a movie in her honour.

PLOT: At times the plot seemed very pointless. It wasn't at all what I was expecting and to be honest I don't even clearly know what it was meant to be about. It's not a cancer story at all because it barely focuses on Rachel. It's pretty much a story about the main character hating himself and everyone around him... so if that sounds good to you go ahead and read it! Although I didn't hate this book I definitely could have gone my whole life without reading it and it wouldn't have made a difference to me.

CHARACTERS: Greg Gaines was the most unlikeable narrator and main character I've ever been inside the mind of. Despite the fact that he had known Rachel his whole life he was completely unsympathetic towards her and saw the time he spent with her as a burden rather than a blessing. In the first ever meeting between Earl and Rachel, Earl shows more kindness to her than Greg does in the whole book despite it being the first time they ever met. Greg is also extremely selfish and this book seems to be an excuse for him to write about himself - FYI the book is written as if it is Greg writing it - it's an endless stream of what appears to be self-loathing when we all know he thinks a lot of himself. Earl, although rude and crass at times, was a lovely character and when he got choked up about Rachel's illness I got slightly emotional and really loved him as a character. Rachel, although referred to in the title, isn't prominent in the book and I don't feel like I got a chance to connect with her throughout the story which was a shame.

WRITING STYLE: Hated it. Like I said, it was an endless stream of some guy complaining about what a shitty person he is and how much he hated his life while all the while some poor girl was losing her life.

EMOTIONS/FEELS: I really couldn't connect to this book on a emotional level because Greg was such a robot and has no feelings himself. It's a shame because if written differently this book definitely could have had me in pieces. It was very funny at times, although the humour was immature and I was laughing more at the ridiculousness of it than the genuine funniness of it.

THE ENDING: I didn't get anything from it, didn't leave me wishing it hadn't ended or anything.

Despite my review I didn't hate this book I just found it a little bit pointless if I'm being completely honest.

Overall rating: 3/5 Stars