Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

by Jesse Andrews

This novel is now available in a revised edition. Please go to Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Revised Edition), ISBN: 978-1-4197-1960-8.

• ISBN10: 1280483784
• ISBN13: 9781280483783
• Publish Date: 1 January 2012
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 25 February 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Allen & Unwin Academic
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[nitzan_schwarz]

To read this review and more check out Afterwords!

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: IT'S COMPLICATED

It really, really is. When I started out Me and Earl and the Dying Girl I genuinely had so much fun with it, and I was absolutely certain I'm going to continue laughing out-loud until the final page and be blown away. Instead, I slowly stopped laughing, until at the very end I was just relieved it was finally over.

The thing is, this book's biggest strength is also its biggest weakness. At least for me.

The big, loud charm of this book is it's messed up writing style; a mashup of a lot of things, concepts and ideas, in a very authentic manner to what a teenager who is not even very interested in writing a book might do... which, let's face it, Greg is. It's quirky, unique, and fun. For about the first 50%.

But then, because this is the approach this book takes, it kind of made it a structural mess with no actual plot in sight. For me, who is a plot-driven reader, this made things kind of... difficult. It was hard to invest a lot of time at once in this book's world because I had nothing to anchor myself to. No questions I needed answered or a sense of wondering what are the things to come.

So my first struggle with it was actually reading it instead of just meandering about.

My second struggle was actually enjoying the read once I've decided to get my shit together and properly read it. There is something about actually sitting down and spending two hours straights in Greg's mind that just makes you realize how... this book talks about nothing. And even then, it kind of takes really long to say that it has nothing to say.

I have read the epilogue, and I still don't know if this book had something to say to me, or if, just as Greg basically tells the reader at the beginning, there is nothing there. So, in big doses, you just kind of start to wonder... why? what's the point of all this?

Not to mention, around the 50% mark, the shine of the concept just... wore off. It totally did. Greg is not a great person. He's not. He's judgmental and weird and interprets life in such a strange way. And while at first, it was delightful, and I laughed at his antics and style, by the end I just didn't enjoy being in his head, no matter the weird side thoughts, script format, bullet points, or whatever new thing he came up with. It just stops being funny.

Now, Me and Earl often resorts to crass jokes and vulgar language. I admit this is not the type of humor I normally enjoy, and after 50% of the novel, I was over it. Completely. Like, I get it. It fits the character that is Greg, and he is the one writing the story. But.. it got annoying. He got annoying. The repetition got annoying; how many times can I read about someone calling themselves stupid, or unable to accept a compliment or filled with the need to fill the silence, before I just kind of want to strangle you so you'd shut up?

Oh, and can we talk about his dumb and stupid jokes and why the hell everyone is laughing at them?? While his narration is often hilarious, the jokes Greg tell out loud baffled me, mostly because they're successful. Like, wtf? I don't know what you Americans find funny, but none of that shit would fly in my high school. I guess I should at least be thankful Greg is self away of this, to a point.

Speaking of which... The character of Greg is really odd. In most cases when people think one thing and do another, it's for the worse. In Greg's case, he thinks terrible things but does really nice things, even if for all the wrong reasons.

But I'm not sure if that's because that's who he is, or because he is a caricature of sorts, same as all the other people in this novel. Every character is defined by maybe one or two traits, and that's basically what that person is for the rest of the novel - Hot, Smart, Sick, Crazy, Goth, etc. And most of it is hecka exaggerated, especially the way teenage boys think and act. I mean, my brother is in that Phase right now. I'm living this shit.

Now, this makes sense. A teenage is writing this story, and sometimes, especially as self-absorbed teens, people aren't really people. They're That or This or Whatever. That being said, I kind of hoped Greg would stop seeing them like that at some point, but that didn't really happen. I guess if it did, then this novel would have something to say and that's a no-no.

Okay. So, basically, even though a lot of my problems make sense in the context of the premise, it wasn't enough for me. Being UNIQUE is not enough to be GOOD. Being INTERESTING is not enough to equate IMPORTANT. And so, even though I wish my reading experience had stayed constantly in the "great" zone, it didn't.

I needed more; more SUBSTANCE, more PLOT, more of a REASON to the entirety of it.

