Teen Review: Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl

Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Release Date ~ March 1, 2012
Harry N. Abrams Publishing
ISBN13: 9781419701764
ARC received for review
Goodreads Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Greg has managed to become part of every social group at his Pittsburgh high school without having any friends, but his life changes when his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a girl he once knew in Hebrew school who has leukemia.
I don't read a lot of comedy books.  I mean, some of the novels that I've read have been funny, but comedy has not been their primary objective.  I wasn't really quite sure of what to expect when I started.  To my surprise Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was quite funny while still a bit sad at the same time.

1. Comedy:
   I have to say that some of the comedy in this book is a tad innappropriate.  When I read jokes like that, I was worried that the whole book would only be funny because of those kind of jokes.  I found, though, that there were other kinds of humour.  The main character, Greg, was particularly funny.  His dialogue added to the whole thing and made the situations seem crazier and the people just hilarious.  I did find myself laughing outloud at some of the jokes that were made as I was reading it.  I think that there's different kinds of humour for everyone.
2. Characters:
   The main characters in this book are really fleshed out.  A couple pages are dedicated to most of the main characters when they first appear, and again, Greg's commentaries are really funny.  Each characters has a reason for acting the way they do.  We get to know their little quirks and flaws, and we know their past.  You can definetly tell how the past affected each one to make them into the person they were.  I was really impressed how a comedic book was able to make such fairly complex characters.

This book was actually a lot better than I was anticipating.  The dialogue was funny, the situations were funny, the whole book was funny!  While I will admit that some parts of the book just seemed kind of unnecessary, it was pretty good overall.  I definitely reccomend this to anyone who really likes comedy books, or is just looking for something a bit different.