Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

“Also, what the hell does “weird even mean? I've just written it like five times and all of a sudden I'm staring at it and it doesn't even mean anything anymore. I just murdered the word “weird.” Now it's just a bunch of letters. It's like there's all these dead bodies all over the page now.”

I absolutely loved the style of this book. I loved how Greg was talking to you the reader. I also loved the mix of lists, scripts, and “normal” writing. It really added to the uniqueness of this book. For me the best part of this book was the way in which it was written, but also the humor. There were so many lines in this book that had me giggling and laughing to myself. This is definitely not a book I would want to read in public, because I definitely would have gotten some strange looks.

In terms of actual plot, I appreciated that while this is a cancer book it did not focus on the cancer. Instead it was about the weird group that Greg, Earl, and Rachel formed as a result of Rachel's diagnosis. While I found it really improbable how their meeting and friendship came about, I loved the interactions from Greg's point of view on what happened. I loved that Greg didn't care what he said, his only goal was to make Rachel laugh and for a little bit of her day forget about her cancer.

But like I said this was not a cancer book, it wasn't even really about Rachel. We literally learn little to nothing about her by the end of the book. And while Greg admits this toward the end of the book, I would have liked to have learned more about her rather than the focus solely on Greg. This book was about Greg and his coming to “hang out” with Rachel. But these hang outs were mostly just Greg talking and making Rachel laugh. We don't actually learn about what Rachel likes to do and what she is like as a person.

My main issue with this book was the lack of depth of the characters. We have Rachel who is the “dying girl” who we learn little to nothing about even though she is in the title. Then we have Greg who while we know the most about him, I feel like he was a very easy character to dislike. And finally you have Earl, who is just the enigma of a stereotype. The characters in this story were flat and showed little to no growth throughout the book. I think the book would have been better if the characters were more fleshed out and we knew more about them, especially in Rachel's case.

As I said, the humor and writing were the strong aspect of this book and why I gave it such a high rating. While this is a book about a girl with cancer it really is not a “cancer book” and i appreciated that. I'm also really looking forward to the movie!

For the past few months, I've been hearing nonstop reviews for this book and the movie and so finally I said screw it and bought the book.

I was expecting this fantastically funny book, but I didn't find it. I had just heard too many great things about this book and I raised my expectations just a little too much.

List of things I just didn't like about this book: the humor thrown into the book, the formatting (there were parts where I loved it, but most of the time I felt like it was a cheesy/cheap way of getting out of things), the unrealistic “friendships”, and more

Don't get me wrong, there were things I loved about this book. Enough to give it a 3 star rating. Perhaps 3.5 stars.

However, 53% of the way into this book, I set it down and did something I never like to do. I went and watched the movie in hopes that it would make me more attached the the characters and the plotline. And oh my god that movie. Everything I hated about the book was transformed into something amazing in the film. The friendships and the characters and just everything just felt so real to me. And it reached a level of quirky I felt like the book just missed. That movie was fantastic, perhaps even a new favorite.

This book was on my To Read list since it was published, back in 2012. A lot of BookTubers I followed were raving about it and I was eager to see what exactly they were raving about.

Finally, six years later, I got the chance to.

But, backtracking a little first, according to a lecture I attended in university, a certain book by a certain Green author paved the way for ‘sick-lit' to be a genre; I suppose that this book, released only a mere two months after said book, does fall into the same category. Having read both books now, I must say that this one is a much better read, though.

It's more real. There was no sappy life lesson at the end of it, no “inevitable romance between the two main characters”, no magical, exponential personal growth by a fictional teenager. So why read it? Some people questioned the overall message of the book and the whole point of it, saying it was uninspiring, had no meaning, was boring and flat.

I disagree. I don't think that's what the author had in mind while writing this. It's a comedic read that doesn't have fluffy nonsense and doesn't hold back at how crude a young boy's mind can be. It's how awful and ugly life can be, and how sometimes, there isn't a happy ending. And that's okay. We have to be okay when things don't all end up being happily-ever-after, or if tough times don't make tough people. That's life, and that's real.