And yes, sure. The point is that there is no point, but that's just not the type of story I can connect to. It's entirely on my, but it's also the way things just are.


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Original Thoughts
Okay, so here's the thing; this book's biggest strength is also its biggest weakness.

The big charm of this book is it's messed up writing style, a mashup of a lot of things, styles, random thoughts and the likes, the way a teenager might think writing a book is like. So that works. It was fun and quirky and weird, and for the first 50% it even made me laugh often at Greg, his antics, or the style.

But then, this causes the book to be kind of a structural mess with no actual plot in sight, which made it extremely difficult for me to invest a lot of time at once on it. So I kind of meandered around with it. And then, when I finally decided to get my shit together and just read it, I also stopped enjoying it.

Because then you start really noticing the lack of concise plot. Like, yes, the book details Greg's life throughout Rachel's sickness. But then, you don't really get what it's trying to tell you, or why it even tries to tell you about it. I still don't know, and I have read the Epilogue. You just kind of start to wonder "why?" or "what's the point?" and those questions are never answered, and finally, you reach the end of things and all you can think about is kind of a relieved "thank god".

And I admit, this is my fault. Greg told me there isn't going to be a point. I just... I don't know. As the shininess of the style wore out, I started waiting for some gratification out of all this mess.

A lot of the things that you like about it at first grow old around the halfway mark. It stops being funny. At least, I stopped laughing. Like, I'm talking literally. At the beginning of the novel, I laughed out loud. I was delighted by the style and the fact our protagonist is a pretty shitty person. It's true; he is. His interpretation of life was weird and quirky and judgmental and stylized, and it was fun.

But that can't really sustain a whole novel. And I am not one who usually enjoys crass jokes and vulgar language in a normal setting, either.

And this book is both of these things. That's not a criticism, per se; it fits with the character that is Greg, and he is the one writing it. But as much as I loved Greg at first, I started getting annoyed with him and the things he was saying and doing, specially since a lot of the things he was saying were dumb and I didn't quite get why people were laughing from his weird jokes. I mean, the narration around those jokes is hilarious; Greg is very self-aware of his bursts of stupidity (this, too, grew old. I mean, yes, I get it. You're an idiot. You can't accept a compliment. You feel the need to fill silences with inane sentences. Now what?). But the words themselves were not.

And I don't know what you Americans find funny, but no one in my high school would have laughed at those.

Another problem I had with the novel once the coolness of the concept wore off is that almost everyone in this novel was some caricature or another of a person. Including Greg, who is a caricature of what someone thinks high school boys think and do. Some of it was probably true, but most of it is extremely exaggerated. I have a teenage brother. I'm living this shit right now.

Now, again, this... makes sense, in the context of the premise. Sometimes, especially when you're a self-absorbed teen, you don't always see people as people, but more as a "trait" of theirs, like being mean, or hot, or smart. That being said, it also felt extremely shallow.

So, for me, it wasn't enough. The unique style wasn't enough. The interesting narration wasn't enough. The newness of a character like this wasn't enough. I wish my reading experience stayed consistency throughout the read, but I ended needed up needing more than what I got; more substance, more plot, more point to the entirety of it.

And I get it that the point is that there is NO point, but that's just not the type of novel I can connect to. And that's entirely on me, but it's also the way things simply are.

[readingwithwrin]

“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.”



I wish this story had been told from Earl's point of view instead of being from Greg's. While I know this would have changed the whole story because Earl didn't have much to do with Rachel, but when he did he really wanted to help her and wasn't just doing it because he had to. Having said that though I do feel like Greg's story was very realistic and was also very believable. Because of that though at times it made him an unlikeable character a majority of the time.

He was very honest though and said he did a lot of things wrong and he wasn't a very good friend. I will give him credit for, but it didn't make up for the number of times I just wanted him to wake up and really see what was happening to Rachel and that just trying to make her laugh wasn't going to make her better.

I wish I had liked this book because it was a really good idea. I just never saw what everyone else saw in it.



See reviews first on my blog

[Jo]

Originally posted on Once Upon a Bookcase.

When I was offered a copy of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Owens, I was told that the book had been adapted for the big screen and would be shown later this year. Seeing as it had rave reviews for being very funny, and I love reading books before seeing the movie, I jumped at the chance. And those rave reviews? Well this is about to become one of them.

