Me, Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

"This is not John Green or Nicholas Sparks "boy and dying girl meet and fall in love" cookie cutter romance. It is a brutal, sometimes cruel, but honest look at that horrifically awkward phase of life, High School, and the connections we make that we're not even aware of."

3 Stars.

Pros: Definitely not your average "fall in love with the sick girl YA Romance" but at the same time it was honest, heartfelt and deep in its own way.

Cons: I understand it's from a teenagers POV and teenagers are just awkward in general but some of the terms are just...stupid.

Full Review:

***Spoiler Alert***

Greg Gaines has managed to make it through most of High School by existing on the periphery of all of the Social cliques. He doesn't really belong to any of them and yet he is not hated by any of them either. He exists solely on the outskirts, and he likes it that way. The one person who could possibly be considered a friend is Earl, a boy he makes horrific, indie films with. But it's at the start of his Senior Year in High School that his mother decides that that has to change.

There was a girl back in Hebrew School named Rachel that Greg was friendly with. But when someone offhandedly commented that they were a couple, Greg freaked and made up every excuse imaginable to not spend time with her. And that hasn't changed in the five plus years since they last saw one another. But at the news that Rachel is now suffering from Leukemia and needs all the friends she can get, Greg's mother takes it upon herself to demand that Greg start spending time with Rachel.

What's at first painfully awkward, so turns into the kind of strange, not exactly sure what you're doing kind of friendship that we've all experienced in high school. You hang out, you talk, nothing of much substance happens but at the same time you start to realize, subconsciously, that you care about this person and that you like spending time with them.

It isn't until the very end that Greg realizes that after awhile, he did care for Rachel. She wasn't just someone his mother forced him to spend time with. She was her own, unique, special person and it's not fair that she had such a short life and that he only got to know her at the tail end of things.

Sometimes brutal in its honesty, painting Greg as a human, he has major flaws but also strengths, this book is an interesting look at that horrifically awkward phase of life, High School, and how the people you spend time with can come to really mean something, even if you don't realize it until they're gone.

Comments

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