Me and Earl and the Dying Girl Audio CD – Unabridged, 1 Nov. 2016

Firstly, delivery was fast and efficient as well as this the quality was top condition. I bought this as a birthday present for someone and have received nothing but compliments on my gift-giving abilities. The book itself was very well written and I would recommend this to anyone! 😃👍

Read this review along with others on my blog @ libroliv.comActual rating: 2.5/5 starsMaybe if I was 12, and still stuck in my John Green phase, I would have loved this book. (I remember thinking The Fault in Our Stars was a literary phenomenon.)Maybe my 12-year-old self would have the same impression of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (although I doubt it...I would still rate TFIOS higher).Maybe if I was 12, I would be able to score this book higher, but - frankly - I didn't enjoy it enough at age 15 to do so.Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is narrated by Greg Gaines, an overweight teen who loves to make people laugh - despite his complete inability to do so - and make films with his best friend, Earl.From the very beginning, I knew that this novel was not my type of humour. Personally, I don't find it funny when self-deprecating jokes reflect peer and self-hate more so than comedy.Frankly, Greg Gaines is the kind of person you'd politely laugh along with - for his age, a high school senior, Greg's jokes are insufferably infantile - but only until you could escape.Throughout the entirety of this novel, I wanted to escape Greg Gaines, just like the characters did.And I would have put the book down if it was longer than 300 pages, but the short chapters made it so that I was able to race through this book in a matter of days. That is a becoming factor of the book - the pace is great. Fantastic, even. The pace is what brought this book up from peripheral to considerable. That, and Earl.Earl - as a character - was undoubtedly the best. Despite his tendency to erupt with vulgar profanity (which I'm sure is meant to be amusing, but I don't - frankly - see it. What is it with some authors believing obscenity is the sole language of teens? It's not.), it was endlessly evident that he was the only character with any actual character and substantial outlook on the world.I enjoyed hearing about Earl's life, and was interested in his future following the book, as well as his past that Greg offered infuriatingly few answers about.Honestly, this book would have benefited if it was just Earl and the Dying Girl. Or, you know, just Earl.This is because, as aforementioned, Greg was boring, and I failed to relate to him at all. He was a feeble character, naive in believing he could go through life with as few friends as possible. In his mindset, if people don't have an opinion of you, that's a good thing. He lived life on the sidelines - Greg Gaines made no attempt at making more friends, or even caring about people. His flippant attitude was not one I enjoyed reading about. He was also very prejudiced towards his peers, which baffled me - how can he have such negative opinions of people when he makes no effort to actually get to know them?Also - and I am unsure as to whether this was another idea that was supposed to be funny - Greg had a common tendency to objectify women, consistently discussing how 'hot' or 'ugly' he thinks they are. Obviously, I didn't find this funny (was I supposed to?) or at all relevant to add to the novel. Here is a self-proclaimed troll of a teenage boy belittling his female peers, all of whom refuse to give him the time of day. I just don't understand what I'm supposed to take from this!If Greg were real, we would definitely not be friends, and not just because he would refuse to try to be.Likewise, the 'Dying Girl' was equally characterless, so much so that I can't actually remember her name, 12 hours after finishing the book. The relationship she and Greg shared was of no significance, and it was perpetually tedious to read of their interactions.Moreover, and I cannot stress this enough, not much happened. Like, at all. The story never peaked, the pace never changed, and there was never even an ounce of character development. Ever.So with all of these negatives, how could I award this book even 1 star, let alone 2.5?It's because I know what Jesse Andrews was trying to do.In writing a book about a 'Dying Girl', he was instantly entering The Fault in Our Stars territory, and the comparisons were inevitable. And so, to make a difference, he tried to make his story and characters as mundane as possible - the reader leaves with the impression that Greg, Earl, and the Dying Girl (Robyn? Rosie? I think it starts with an 'R') were ordinary people, and their story - or lack thereof - could happen to anyone.I get what he was trying to do, but it didn't work for me.That does not mean to say, though, that it wouldn't work for other people - I can see how people would enjoy this novel. Really, I can.On a more positive note, I really quite enjoyed the structure of this novel: there were flashbacks, allusions to the future, and even some chapters formatted like a script. I really enjoy it when authors mix things up like that.Thus, overall, I awarded this book 2.5/5 stars, and recommend it to people who enjoyed The Fault in Our Stars. The humour just wasn't to my taste, and I found the novel, as a whole, very boring.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I can't believe I held off on reading it for soo long!! I lovvve how this book is written, with it being as through the author, aka the main character Greg, is speaking directly to the reader the entirity of the book. Right down to the beginning of the book where there is "A note from Greg Gaines" which just added that little bit extra something. I love it.This book feels honest, in a brutal way. There wad no holding back when it came to things that you would think not to include and tell people about, because of the awkwardness and out of embarrassment. Especially after we find out who and why Greg is actually writing this book for. But at the same time, Greg is in some serious denial, both about his feelings and when he says how all of this didn't change or affect him. But with all that, it just adds to how realistic this story feels. Even the title is just honest and just tells you exactly what you're in for! But on saying that, it's not a book that just focuses everything on Rachel and the illness, but on the teenagers, growing up and other aspects, and. the illness is just another thing in this book.You get these little parts within the story that look like a film script, which is so fitting and suits this characters personality down to a tee. These little extras are just so perfect, especially considering this book is written in the way that Greg is meant to have wrote it, and Greg states how he more a filmmaker, not a writer.In the Epilogue, there is a funny little thing that was just so funny to me, because of hindsight and because I waited so long to read this book. Greg states how he want be "making a film out of this book. There is no way in hell that is going to happen." This made me laugh so much because I know that they made a film based on this book, so I found it hilarious.I'm so glad I've finally read this book!!!