Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Revised Edition)

By: Jesse Andrews

Narrated by: Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, full cast

Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins

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

Like reading a movie script.

I don't have an issue with the narration. My main complaint is that parts of the book are in a movie script style. This breaks me out of the flow of the story. It might be different in a text version but in a audio version it was quite jarring.

My other major issue is that Greg, the story teller/author, doesn't seem to have been impacted in any meaningful way by the events of the book, he's still the whiny little boy we're shown at the start of the story. Perhaps I find this particularly irritating having lost family members to cancer.

I plan on watching the film this book supposedly inspired, perhaps it has more redeeming qualities.

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

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.

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.

Awkward Teenager's Story

This is a unique story told from the perspective of an awkward teen with rather low self esteem. I find the storyline realistic and the accounts unpretentious. It's a good story, with many funny lines and warm moments (Greg Gaines would rail against me for saying that!).

However I have to say that I find myself preferring the movie's ending ...

an honest, hilarious, heartbreaking narrative

Greg is really relatable in many aspects and completely, hilariously bizarre in others.
The novel had the raw feel of a teenager just writing a book of a horrible thing that happened to him.

The use of humor to offset what would otherwise be a very somber book was masterfully infused.

Andrews created a really easily accessible and understandable narrative, with a notably amazing use of imagery.

The climax was really fit perfectly for the story: when Greg was in the hospital right before Rachel died. He finally fully realized that Rachel was going to die and the implications of that. This scene was shockingly heartbreaking, especially for this story, and still felt true to the narrator's voice.