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

Title: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Author: Jesse Andrews

Published: Movie Tie-in copy published August 2015 - first published 2012
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
Source: Allen Unwin in return for an honest review
Reviewed: Sapphired Dragon
Rating: **** 

My Review:

I went in to this book not knowing too much about it but having heard good things nonetheless and was incredibly pleased with the result as I found this to be a very entertaining read.

Whilst quite different to a lot of what I have been reading lately, I loved the voice and the off beat perspective of the main character which injected humour into an already fun read.

Greg S Gaines describes himself as a slightly overweight pasty white Jewish boy and his philosophy on life is to be mildly friendly to all groups at his high school but not recognised as belonging to any one group and so to avoid being on any one's or group's radar ever and this is how he intends on spending his senior year.

However when his mother forces him to spend time with Rachel, a girl he maybe sorta pretended to date back in Hebrew school, who has just being diagnosed with Leukaemia, he finds his nicely carved niche as being unmemorable slowly slipping away.

What I like about this novel is that whilst it doesn't take itself too seriously, it still nicely balances with the somewhat serious topics of the book.

The characters are all richly drawn and I could easily picture them in my head and see them interacting at a high school and I especially loved the refreshingly unfiltered thought process we constantly see in Greg's head.

I also loved the writing in this novel. The story itself was well paced and I zoomed through it and I found the writing style both easy to get into and to move through as I got further into the story.

This novel is a humorous, entertaining and fun to read and I can't wait to see how it will all play out in the movie being released next month.

I am so glad I chose to read and review this novel and I give it 4 stars :-)

Sapphired Dragon xx

About The Book:

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews


Greg Gaines is the last master of high school espionage, able to disappear at will into any social environment. He has only one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time making movies, their own incomprehensible versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics.

Until Greg’s mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel.

Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia—-cue extreme adolescent awkwardness—-but a parental mandate has been issued and must be obeyed. When Rachel stops treatment, Greg and Earl decide the thing to do is to make a film for her, which turns into the Worst Film Ever Made and becomes a turning point in each of their lives.

And all at once Greg must abandon invisibility and stand in the spotlight


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