That's why I like this book so much. It truly isn't like all the others. It doesn't try to be either, which is equally as important.

I watched the movie adaptation a few days ago and while that had some ‘feel-good' elements in it, it wasn't enough to distract me from the message I personally got from the story. The characters are wonderfully flawed and relatable, the plot wasn't overly fictitious, and the pace was just right.

If I had a chance to change the syllabus of that university unit that I took, I would 100% replace the Green book with this one.

“I entered Excessive Modesty Mode. Nothing is stupider and more ineffective than Excessive Modesty Mode. It is a mode in which you show that you're modest by arguing with someone who is trying to compliment you. Essentially, you are going out of your way to try to convince someone that you're a jerk.”

Not really my kind of humor, but it did have its moments, I'll give you that.

I found Greg and Earl either quite irritating or plain boring for the first half of the book. I was put off by Gregg's “trying to stay cool in school” drama and his self-proclaimed complete lack of empathy towards another human being because both of these angles were overplayed in an attempt to make him seem more intelligent and interesting than the average kid. Luckily, this was mostly just in the beginning.

Then, Earl's crassness was too much for me, despite the fact that I understood that he came from such an unfortunate background. Most of the jokes between him and Gregg were gross and I found myself twitching when he was butchering English.

However, at times, I resonated a bit with Greg's self-deprecation and I appreciated Earl's good nature. I did warm up to both of them by the end.

I wish there'd been more Rachel moments, because those were the best parts, but I guess I get why there weren't. I really liked that nobody fell in love and there were no life changing epiphanies. Also, I loved the simplicity of the ending. I think that it made it all feel so genuine, after all.

I can't say it's a book I enjoyed for the most part, but it had a few great moments that made me appreciate it.

Oooof. This book missed the mark for me. I just didn't relate or care about the characters and I did not think the humor in this book was good at all. The crudeness didn't bother me like it seemed to do for others, but the humor just isn't my style.

I sped through this book to see if it got better, and it just didn't. It didn't hit me emotionally and will not be something that I think about. I finished the book for the sake of seeing it through since it was a quick read.

annyiszor nyitottam meg véletlenül, miközben kerestem, mit olvassak, hogy a legutóbbinál úgy döntöttem, talán ideje lesz belevágni. a filmet imádtam, és a könyv is szuperül indult, de a felétől kb. eléggé ellaposodott sajnos. azért még így is mérföldekkel jobb a sok dagályos-nyálas rákos könyvnél. de lehet, hogy csak azért látom így, mert én is olyan érzéketlen tuskó vagyok, mint a főszereplő fiatalember.

Original de: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Estoy segura que quienes no han leído el libro o piensan hacerlo pronto pero no tienen mucha idea sobre qué trata Un Final Para Rachel, deben estar pensando que es alguna otra novela sobre cáncer, sobre la chica que encuentra el amor en los últimos días de su vida, sobre el chico al cuál le mueven el mundo y luego cambia para mejor persona. Sobre la chica que cambia la vida de todos a quienes rodea. Sobre un chico que ve la profundidad de la vida y la valora aún más ahora.

Pero no, esta historia no es sobre Rachel en realidad, a pesar del título que se le puso en español. No, esta es la historia de Greg: un chico normal, bastante cínico y que no tiene idea de cómo tratar con los últimos acontecimientos en su vida.

En otras palabras: un adolescente normal, bastante común y un poco corriente.

