On the HahaFiction shelf
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Greg Gaines has a plan for senior year: avoid attention and keep making bad movie parodies with Earl. Then his mother insists he spend time with Rachel, a classmate with leukemia. Greg and Earl decide to make her a film.
From the publisher’s blurb
“A coming-of-age story that avoids "cancer book" clichés”Read the full description at ABRAMS publisher description
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What makes it funny?
Greg can't even tell his own story without insulting the person writing it. His self-criticism extends to the prose itself, while scripts and digressions keep interrupting his account.
The comedy at work
A teenager trying to stay unnoticed has to describe friendships he can barely admit to having. His self-conscious commentary supplies recurring jokes as the filmmaking project brings him closer to Rachel.
Try this if…
Readers who enjoy abrasive teenage narrators and stories about making art badly have plenty to work with here. The humor accompanies serious illness and emotional awkwardness.
Good to know
Leukemia and death are central subjects. Earl smokes and uses coarse language; the story alternates conventional narration with film-script passages.
More funny coming of age
Sources & further reading
- Kirkus review
Review
- Publisher
Publisher
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