Greg is in his senior year of high school, and has perfected the art of invisibility; be on friendly acquainted terms with every group clique without being a part of any clique - and don't let any clique see you with another. This means Greg has no real friends, but he doesn't have any enemies either. Oh, well, there's Earl, but Greg would tell you he's more of a co-worker than a friend. They make movies together, remakes of cult classics. That is Greg's life; avoid everyone at school, make movies with Earl. But when his mother tells him that someone at school, Rachel, has Leukaemia, and that he has to go and hang out with her to make her feel better, his life gets turned around. Suddenly he has a friend, and his invisibility is gone. He's faced with the awfulness of cancer, and the responsibility of making this sick girl laugh. When it's suggested he and Earl make a movie for her, things get even worse.

I cannot tell you just how hilariously funny this book is. It is unbelievably funny, especially considering the dying-girl-with-cancer. This is not a sad, poignant, heart warming John Green novel. This is down to Greg - Greg who has this really unique voice, who has a talent for comedy. Everything he says, or narrates, had me smiling away, despite the serious subject matter. Put him and Earl together, and oh my god, I was laughing out loud. Earl talks in grammatically incorrect sentences, with a lot of profanity, and can be a little lewd. He comes across as being quite stupid, but he isn't, as we discover towards the end of the book. He was probably my favourite character. Rachel I wasn't that bothered by, to be honest. She was ok, but nothing spectacular. She wasn't very memorable for me, but Greg screwed up quite a bit around her, so there were more laughs for me.

Greg is the one writing this book. Although Andrews is the author, the plot is that Greg is writing this book, for unknown (until later) reasons. The book even starts off with an Author's Note from Greg saying how bad this book is going to be, because he's a filmmaker, not a writer. Greg is quite the amateur at writing books. The story jumps back and forth when Greg realises he needs context and back story for something he's talking about; his history with girls, his relationship with Earl, or maybe a pause just so he can explain something for a chapter, so when he goes back to the story, his actions make sense. It's quite a strange style, but I quickly got used to it, and added to the humour. When a chapter started along the lines of, "I guess I should probably tell you about...", I knew I was in for more laughs. But at the same time, I was wondering for quite a while if there was any real plot to this book. It was like Greg just felt like writing about what happened during his senior year. I could see where things were going with Rachel, and that affected Greg's life, but the reason for the story, why Greg was writing it, I just couldn't see. Until the end.

The ending of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is surprisingly beautiful - especially when it comes to Earl, who is a lot deeper and smarter than he seems. You get used to all the laughs and awkwardness, but when Earl lays in to Greg for complaining about something, and tells him he needs to be a better friend to Rachel, who is dying, or when he talks seriously about the future... it's amazing. There is more to this boy than meets the eye - as Greg said throughout the whole book, Earl is smart. I ended up loving Earl even more when we saw this new side to him. I'd love if we got a book about him, and got to know him better. He's just awesome.

Before I finish, I just want to add something about the diversity of this book. All the main characters are diverse; Greg and Rachel are Jewish, and Earl is black. None of these things impact the book in any real way; there are mentions, but they're just tidbits in a bigger story. I just really liked how they were diverse characters, but it wasn't about that. This made me happy

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a brilliant, ridiculously funny story, and this review has come nowhere near to doing it justice. You'll just have to read it for yourself - and I highly recommend that you do.

Thank you to Allen & Unwin UK for the review copy.

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 4.5 Stars

This book had been on my TBR for quite a while, but after attending the Me and Earl and the Dying Girl panel at BookCon, I knew I had to read it. Jesse Andrews described this as a funny book about something that isn't funny and I couldn't agree with him more. This story is not happy, nor is it about happy things. It's about trying to be invisible, about dying, about growing up in a dysfunctional home, poor and fatherless, but it was all relayed to us with humor. This story was about the things Greg didn't realize he had or wanted. For me, the story was more in the things that Greg did NOT say. It was between the jokes and one-liners and it made me think. When a book leaves me laughing, crying and thinking, I cannot help but give it a high rating.

