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YA Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

2/21/2012

12 Comments

 
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Author: Jesse Andrews
Publication Date: 3/1/12
Publisher: Amulet Books

Blurb (GR): Seventeen-year-old Greg has managed to become part of every social group at his Pittsburgh high school without having any friends, but his life changes when his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a girl he once knew in Hebrew school who has leukemia.

Review:
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was my second "cancer book" in as many months. Although both Jesse Andrews and John Green had the same intention - to write a story about cancer that was different from those other tearjerky novels, in my eyes, Andrews was much more successful at stepping away from melodrama and cliches of the genre than Green. Of course, Andrews does not (yet) have a publicity platform of Green's magnitude to promote his novel, so I am glad to be able to help him out a little, because, from my perspective, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a better, more honest, more real book than The Fault in Our Stars.

It is better mainly because it does not try to force you into feeling all the obvious things we are expected to feel reading stories about young, terminally ill characters. There is a certain compulsion to idealize cancer kids, lives ending so tragically early and all that. It is also pretty common to practically guilt you into feeling sorry for their specific predicament. But I like that Andrews allows his characters, even his hero, to be resentful and maybe indifferent towards or burdened by the illness, that his cancer-stricken patient is not an ever-so-wise, heroic saint, that there are maybe no life lessons to learn from such personal tragedies. Maybe having a dying girl in your life is just an event that will affect you in a major way, or maybe it will not and that would be okay, too.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is not all about cancer though, in fact, the dying girl subplot plays only a relatively small part in Greg's story. It is more about Greg defining himself, stopping to play so safe, about bringing a little more focus onto his future and about understanding of who he is. The author might be a little coy repeating again and again in his narrative that there is no point to this novel, but there is one.

Another good thing about Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is that it is very funny. The success of the book with a reader will depend a lot on what he/she finds funny though, because, admittedly, the novel is filled with jokes of the bathroom variety, you know, boogers, boobs and boners. But it was funny to me nevertheless.

Great dialogue, self-deprecating humor (albeit occasionally too self-deprecating to be not annoying), vulgarity, wacky secondary characters, fresh (to me) approach to portraying cancer - I enjoyed it all and I hope you will too.

4/5 stars

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12 Comments
jowearsoldcoats link
2/21/2012 01:39:16 am

Great review, Tatiana! You've convinced me.
I have a copy of The Fault in Our Stars but I've been putting it off... I think this one seems a lot more like my kind of thing!

Also, I love the cover for this one! :)

Reply
Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
2/21/2012 03:25:20 am

Thank you.

And make to space these two books out. Or it might be too much tragedy.

It's a catchy cover indeed:)

Reply
Catie (The Readventurer) link
2/21/2012 03:41:51 am

I love bathroom humor. :) I'm definitely going to try this one out.

Reply
Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
2/21/2012 03:51:41 am

Evidently, so do I:)

Reply
Rachel
2/21/2012 04:26:05 am

Great review Tatiana. I don't think I can read The Fault in Our Stars but this "cancer" story looks like something I can do. You're the second person who's liked this and said it's really funny. I have a weakness for bathroom humor, as well, I blame it on my dad and his low class humor. Although, I guess that type of funny is better than laughing when someone gets hurt, like stubbing toes. I have inappropriate humor issues. :)

Reply
Heidi link
2/21/2012 07:14:41 am

I am totally looking forward to reading this, kind of putting it off but I am in need of a book that is funny. Thanks for giving me the heads up on that! Great review!

Reply
Stepping Out of the Page link
2/22/2012 12:52:11 am

Fantastic review! I'm definitely going to have to check this one out. It sounds just like my type of book (I don't know if that's a good thing or not)!

Reply
Maja
2/22/2012 04:06:57 am

I did love the humor and it had me laughing out loud so many times, but I agree with you that it was occasionally too self-deprecating. Other than that, this book was a really pleasant surprise for me too. Glad you liked it.

Reply
Wendy Darling link
2/22/2012 05:53:43 am

Great review, Tatiana. I've already bugged Flann about this, but you might give WONDER a try, too--it's another book that handles a serious subject with just the right touch. I've been trying to write my review for days.

Reply
Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
2/22/2012 06:07:45 am

Yep, Flannery already told me how much Wonder affected her. I am guessing her 5-star review is in the works.

Reply
Giselle link
2/23/2012 08:19:42 pm

I've been seeing all the reviews of this lately and I really want to read it it sounds great and bathroom humor!? Can't go wrong there! :D

Reply
Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
2/23/2012 09:26:48 pm

Do it, do it, Giselle!:)

Reply



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