Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

4 stars

“There was just something about her dying that I had understood but not really understood, if you know what I mean. I mean, you can know someone is dying on an intellectual level, but emotionally it hasn't really hit you, and then when it does, that's when you feel like shit.”  

There were so many hilarious quotes I could've picked to highlight in this review but instead I picked this one which hit me the hardest because it's the truest. A hilariously funny and awkward yet stunningly true book. Honestly, the first time I read this. I absolutely hated it. I didn't have any reason for it that I can find or remember. It's times like these that I wish I'd gotten into reviewing way earlier. Now, though, I love it.

I really love that it's just so different, it's not trying to be too ambitious or deep or thoughtful. It just is. That's my favourite thing about it, I think, the fact it isn't trying to be too much. It sounds kind of stupid in those words, like I'm dissing books that are ambitious, I love ambition but it's refreshing to read something like this.

I love Earl. I absolutely hated him the first time I read Me and Earl but I can't see why now. He is so funny and real, I imagine he would have been such a fun character to write. He really is his own and he doesn't care what you think of him. I also love that he wants to do well for himself and his family and he's going to do that. He was so real with Greg, when Greg was being a complete dickhead, Earl was there to put him back into place. I just love Earl, every book needs an Earl.

I feel like I should be outraged at the crudeness of this book but it so much fun. I can't imagine the amount of fun it would have been to write this, it demonstrates exactly what I love about writing and reading. You can write or read some very, very exciting and fun characters and this book exhibits some very fun characters. It's also about cancer but also not really about cancer, which doesn't make sense written like this but you'd understand if you've read the book.

I haven't seen the movie adaption of this but I really hope they haven't tried to make it incredibly meaningful with quoteable dialogue every couple of sentences that provokes deep thoughts. I don't think that's what this book is about. It makes me hesitant to see the movie in fear that it will be something the book is not. I have very high thoughts on Me and Earl.

I think this is such a refreshing read. It's quick and fun and you're going to have a good giggle to yourself. I love it, I feel like this wil be my now go to book when I need a laugh. I love Greg and Earl and Rachel and I love everything else. It really holds it's own too, when I first started reading it, I thought it would just be another The Fault in our Stars esque story but it doesn't need that to be successful. I want to shove it under everyones nose so they can appreciate the crude humour and the fun characters.