[Nessa Luna]

Actual rating: 4,5 stars - Ever since I read The Fault in Our Stars, I have started to notice that there are quite a lot of books about people suffering from illnesses. Cancer or Leukemia seems to be the most 'popular' choice lately, I believe. Honestly, I have been trying to avoid these books as much as I can - because I just don't like reading about people who have cancer. Fictional or not. But some of these books were starting to get rather popular, and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was one of them. There is a movie coming out very soon (though my country won't get it until November), and I watched the trailer very recently and thought it sounded interesting. It did still have a bit of a TFIOS feel, but it also felt quite different (because TFIOS was more of a love story, and this book isn't a love story at all).

As you may have thought, this book is about a guy named Greg ('Me'), a guy named Earl (obvious) and a dying girl (Rachel). Rachel is diagnosed with Leukemia, which I always thought was the kids' version of cancer (but apparently it's to do with blood and though it's mostly common among children, it's not necessarily a children's version of cancer? The things you learn from books, eh?!). Greg and Earl are filmmakers, and that's basically what this book is about. One day, in his senior year, Greg is 'forced' to spend time with Rachel. He drags Earl along with him to visit Rachel one day, and that's how the three of them start 'hanging out', as far as you can hang out with someone who is ill. Yeah.

Like I said, I thought it would be a TFIOS repeat, with Greg and Rachel falling in love and him being hopelessly heartbroken after she'd died (come on it's not a spoiler, it's literally in the title) - but it was actually the exact opposite of them, and that is probably why I liked this book so much. This book is not about Rachel, it's not about her being ill, not about her dying - it's about Greg and Earl and them making a movie for her (okay technically still a bit about her). And the characters didn't feel 'perfect', like Hazel and Augustus kind of did (apart from them having cancer obviously) (sorry not sorry) - they don't use weird metaphors or stick unlit cigarettes into their mouths just because they can. Greg and Earl and Rachel are real people and that is probably why I am going to admit that I think I like this book a bit more than TFIOS. (Why didn't you give it five stars then?) Because the characters in this book are flawed, and I did actually want to slap both Greg and Earl at some points, and yeah the book was a bit messy at some points that I just skipped paragraphs because I had no idea what was written down. So yeah, not a perfect book.

The writing style is a bit strange, to be honest, because the author wrote it so it looks like Greg actually wrote the book. Of course, when a book is in first person narrative, I always think the story was written down by the main character - but in this book it's actually mentioned several times that Greg is actually writing it. And he's not very good at it, his writing is messy - the dialogues are sometimes a bit strange, sometimes two characters are talking through each other and you miss half of a sentence, some parts of the dialogue are written like it's a script of a movie (which makes sense), and he sometimes uses bullet points to sum up things that happened at that time. I really liked the way it was written, so much I actually got through it as fast as Quicksilver runs ("You didn't see that coming?"). (I did see that ending coming, of course, because it's in the title already).

And really, the design of this book is just marvelous. Just look at the cover! Look how awesome that is. The chapter titles are really awesome as well and I just loved looking at them. The chapter titles are hilarious and yeah wow, just all the points to the people who designed this book!! (Also just, I love books that mention the fonts they used, because sometimes I just see a font that looks AMAZING but I have no idea what it's called, and I just cry every time I see a book mentioning this at the beginning or end of it, wow yes!)

Honestly, I find it difficult to read cancer books (my granddad died of cancer a couple of years ago, and though I have come to terms with it, I still can't really read books or watch movies about people having cancer. TFIOS was hard to watch, Before I Die was very hard to read - I liked both of them but I also hated them you know what I mean?), but honestly I loved Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Because this book doesn't feel like a cancer book at all. It feels like a silly book about three friends doing friend things. Rachel's death wasn't a bit thing in this book, it was actually just mentioned very briefly near the end - and that was about it. So yeah, I didn't find this book difficult to read at all (the movie will probably be a different story).

In the end, I really enjoyed Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, and I will definitely be checking out the movie as soon as it comes out. Seriously, go and watch the trailer! And read the book! And watch the movie when it comes out!

