Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

“I entered Excessive Modesty Mode. Nothing is stupider and more ineffective than Excessive Modesty Mode. It is a mode in which you show that you're modest by arguing with someone who is trying to compliment you. Essentially, you are going out of your way to try to convince someone that you're a jerk.”

Not really my kind of humor, but it did have its moments, I'll give you that.

I found Greg and Earl either quite irritating or plain boring for the first half of the book. I was put off by Gregg's “trying to stay cool in school” drama and his self-proclaimed complete lack of empathy towards another human being because both of these angles were overplayed in an attempt to make him seem more intelligent and interesting than the average kid. Luckily, this was mostly just in the beginning.

Then, Earl's crassness was too much for me, despite the fact that I understood that he came from such an unfortunate background. Most of the jokes between him and Gregg were gross and I found myself twitching when he was butchering English.

However, at times, I resonated a bit with Greg's self-deprecation and I appreciated Earl's good nature. I did warm up to both of them by the end.

I wish there'd been more Rachel moments, because those were the best parts, but I guess I get why there weren't. I really liked that nobody fell in love and there were no life changing epiphanies. Also, I loved the simplicity of the ending. I think that it made it all feel so genuine, after all.

I can't say it's a book I enjoyed for the most part, but it had a few great moments that made me appreciate it.

There is no real plot or character development in this book, but that did not prevent me from devouring it in one sitting. I literally laughed out loud from start to finish and I LOVE Earl and Greg's interactions.

If you have a sense of humor that can be considered slightly immature, this book is for you. If your moral and social compass is questionable at best, this book is for you. If you laugh out loud at jokes made in inappropriate situations, this book is for you.

One of my favorite books this year, and I'm not even completely sure why. It was really weird, and badly organized, and the protagonist was extremely self-deprecating. All of that, I don't know, maybe that was part of it's charm. It was very real. I think I liked it for the same reason Greg and Earl liked that one movie ... it was so shaky and strange and depressing and vaguely pointless that it made me think it was all real. And I liked that about it.
It was funny, but so very sad at the same time. I couldn't stop laughing at the conversations Greg and Earl would have, at Mr. McCarthy, at the movies they would try to make; and just like Greg, the fact of Rachel's dying didn't quite make it to my emotions until the very end, but when it did, it hit hard.
This is a horrible review. This is as bad a review as Greg's attempt at writing a book. I don't even know why you're reading this. Just read the damn book, ok? Jesus.