Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

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.