The premise of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is this: Greg and his friend (we'll just call him a friend), Earl, make these terrible homemade movies. And then Greg gets roped into hanging out with Rachel, who has leukemia, because he can, inexplicably, make her laugh. Shenanigans ensue, oftentimes unplanned and life-ending-ly embarrassing (Heh. Terrible pun there).
This book is bananas in the best possible way. Hilarious and irreverent and just so exactly what high school is like. I never understood those kids who say they loved high school. It is just the. worst.
Case in point, here's one of my favorite totally random, ridiculous scenes taken from dinner one night starring Greg's all too-real family. By the way, Gretchen is 14, which will explain a lot:
Meanwhile, at home, Gretchen was going through this phase where she could not make it through an entire meal if Dad was at the table. This was in part because Dad was going through a phase of his own wherein he couldn't stop pretending to be a cannibal. If we were eating anything with chicken in it, he would pat his stomach and announce, "Huma-a-a-a-an flesh. TASTE LIKE CHICKEN." This caused Gretchen to burst into tears and stomp out of the dining room. Things only got worse when Grace started doing it, too, which was insane, because a six-year-old pretending to be a cannibal is one of the greatest things there is.
I have no idea WHY this is even in the book but it is AWESOME and gives you a pretty good idea of Greg's warped sense of humor.
Although how in heavens name they made this into a movie (especially with that little paragraph about THAT EXACT possibility in the epilogue) without it turning into a majorly R rated film due to constant profanity, I'm not sure. Cause you know, teenage boys don't always talk like roses (especially Earl). But I really want to see it.
4 comments:
I've been curious about this one for awhile now. You've convinced me. That excerpt is pure awesome.
I've taken to calling this the third best cancer book, after A Monster Calls and TFIOS. I really enjoyed it a ton.
The movie was a huge hit at Sundance. I'm really looking forward to seeing it.
Angie - You really should. This isn't even the funniest part either. I think you'd really like it.
Melissa - A MONSTER CALLS! I loved that book. Yep, all three are different, but they each handle cancer/death so well.
Liviania - I heard that too. I'm wondering if it will go to theaters or just be released to video. Either way, I want to see it!
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