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 leukaemia—-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.
Until Greg’s mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel.
Rachel has been diagnosed with leukaemia—-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.
My Rating: 3/5
There seem to be a lot of young adult books about cancer and dying in general but it's safe to say that Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is not like any of them.
Greg was a character that I didn't particularly warm to until the second portion of the book. He had a very strong personality and his overuse of humour to compensate for his low self-esteem came across as obnoxious at times.
Earl was by far the most interesting and dynamic character. Everything about him, especially his family was insane. Apart from that though, he was definitely the character that developed the most throughout.
Rachel aka the dying girl was the most underdeveloped character. Greg's realisation at the end of the book that he didn't really know her illustrates my point.
There was no real plot structure to this book. In most parts it was also completely predictable.
Overall though I found this book humorous and I liked the film aspects but I definitely expected to like it a lot more than what I did.
I think, based on it's publishing date, that a lot of comparisons are made between this book and The Fault in Our Stars. They aren't the same book at all. This book has been very popular in my library, even with boys.
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