Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Revised Edition)

Publisher's Summary

The book that inspired the hit film!

Up until senior year, Greg has maintained total social invisibility. He has only one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time - when not playing video games and avoiding Earl's terrifying brothers - making movies, their own versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics. Greg would be the first one to tell you his movies are f*@$ing terrible, but he and Earl don't make them for other people. Until Rachel.

Rachel has leukemia, and Greg's mom gets the genius idea that Greg should befriend her. Against his better judgment, and despite his extreme awkwardness, he does. When Rachel decides to stop treatment, Greg and Earl must abandon invisibility and make a stand. It's a hilarious, outrageous, and truthful look at death and high school by a prodigiously talented debut author.

This audiobook is read by the stars of the movie adaptation, Thomas Mann and RJ Cyler, as well as Keith Szarabajka, Hillary Huber, Kirby Heyborne, Abigail Revasch, and Adenrele Ojo.

©2013 Jesse Andrews (P)2015 Listening Library

Critic Reviews

"Narrator Thomas Mann is flawless as insecure high school senior Greg Gaines." (AudioFile)

Disclaimer: This Indie Book not for Everyone

On the periphery, Greg is neither cool kid nor complete outsider. He makes bad home movies with silly puns, bad dialogue, the occasional sock puppet, for amusement and as an homage to the greats (Kubrick, Kurosawa, etc.). When asked to spend time with an sort-of-ex-girlfriend, he begrudgingly enlists the help of Earl to begin this muddled attempt at friendship.

This is an indie book, reading like a film and it is not "The Fault in Our Stars" or any other comparison publishers will claim to sell this book. In film fashion, there are many voices, and at times, the famous movie trailer narrator, randomly voices over a scene; odd and clever. The entire book is first person narrative, as if Greg's talking directly to you, like Ferris Bueller turned to the camera occasionally, but his monologue doesn't end. Knowing these facts, maybe this book is a good fit. It's a quirky deviation from what's out there right now, but not everyone's cup of tea.

23 of 25 people found this review helpful

Very good

I thought the story itself was both compelling and funny. And the fact that it was written as if Greg was writing a book and filling it with his own unfiltered thoughts made it even better. The story teller's voice was calming and he put a lot of emotion into what he was telling. All and all it was a good book and it was performed very well.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Racist, mad I wasted a credit on it

I didn't even get through the first chapter. The emphasis on black people everywhere is pretty offensive.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Wonderful cast recording of a touching take

I loved the fact this didn't romanticize or gloss over the way people really feel about and deal with death. A lot of folks compare this to "The Fault in Our Stars", but this is a very different story; only the basic topic remains the same. This is well worth a listen, not just for the book, but the wonderful cast performance.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Love this book

This book is something I jumped in looking for something funny and I got something with lots of emotions I would recommend this book to anyone up for a great story

Don't... Just Don't.

This book was recommended to me by several people who said, "If you like John Green, you'll love this book".
And so, like a fool, I believed them.
I purchased this book and started listening the same day, and finished the entire book within three days.

OH MY GOSH! I have never been so angry while listening to a book before. The main character, Greg, is abhorrent; I wanted to strangle him. He is so incredibly selfish, and uncaring; and just down right d i r t y.
I do understand, that Greg's attitude probably was a point that Jesse Andrews was trying to make, but the rest of the story did not make up for it.
Basically the message in this book is, "Don't be like Greg". Which could have been okay, if the rest of the story wasn't a complete waste of time.
I thought, for a short while, that maybe this book would have a plot twist that would make everything come together, and maybe I would actually feel satisfied with how it ended.
But that never happened.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not the type of person who just needs a happy ending; I am anything but. However, the way the story progressed--and how truly terrible Greg is--added up to more than I could handle.
I didn't mind Rachel's (dying girl) or Earl's characters, they were fine. And again, I think that ties into the whole idea that "Greg" is the bad guy of the story, and we the readers/listeners are just supposed to be seeing everything from his perspective. The moral of the story is how to be, or act, in life; i.e. more like Earl, and Rachel.
This book just did not have enough (if any) redeeming qualities for me to like it.

Also, there was an excessive amount of language in the book, that honestly took away from what little it had going for itself.

I will give the performance a high rating, because the narrators were phenomenal, but that is the only positive thing I have to say about this book.


My conclusion: Don't waste your time, or money. This novel is not worth it.

Love the Book ❤️

Liked how they had different ppl play different parts if the characters. But let Greg be a different male for every chapter next time. But other than that loved the book. Would definitely recommend this book to 6-8th graders.

it was okay

The reading was phenomenal, however the story was kinda weak. The main character seemed kind of narcissistic, which I felt the author was confusing with "deepness". It was still well written.

Excellent teen book

I read this book with my 14-year-old daughter and it struck home with her and with me. It’s written in a sarcastic, simple way from the eyes of a teenager. As the parent, I could’ve used less swearing , but this is how kids talk. It explores the messages of hope, death, social inequality, and teenage awkwardness,.

DAMN son!

i liked it. very insightful when it came to the story telling. kept me entertained.