Hello everybody!
This is the book talk for the April Book of The Month (Me, Earl and the Dying Girl)!
Maud and A successfully completely it but Emile found it too hard to finish as she was so bored. As you might guess, this is going to be a negative review from all parties.
But first we will announce the May Book of the Month.
*drumroll please*
Have a great month reading this highly anticipated sequel and we'll see you at the end of the month for the book talk!
Anyway, onto Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (warning: this review is not meaning to offend it's just our opinions so enjoy :))
Maud
I got through this book within the space of about 24 hours as I didn't mind it at most parts.
I just really hate how Greg keeps saying that the book is so lame and stupid and that we shouldn't keep reading. I just really want him to get onto it.
I really didn't like any of the characters and couldn't at all relate which made it extra hard to get into it. I especially dislikes Greg and Earl. Ear was really violent and although he was sad about Rachel, he told Greg that he wasn't loved etc and it was really horrible. The character building was really poor. The storyline of this book was pretty generic and quite like TFIOS but just with a really lame protagonist. I liked some bits of the book like the idea of making Rachel a movie but the way it was written was very disappointing :/
Overall, I think that the idea of what happens is nice but it was portrayed in a very uninteresting way.
A
I, as usual, was the first to read it, and at first I thought it was great, but slowly it got worse in my eyes. I was disappointed in the overall arc of the story, it started well but half way through seemed to just collapse. It irritated me, much like Maud, how he went on about how we shouldn't read the book, it inadvertently put me off it. Some of the humour did hit home, for instance at the beginning with the introduction to Greg's school. The dynamics between each of the families felt very unrealistic, the situation with Earl's family almost surreal. Though a lot of people say it's like TFIOS, to me it was like the opposite, if anything it felt like Paper Towns to me.
Finally, I feel the whole Rachel situation was so underwhelming, Greg left the hospital and became very self centred for a few chapters, then we find out she's dead. I'm just like; What!
So, overall, brilliant beginning, crappy ending.
Emile
I am not a big fan of this book. My main issue with it is the protagonist, Greg. He is meant to relatable because he is chubby and apparently not very good looking and hates his life. Personally for me this is not relatable. Greg spent the entire book basically trying to persuade us not to read the book by repeatedly saying that it's "stupid" or "inane". When even the protagonist is telling you that the book is bad, it doesn't make you want to read it.
I found that there wasn't much character dynamic and I didn't really like any of the characters. Greg got on my nerves, Earl is a bit of an idiot and we don't even find out much about Rachel. His Dad was my favourite character because he's a bit of a nutter. I found the humour really weird in this book. It wasn't funny, or even so stupid it was funny, it just wasn't funny. When Greg starts explaining that his lunch looks like alien barf, or when he gets high because one of his teachers puts weed in his pho, I didn't laugh. I just wanted to hit my head against the wall. I didn't finish this book. Honestly there is nothing about it that I really enjoyed, but I didn't really really hate it either. It just isn't for me. I didn't finish it.
Tell us what you thought of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl down below and we will be sure to read and reply :)
See you next month,
Maud, Emile and A xxx