Si bien leer sobre adolescentes muy profundos, con infinitas metáforas y palabras que resaltar, es adorable y nos tiene llorando al terminar el libro. Para mí, fue muy importante leer un libro como este, porque un adolescente real y típico, es bastante difícil que tenga una gran conciencia sobre la vida, sobre todo si durante toda su vida no ha habido acontecimientos que le marcaran de manera significativa. En Me and Earl and The Dying Girl, vemos eso, algo real, un adolescente que no tiene la más mínima idea que hacer ahora que una de sus amigas está muriendo, sobre una amiga que no ve hace mucho tiempo. Es fácil identificarse con Greg, incluso si no quieres, porque sí, uno espera que en el momento necesario tengamos la mega frase para levantar el ánimo de las personas que nos importa... Pero por lo general, no sabemos que decir hasta que pasan unos cuantos días. Me ha pasado mucho.

Un Final Para Rachel, el título que se le puso en español, nos da la idea equivocada, nos vende un Bajo la Misma Estrella a la inversa o una nueva versión de Before I Die, si lo que estás buscando es eso, vas a salir decepcionado. El mismo Greg lo dice en los capítulos iniciales. (Y seamos honestos, este movimiento comercial de poner Un Final Para Rachel fue innecesario, ponerle “Earl y la chica moribunda y yo” no hubiera sido tan malo... Aunque “moribunda” suena cruel)

Como leí por ahí, Greg Gaines es un anti-héroe, es alguien con el que quizás tengas dificultad de congeniar y lo más probable es que termines queriendo matarlo o al menos cachetearlo un par de veces. Es un tipo que por todo eso obviamente me cayó la mar de bien.

GREG. GREG. GREG.

Sé que me la estoy pasando hablando de su protagonista, pero como el título indica, al menos hay tres personas en este libro. Rachel si bien es la razón de los problemas de Greg, no es una parte realmente... ¿Cómo decirlo? No está tanto en la historia como podrías pensar, de ahí que el título en español sea un poco engañoso. Porque este historia en realidad es sobre Greg y Earl.


Lo que me gusta de Earl, el colega de Greg, es que tenemos dos cosas en común; 1) el tamaño, algo que nos fastidiará hasta el día de nuestra muerte y 2) es que nuestro humor por defecto también es Molesto y por si eso falla, tenemos el otro que es Muy Molesto. Algo que noté en el trailer de la película es que al parecer nuestra cosa en común número 1 no está siendo respetada. Cuando vea el trabajo final, te diré que pienso al respecto.

BUT...

Si has visto mi puntuación más arriba, quizá te preguntes porque no se llevó las cinco estrellas si es tan genial como lo pinto. Lo que pasa es que en los últimos capítulos siento que faltó algo, creo que el hecho que me riera tanto al inicio para luego ponerse un poco menos gracioso fue un poco chocante. A pesar de eso, fue un buen final, es entendible que no sea una comedia el final, quiero decir, con todo lo que pasa...

Twitter || Blog || Pinterest || Tumblr || Instagram || Facebook

3.5 stars

I overall enjoyed it but the whole tome I thought it was written in perspective of an adult thinking back which made me very confused by the language. Now realizing it was him writing just a month or two after it makes way more sense and I really should have put that together better.

I found it to be a fun read and I liked the satirical take on the whole trope. It was an easy read and went through quickly.

This follows the story of Greg Gaines senior year in high school where his mum forces him to befriend a girl who is dying from cancer.
This book was really funny,there were times where I would just start laughing and people on the train would look at me weirdly. Although I enjoyed this book I didn't find it spectacular or amazing it was simply a good read.
I thought Greg was a pretty realistic character and I loved how he didn't react like we expect characters to react giving this book a unique voice. I just wish we learned more about the other characters such as Earl.

4.3

I've already seen the film before picking up the book. It's quite odd because I found the film adaptation so much better than the “The Fault in Our Stars” movie, and it's the opposite when it comes to the books (me liking TFiOS better). I don't want to go into detail when it comes to why I said that, so here's a short review of what I think of this book.

