Afrequently hysterical confessional from a teen narrator who won't be able to convince readers he's as unlikable as he wants them to believe.

"I have no idea how to write this stupid book," narrator Greg begins. Without answering the obvious question—just why is he writing "this stupid book"?—Greg lets readers in on plenty else. His filmmaking ambitions. His unlikely friendship with the unfortunately short, chain-smoking, foulmouthed, African-American Earl of the title. And his unlikelier friendship with Rachel, the titular "dying girl." Punctuating his aggressively self-hating account with film scripts and digressions, he chronicles his senior year, in which his mother guilt-trips him into hanging out with Rachel, who has acute myelogenous leukemia. Almost professionally socially awkward, Greg navigates his unwanted relationship with Rachel by showing her the films he's made with Earl, an oeuvre begun in fifth grade with their remake of Aguirre, Wrath of God. Greg's uber-snarky narration is self-conscious in the extreme, resulting in lines like, "This entire paragraph is a moron." Debut novelist Andrews succeeds brilliantly in painting a portrait of a kid whose responses to emotional duress are entirely believable and sympathetic, however fiercely he professes his essential crappiness as a human being.

Though this novel begs inevitable thematic comparisons to John Green's The Fault in Our Stars (2012), it stands on its own in inventiveness, humor and heart. (Fiction. 14 & up)

-Kirkus Review

It's a weird thing to say about a book with this subject matter, but I laughed a lot, sometimes so hard I cried, while reading it. I think part of why it's funny,despite being about something very sad, is that Greg doesn't want to talk about weighty matters so he entertains his reading audience the same way he entertains Rachel, by talking about anything and everything and being as funny as he can about it.
There was a lot of silliness in this book, but it wasn't all fun and games. I cried out of sadness too. And I think Greg's story says something that people can relate to, about what's expected of you when you grieve, and how that doesn't always match how you feel.
Greg has an unforgettable voice. I don't know how they're going to translate that to film, but I'm eager to find out.
And I loved Earl. Decent, potty-mouthed Earl.
I was let down a bit at the end, not for the most obvious reason of Rachel dying (I was expecting that--he said it in the beginning) but because it was more realistic about Earl and Greg than I wanted it to be.
Still, I enjoyed it quite a bit. ( )

God I hated this book. I think it was very centric on the male narrator and I think that floats back to the patriarchy focusing on average, boring men, rather than the girl who should've been the focus. Also I think it's stupid that the secondary male character is named Earl. 1) Stupid name. 2) It was so blatantly made just to rhyme with "Girl" HATE This book. ( )

I wanted to enjoy the ride of the self-centered young man who is struggling to find his place in the world, but I found many sections deeply uncomfortable in the way everyone around him serves as a cardboard cut out. Deeply problematic in its depiction of its central Black character. ( )

Greg Gaines is a social butterfly in his high school by being friends with everybody rather than having one group of people to hang out with. He states he does not have friends or enemies. He does, however, have a best friend named Earl. He is an aspiring filmmaker and thinks of his life as a movie. His mother mentions how one of his childhood ex-girlfriends is dying of cancer and suggests that he calls her. His mother forces him to hang out with Rachel initially before they soon reconnect before Rachel’s impending death.