Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Rating: ★★★★
Quick disclaimer: I wrote this while recovering from wisdom tooth surgery. I am currently on some sort of narcotic and my mouth feels like it's being stabbed by four very sharp possibly dangerously hot knives, so bear with me if I get a bit rambley. I figured the results might be kind of entertaining to sober people.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is not your typical young adult romance novel involving cancer (I love The Fault in Our Stars but I really hate that the plot has become such a trope). I loved how real this was. Being close to someone who died of cancer usually doesn't have a silver lining of any kind. It's actually terrible in every way, because you have no one to be angry at. It's no one's fault, and there is absolutely no logical way to explain why this person got cancer and you didn't. (I speak from personal experience). Sometimes cancer just happens and people just die, and you aren't drastically changed by the experience. You didn't do anything remarkable along the way. It just happened.
It just happened to these kids and the story they tell is hilarious in spite of the heartbreaking topic. I laughed out loud every few pages. I would say it's the funniest book I've ever read, but I'm currently reading an even funnier book (keep your eyes open for the review of that one. I'm almost done) Back to the point: this book is still pretty damn funny. If you need a laugh this is a good place to find one.
I also love the diversity in this book (again). I'm on a role with good diverse books. YAY WRITERS! This is where I could go on an "I think Trump is a bigoted asshole" tirade, but I think there are people out their not on wisdom tooth drugs who might get mad at me. Anyways. Diversity. Earl! Earl is a very stereotypical "gheto" black kid, but he is probably the most morally upright character in the whole book. He's such a good guy! He doesn't have to talk "like a nice Christian white guy" or whatever to be good either. He starts using the F word before he hits puberty (way to go Earl). He's just- oh I have no words. You just need to read about this wonderful black kid who may seem like a criminal if you are like Trump and judge people by outward appearances (oops I did the Trump thing), but is actually just the bees knees like my friend Wesley who I have called the bees knees before (I believe in a Christmas card). I cannot explain my appreciation for the way the race issue is dealt with in this book because my mind is consumed by drugs and pain, but I hope this has at least made you want to pick up the book. I'm in pain so you should read this book because I asked you too. That's how things work. You do what I want when I'm in pain.