My opinion on this book in one gif:


(In fact it was amazing)

[ellieroth]

Original de: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Estoy segura que quienes no han leído el libro o piensan hacerlo pronto pero no tienen mucha idea sobre qué trata Un Final Para Rachel, deben estar pensando que es alguna otra novela sobre cáncer, sobre la chica que encuentra el amor en los últimos días de su vida, sobre el chico al cuál le mueven el mundo y luego cambia para mejor persona. Sobre la chica que cambia la vida de todos a quienes rodea. Sobre un chico que ve la profundidad de la vida y la valora aún más ahora.

Pero no, esta historia no es sobre Rachel en realidad, a pesar del título que se le puso en español. No, esta es la historia de Greg: un chico normal, bastante cínico y que no tiene idea de cómo tratar con los últimos acontecimientos en su vida.

En otras palabras: un adolescente normal, bastante común y un poco corriente.

Si bien leer sobre adolescentes muy profundos, con infinitas metáforas y palabras que resaltar, es adorable y nos tiene llorando al terminar el libro. Para mí, fue muy importante leer un libro como este, porque un adolescente real y típico, es bastante difícil que tenga una gran conciencia sobre la vida, sobre todo si durante toda su vida no ha habido acontecimientos que le marcaran de manera significativa. En Me and Earl and The Dying Girl, vemos eso, algo real, un adolescente que no tiene la más mínima idea que hacer ahora que una de sus amigas está muriendo, sobre una amiga que no ve hace mucho tiempo. Es fácil identificarse con Greg, incluso si no quieres, porque sí, uno espera que en el momento necesario tengamos la mega frase para levantar el ánimo de las personas que nos importa... Pero por lo general, no sabemos que decir hasta que pasan unos cuantos días. Me ha pasado mucho.

Un Final Para Rachel, el título que se le puso en español, nos da la idea equivocada, nos vende un Bajo la Misma Estrella a la inversa o una nueva versión de Before I Die, si lo que estás buscando es eso, vas a salir decepcionado. El mismo Greg lo dice en los capítulos iniciales. (Y seamos honestos, este movimiento comercial de poner Un Final Para Rachel fue innecesario, ponerle "Earl y la chica moribunda y yo" no hubiera sido tan malo... Aunque "moribunda" suena cruel)

Como leí por ahí, Greg Gaines es un anti-héroe, es alguien con el que quizás tengas dificultad de congeniar y lo más probable es que termines queriendo matarlo o al menos cachetearlo un par de veces. Es un tipo que por todo eso obviamente me cayó la mar de bien.

GREG. GREG. GREG.

Sé que me la estoy pasando hablando de su protagonista, pero como el título indica, al menos hay tres personas en este libro. Rachel si bien es la razón de los problemas de Greg, no es una parte realmente... ¿Cómo decirlo? No está tanto en la historia como podrías pensar, de ahí que el título en español sea un poco engañoso. Porque este historia en realidad es sobre Greg y Earl.


Lo que me gusta de Earl, el colega de Greg, es que tenemos dos cosas en común; 1) el tamaño, algo que nos fastidiará hasta el día de nuestra muerte y 2) es que nuestro humor por defecto también es Molesto y por si eso falla, tenemos el otro que es Muy Molesto. Algo que noté en el trailer de la película es que al parecer nuestra cosa en común número 1 no está siendo respetada. Cuando vea el trabajo final, te diré que pienso al respecto.

BUT...

Si has visto mi puntuación más arriba, quizá te preguntes porque no se llevó las cinco estrellas si es tan genial como lo pinto. Lo que pasa es que en los últimos capítulos siento que faltó algo, creo que el hecho que me riera tanto al inicio para luego ponerse un poco menos gracioso fue un poco chocante. A pesar de eso, fue un buen final, es entendible que no sea una comedia el final, quiero decir, con todo lo que pasa...

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[leahrosereads]

Typical teenager trying to stay under the radar in high school - that's what Greg Gaines is. Well, that's what he was until his mom forced him to hang out with a dying girl. Greg becomes incredibly noticed then. By everyone in the school.

I loved this book. While sometimes I can't seem to connect with the main character of a young adult novel, that wasn't the case with this novel.

All of the characters were very well written, and I applaud Jesse Andrews for making them all so likable. Even with Greg's selfish attitude throughout the novel, I thought he was being a typical teenager. He was dealing with something that he'd never had to before, and with Rachel only being an acquaintance in the beginning, it was hard for him to sympathize.

