Novel Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Genre: YA Contemporary, Cancer, Script

Publisher: Amulet (Abrams)

Release Date: 2012

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Greg Gaines is the last master of high school espionage, able to disappear at will into any social environment. He has only one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time making movies, their own incomprehensible versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics.

Until Greg’s mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel.

Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia—-cue extreme adolescent awkwardness—-but a parental mandate has been issued and must be obeyed. When Rachel stops treatment, Greg and Earl decide the thing to do is to make a film for her, which turns into the Worst Film Ever Made and becomes a turning point in each of their lives.

And all at once Greg must abandon invisibility and stand in the spotlight.

The Cover:

I actually quite like the cover above, and even most of the other ones I've seen for this book. They're simple and perfectly fitting for the book, showing the important characters.

Review:

This was a very fast, and funny book. The wit is very easy to read, and aside from a few more crude things than I like but most people would probably enjoy more, I quite enjoyed it. There are scripts, and bullet points, several neat ways of listing things and conversing throughout the book. It made it fun to read.

Greg is not especially likeable. Not even counting all the ways that he hates on himself, he’s also rather superficial, but he is a pretty typical guy in several ways. Then there’s Earl, who is crude and angry, but surprisingly realistic and smart. I was honestly more interested in Earl’s relationship with Rachel than Greg’s. I did like Rachel, she seemed like a normal girl who was dealt a crappy hand. She handled it in the way that she could.

There wasn’t really romance in this book, and I’m kind of left empty after how small the book ended. There wasn’t a bang at the end, we know what’s going to happen with Rachel from the very beginning. But I suppose it was realistic.

I enjoyed this book, it was a very fun read though sad at times, but the ending left me a little underwhelmed. I do want to read his next book, though.

Review: Things I Know About Love by Kate le Vann

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5

Publisher: Random House (EgmontUSA)

Spoilers?: Maybe. But not outright.

Goodreads Synopsis:

 Things I know about love.

1. People don't always tell you the truth about how they feel.
2. Nothing that happens between two people is guaranteed to be private.
3. I don't know if you ever get over having your heart broken.

Livia Stowe's past experiences with love have been nothing but disappointing, but all that is about to change.  After years of illness, she's boarding a plane for the first time to spend the summer in Princeton, New Jersey, with her brother who's studying abroad.  This Brit is determined to make the most of her American summer and to record every moment of it in her private blog.

America is everything that Livia's ever dreamed of.  And then she meets Adam. 

Swept up in the promise of romance and the magical New York City that Adam shows her, Livia is smitten, but with all she knows about love, is Livia really ready to risk her heart again?

Review:

I had been eying this book for a while now, since about the time it came out, maybe a little after. But it was in hardback, and it was so small, and I kept convincing myself out of buying it for some reason. Finally, I got it, cheap, a couple weeks ago, and read it not long after. I was expecting something small and light, fluffy with not much substance. An easy read. It was… small, and a little light, very easy to read, but there was a lot more to it than I had been expecting.

Things I Know About Love is about Livia, a British girl who is flying to New Jersey to visit her older brother at college. She has to convince her mother, seeing as she is still getting over cancer, but is doing just fine now. She’s staying for a few weeks with her brother during the summer, and is planning to find out as much as she can about love, while writing it all down in her private blog. And then she meets Adam, a fellow Brit and friend of her brother who is also visiting his brother for a few weeks.

I loved the way it was written, and just being inside Livia’s head. She was fun and sweet, and was just enjoying everything. She’s very close to both her mother and brother, seeing as they’re all she has and pretty much all she’s known for the last while, ever since she got cancer and had to stay in hospital. We get a little look into her past, her relationships with everyone in school, and how she had a lot of friends and then she got sick and they faded away. She was curious about everything, about love, and was open to it all. She’d been in a relationship before, only to be pushed away and then dumped when her cancer stuff started happening again, and so a bit wary. She’d kind of jumped into it before, and wasn’t too sure if any other guy would stick around. She was still a little upset about the old guy, and when another one showed up, she was sure of her feelings, and even while a little cautious if she were feelings the same things as before, she was pretty sure that they were different. And that Adam was different from the boy before. Which he was.

I love Adam. He’s British and sweet, and he loves Livia and knows that he loves Livia. He knew that she was different from the first time he met her, a couple years previous to when the book takes place, when they only met very briefly. It could be considered insta-love, and it really kind of is, but it just worked so well her. It seemed so believable, and it was just full of swoon to me. He even knew about her cancer stuff and that only made him worried for her and made him want to hold her closer.

The book is written in journal-style, as Livia is writing everything that happens into a private blog, which I really enjoyed. I wasn’t expecting there to be small chapters in Adam’s point-of-view, though. I was surprised when they first showed up, and then just excited for each one. They’re so small and there are only a few, so they were kind of like treats to me.

I really liked reading about Livia and Adam, as well as her relationship with her brother and mother. There was also a little insight into her brother’s love life, which I enjoyed and felt a little sad about. I am probably partial to her brother, though, since I have a thing for brother-sister relationships (which is just my personal opinion, since I am very close to my own brother).

Now, the ending. The ending made me cry, just a little. Which, for me, is a lot; I barely ever even get teary-eyed at most things. I really don’t want to spoil it, since it was so unexpected, even though there were a few obvious signs saying that I should have been wary to this. But I wasn’t, and it hurt so badly. It hurts so badly, still. It reminds me a bit of The Fault In Our Stars, which was amazing and a little light but still heavy. Probably a little more heavy than this, but just as sad. The ending didn’t leave me unsatisfied, but it did leave me sad.

I’m… no, I’m not going to say anything more. That’s probably giving away too much, as it is.

