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.

Novel Review: Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story (Companion to Will Grayson, Will Grayson) by David Levithan

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: YA Contemporary, Script

Publisher: Dutton (Penguin)

Release Date: 2015

Spoilers?: No.

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

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

It’s Tiny Cooper’s turn in the spotlight in this companion novel to New York Times bestseller Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

Jazz hands at the ready! Tiny Cooper (“the world’s largest person who is also really, really gay”) stole readers’ hearts when he was introduced to the world in the New York Times bestselling book Will Grayson, Will Grayson, co-authored by John Green and David Levithan. Now Tiny finally gets to tell his story—from his fabulous birth and childhood to his quest for true love and his infamous parade of ex-boyfriends—the way he always intended: as a musical! Filled with honesty, humor, and “big, lively, belty” musical numbers, the novel is told through the full script of the musical first introduced in Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

The Cover:

I really like this cover. It's bright and eye-catching, and it looks like the cover of a script. It fits really well, I think.

Review:

“'You think you’re an actor, Tiny. We all think we are actors, given our scripts. But really? You’re the playwright. You’re the composer.'” (Hardback, pg. 151)

I didn’t even know this was coming out until it was released, and it shouldn’t have taken me so long to read.

This is the play from Will Grayson, Will Grayson, with some possible changes, in its entirety. There is commentary mixed throughout from Tiny Cooper, and every single act has a song in it. And it’s really quite brilliant.

It’s a super-fast read, and it’s already a small book. It’s clear you’re in Tiny’s head the entire time, and that this is the vision he has for it. The humor is really great, and the characters are a lot of fun to meet and/or see again.

It was a lot of fun, and I’m happy with how it wrapped up and the lesson Tiny learned about himself. I hope to pick up more of Levithan’s books at some point.

Also, wouldn’t it be cool if they made a movie about Will Grayson, Will Grayson and this book mixed together? This book could be fantastic on film. I think it could work really well.

Novel Review: Radio Radio by Graham Marks

Rating (Out of 5): ~2-2.5

Genre: YA Contemporary; Script

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Release Date: 2003

Spoilers?: No.

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

Goodreads Synopsis:

A group of kids want to start a radio station. They have known each other a long time and have shared their plans for years. And finally they do it - setting up in an empty flat they soon find themselves not only having to deal with the complications of running a pirate radio station but also fending off the attentions of competing broadcasters.

The Cover:

I don't mind the cover above, and think it fits relatively well, especially given the radio plot and that it's written in script, like you might hear it over the radio. It works. The cover on Amazon works just as well, too.

Review:

I picked this book up forever ago, and finally decided to read it, since it’s so short. But while it’s a short book, I did not really enjoy it.

It’s told in script format, which was okay. I suppose it went by fast because of it, but it also made it harder for me to connect to the characters. But I've always had that problem so that might just be me.

It’s about a group of characters who decide to make a radio show, during the time that radio is being heavily watched and censored. They’re doing it in secret, and trying not to get caught, because they can get in serious trouble for it. That part I found interesting.

But then there’s drama between the characters. Some of them are friends, some of them are exes and current boyfriend/girlfriend. One of the characters was unhappy in her relationship, in it just cause, and her boyfriend thinks she’s cheating on him. Then this other character thinks that her boyfriend is interested in his ex, and she gets seriously depressed about it. I just didn’t care, honestly. I didn’t care about any of them.

The ending was good, I guess, at least for the radio show part of it. But I’m glad it’s over.