Andrews' writing style was something that I also enjoyed immensely. He made me laugh regularly, but by the end, I had a constant stream of tears. When novels can evoke the emotions out of me that the MC is going through, I believe the author has done his or her job.

And Jesse Andrews did it amazingly.

[boghunden]

When I started this book, I was expecting to be entertained. When I finished the introduction, the fun was over.

The introduction was really, really good. I've rarely read anything like it - it was so much fun! Now, that only helps raise the expectations towards the rest of the book; expectations that weren't met. This book is about Greg, whose mother is "forcing" him to visit Rachel, who's a girl with leukaemia. Greg is insensitive towards Rachel and doesn't really care that she's sick. That isn't my main problem with the book though. What is the problem though, is that he keeps visiting her, even when he doesn't like her. Come on! You're 16, now do something, stand up for yourself! He's one of those guys who'll end up doing whatever people tell him to. It was just so annoying! At the sime time, he's feeling really sorry for himself. Stop it! Just...please! His friend Earl is almost as annoying as Greg is. He swears way too much. Now, I don't mind swearing in my books, but it needs to be there for a reason, and I didn't feel like there was any reason for it in this book. It just didn't seem real. I don't know anybody who swears as much as him. Furthermore, he's acting like he's schizophrenia; one moment he's this good guy with all the best intentions, and the next he's so annoying and provoking that you just wanna slap him. But this too, of course, doesn't bother Greg; he's just saying and doing whatever Earl wants.

All in all, I found the story to be flat and a waste of time. It's more of a diary with notes about what movies Greg is making - which, of course, I didn't care about. Now, you'd think that was enough, wouldn't you? But no, it's not. The writing style was one-sided and dull; all the bad words felt like they were just there to fill the pages. To be fair, parts of the book worked out okay, but unfortunately those parts were to few. I was expecting to be laughing a lot while reading this book, but instead I ended up bored. I didn't feel anything. At all.

My advice would be to read the introduction and then stop. Or maybe just hang it on your wall, because this cover is gorgeous.

[Joni Reads]

The title of this book drew so much attention that I hopes the book would be as amazing as it seemed. I was pleasantly surprised.
Greg has managed to navigate high school and avoid drama at the same time. He attends a very cliquey high school and tying yourself to one particular group can be dreadful because it means that there will almost certainly be another feud happening with another group. Greg has avoided this by doing something no one else has ever accomplished. He has managed to fit into every group though never tying himself down with them. See, no one group can see Greg with their rival group. So he floats in between them but never allows himself to be friends with anyone aside from misfit Earl, a trouble maker who only has one thing in common with Greg: their love of film.
Everything is going nice and calm in Greg's life until his mother drops a bomb on him: Rachel, a girl he once sort of dated in the past, has been diagnosed with leukemia. Greg's mother says that Greg should be there for her and makes him call her and get together with her.
At first Rachel is not interested but slowly she allows Greg to spend time with her. But Greg finds himself in a position he is not used to. He now is expected to be seen in public with Rachel. He can no longer remain groupless any longer.
I liked that this book was not a love story. Aside from A Walk to Remember, I am not a fan of books where the characters fall in love all the while knowing that by the last page one of them will die. In this book it was more about Greg opening himself up to a friend and then trying to deal with the fact that this friend has limited time left.
Greg and Earl are amateur filmmakers but they have never shown their movies to anyone until Rachel comes along. She finds them entertaining and they decide as a way to cope with her illness that they will make a film just for her, with hilariously sad results.
Nothing seems to work. They try to go for the documentary perspective, speaking with Rachel's family for memories of her but her family is too heartbroken and it winds up being a very sad movie, not uplifting for Rachel, as they had hoped for. So they try a stop motion cartoon of Rachel fighting the cancer cells. But they don't get the affect they want. Attempt after attempt is a complete failure.
To me this book is about a teen boy realizing that there is life outside of frivolousness of high school. Greg has spent all of his high school years alone and just floating through until Rachel comes along and he slams into Earth.
This is such an interesting book. It's dealing with such a sad subject but the quirkiness of the characters makes it so it's not an overly sad book. Greg is so awkward and unsure of himself and Earl is such a wildcard that I was always on my toes in this unique and unpredictable novel.