I loved this book, a lot, and will probably be holding it close to me for a while now. I loved the characters, grew close to them, wanted more of them. I don’t think I want to let go of it quite yet. I am definitely planning to look for more of le Vann’s books.

Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5 (maybe 5)

Publisher: Penguin (Dutton Juvenile)

Spoilers: Very, very minor, and vague.

Amazon Synopsis:

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.
Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

Review:

So, I'm feeling a little unsure about this book. And so I'm not totally sure what to say about it. I feel like I kind of don't think it was amazing, but it was amazing. And there is no reason for me to not think it was amazing. Maybe it was just so much, and I'm overwhelmed and very unsure or something. Also, I feel a little biased and pressured, and like I should only say amazing things about it. But I also don't feel like there's really anything not amazing about it in the first place. And I don't really know what rating to give it. I feel like, maybe, it doesn't really deserve a 4.5, and yet it also deserves nothing less?

I'm just all kinds of conflicted. (And, I promise, I'm not going to spoil anything big in this besides general plot. So, Spoiler Free!)

Anyway: Hazel. Ahh, Hazel Grace. First of all, I want to say how well John did at creating a real girl. Especially because, as a (you know, mostly) normal teenage(-ish) girl, I related to her in a lot of ways. She's a bit cynical, and not all that sure of herself, and she says 'um' quite a bit and ends a lot of what she says in a question. And I love how she thinks about boys, and just living in general. And she's smart, and in college even though she's sixteen (with a completely understandable and logical reason), and she's honest (at least to herself). She's a teenager, even if she does have cancer.

And, ohhh, Augustus Waters. (Also, I want to mention that I love the names John Green came up with. They are brilliant.) I don't even... But I do, I do know what to say about him. He is simply amazing. He wants to mean something, and he's fun, and he likes Hazel and doesn't see why she shouldn't know this. He's just... full of swoon. He is all swoon. There is so much swoon with him that I don't even know what to tell you besides that you have to read it to fully understand the amazing-ness that is him and Hazel, when they are together and not. And I like that the drama wasn't pumped up very much or anything. Even when they have problems (that would usually cause a big scene or something), it isn't too tense, it's not dramatic. It just is what it is.

And I wasn't expecting what... happened to him, to happen to him. Especially not before her. The situation was different from what I'd expected when I started the book, and I'm glad. It turned out different, in a  very good way. Well, not very, but, you know...

Also, you guys. I'd read several reviews and seen lots of people talking about it, and how it was full of all these emotions. And, since I'm not the type of person that cries at things, I was like, 'yea, okay', but my interest was piqued. And you guys, they were all kind of right. A lot of the book is just fun and more fun, and there are a ton of cute moments between Hazel Grace and Augustus. It's much more funny than I thought it would be, like with moments of the them just joking around, which I really enjoyed. And, yea, there are several moments in the book where Hazel is by herself and thinking about things, and I enjoyed them, but I didn't think they were overwhelmingly upsetting or anything. But then. But then, you guys. A scene came up. And I was completely caught off guard.

I knew it was coming; it was obvious that it was coming. And even when it started, I was like 'aww, sad', but then, and I think I might have just put myself in Hazel's mind and imagined it for myself, but then I thought 'oh, there are tears in my eyes'. I'm not even kidding. This book brought me so close to crying, closer than anything I've read before. And it was amazing. Sad, but amazing.

And then there's Isaac. He's one of their friends, who goes blind. But him and Augustus play violent video games together, and then him and Hazel play vocal video games, and he has a moment of denial and hard realization that's a bit sad (and honest, and I genuinely enjoyed it), and he's just generally awesome.

We didn't see too much of anyone else's parents (although what we did see was usually pretty humorous or sad) besides Hazel's, who we saw often. She's close to both of them, and they were pretty awesome. Her dad, in particular, was so sweet, and very sensitive (and cried often). And she jokes around easily with her mom; for instance, when they take a trip with Augustus. Near the end, they got a bit pushy, but otherwise were pretty cool.

Also, the subject matter. It made me a little wary, but it didn't put me off from reading it or anything, because I was much too excited for that. And I haven't even read much about people with cancer, or many novels with sick people. But he did it really well. It was (I'm assuming this, because I haven't, nor have I ever been around someone who has, experienced this,) realistic. And I'm pretty sure he knew what he was talking about, as there were several technical words and stuff thrown around, and I know that he did a lot of research (not that that he couldn't have been making it all up, though). He wasn't afraid of showing the ugly parts of it. It seemed very honest, with the way everyone reacted to it, and thought about living and dying, and how they're all treated because they're sick, like with the Perks and Support Group. (And I liked the, “depression is a side effect of dying” thing, in particular. There were several parts of the book that made me think, “That's a nice/interesting way of looking at things”. There are just so many little things that matter so much in this book.)

And whole thing with Van Houten and An Imperial Affliction. That's just... hm. (Kind of messy? And a bit sad?) There's the big similarities. With the endings, for example. And it is a bit frustrating, but I get it. So, fine. Fine.
The book has John Green's general way of writing. It's his style. He's a bit subtle and honest and a little dark; just him. This book included text messages and letters and little things like that. They added more character to the story, more personality to the characters. I liked it.

It was good. It was amazing. It wasn't amazing. It was all of the things and not, all at the same time. But aside from all that, I really enjoyed it, maybe even loved it, and I would suggest it.

Edit 8/16/12: Now, a while after reading it, I've kind of changed my mind on a few things. I'm not conflicted about how I feel. This book was all of the things, but it's definitely amazing, awesome; one of my favorite books now, one that I would recommend to just about anyone.