First of all, it's a very light-hearted book, so don't expect too much if you are used to reading really sad books about terminal illnesses. the focus is on the humorous and awkward life Greg has with his friend Earl. That is not to say that the “dying girl”, Rachel, is not important or that her illness doesn't affect the protagonist. It's a very realistic snapshot of Greg's life; it doesn't revolve around any one specific thing in the novel. Instead it's complex and the reader is taken through what he feels is important to document. You get out of it what you want.

Something that was totally note-worthy about this book was Mr. Andrews' writing. He incorporated a lot of different writing styles, like for example, a lot of the dialogue was written in film-script style, which I guess was there purely because of the two main characters' interest in film-making. That played a big part in the story. Anyway, it was completely new and different to me and I really appreciated its singularity. Also, a lot of the time, the author referred to the reader and it was sort of like he knew exactly what I was thinking and it was wonderful (sort of like breaking the fourth wall in television and films).

This book is either a hit or a miss. Seriously, it is worth the read. One thing I can guarantee is it's an extremely unique story, and lovable up unto the end. Here's a heads up though, this book has a healthy serving of language and explicit themes in it.

I'M late to the party on this one but I'm glad I made it! So funny and so cringe-inducingly relatable. Like a lot of times Greg's awkward spirals made me literally have to cover my eyes from the book. I really liked that it ended with Greg not keeping his deathbed promise to Rachel.

As a kid who grew up on Seinfeld, I can respect a cancer novel that openly rejects any kind of lesson-learning.

I thought Earl's character was interesting... the angry black kid with the gangbanger, broken home family is a cliche, but Earl himself seemed transcendent of that. I've also been thinking about the author's note at the end, about whether Earl is actually angry all the time or if Greg just perceives him that way? But we don't get a lot of Earl's direct POV so who knows.

I haven't seen the movie yet but I liked that this movie tie-in edition included some bonus material about the author's process in adapting it to a screenplay, including a few annotated pages of the screenplay. I suspect it would also be useful for any budding filmmakers :)

There is no real plot or character development in this book, but that did not prevent me from devouring it in one sitting. I literally laughed out loud from start to finish and I LOVE Earl and Greg's interactions.

If you have a sense of humor that can be considered slightly immature, this book is for you. If your moral and social compass is questionable at best, this book is for you. If you laugh out loud at jokes made in inappropriate situations, this book is for you.

When I looked first at this book, I was expecting to get a story similar to John Green's “The Fault in Our Stars”, which is a great book, but we won't need two books with a similar story. So, I was expecting to get a story like that:
A girl got cancer. A boy falls in love with her. She dies. His life is over.
No. Definitely nothing I'd like to read, but this book isn't a book like that. Certainly not, certainly different from John Green's. Totally different. It is so fun to read with a great protagonist who struggles to achieve to make a girl with cancer happy, even if he looses his current social status, even if his Mom forced him to, in his humouristic own way.
It made me laugh all the time and after reading, I could admit, this is one of the books I could definitely recommend.

Dari judulnya jika mengira kita akan membaca buku penuh perasaan haru & romantis spt yg diharapkan ada dalam The Fault in Our Stars, sebaiknya cari buku lain saja. Buku ini sama sekali jauh dr namanya romantis, sedih ataupun cinta. Malahan buku ini isinya kocak sekali dr halama pertama hingga halaman akhir sampe bikin ak ngakak sakit perut & mengeluarkan air mata (karena lucu).
Greg diarahkan oleh ibunya spy berteman dgn Rachel yg mengidap leukimia, yg kemudia menyeret Earl juga krn Greg hanya punya teman Earl. Awalnya Greg enggan namun di akhir ketika Rachel sakit parah Greg baru merasakan berteman dgn Rachel benar2 mengubah dirinya, tp gk ada adegan cinta2an ya disini.
Buku ini mmg agk berbeda dr genre YA fantasy maupun YA contemporary yg pernah kubaca, walau Eleanor & Park serta fangirl menurutku lucu juga tp mengenai perasaan ada sesi seriusnya juga, gk spt buku ini.