Cancer is a harsh, grim reality for many people in the world we live in, and I can say with certainty if you talked to a thousand people, around a third, almost two-fifths would have some experience with cancer in their life, according to this source. That is to say that we as humans have taken something awful like cancer and tried to depict it in our entertainment and media, including movies, novels, video games, etc.

In the past five years or so, we’ve had a few novels come out that have specifically revolved around the terrifying power of cancer and what it does to families, most notably "The Fault in Our Stars," but there’s another book that came out even before that. In 2012, upstart YA author Jesse Andrews published "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl," which didn’t receive nearly as much recognition as it should have. That’s why I’m here to talk about it.

"Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" doesn’t try to hide its true intentions or have a cute, punny title, and lays bare exactly what it’s about. It tells a story of a young man named Greg Gaines, who is a senior at his local high school. He doesn’t really care to make any friends or do anything because he’s merely content to float by and not draw attention to himself. Nonetheless, he has a "friend," who Greg only refers to as his co-worker, named Earl, with whom he shares a unique hobby: making crappy, home-made movies that parody famous ones, such as "300". This hobby is kept a secret from everyone else and is something that the two guys enjoy.

Early in the story, Greg is told by his mother that one of his childhood friends Rachel Kushner has been diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. Greg is embarrassed to say that the only reason he had been friends with her was because he hoped to get more acquainted with her friend Leah Katzenburg, but with his mother’s coaxing, he goes to be with her. Despite neither really wanting to see each other, Rachel is amused by Greg’s quirks, and they decide to more or less be friends again. As the story continues, Rachel’s condition worsens, and Greg is pressured by his crush Madison, who hears about the films he and Earl make, asks him to make one for her, and this is where the decline of these kids begins.

I don’t want to summarize the whole book for the sake of keeping it nice and spoiler-free, but this book is a powerful representation of what people do when something like cancer creeps into their lives, and how they cope with it.

As for characters, I found Greg so relatable it hurt. He was just a normal, unassuming guy who wanted to get through high school and avoid a bunch of drama and unnecessary stress. While I had my friends and friend groups, I too didn’t want to dwell in high school for any longer than I needed to, and young adults who read this during that particular period of time in their life may feel the same way.

The book has a great sense of humor despite its dark and serious subject matter, and Greg is a great, if not unreliable, narrator. He’s relatable, as I said before, but at the same time, you see the mistakes he makes and wanna yell at the pages in vain. Earl is a great foil to Greg, in that he participates and is actively social, but he took has his issues. He comes from a home with violent siblings and a hell-if-I-care mother, who just is content to sit and watch her sons hurt themselves.

While Rachel seems like this faraway character at first, you learn throughout the novel that she becomes more and weaker and scared as she goes through treatment, but Greg and Earl’s movies are able to comfort her through it all. If this novel represents anything exceptionally well, it’s how laughter and human comfort are the best medicines, even for something as vile and bloodthirsty as cancer.

In conclusion, "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" is a great book for someone who wants a narrative about cancer and how it affects the lives of those it afflicts, but don’t want a romance narrative like in "A Fault in Our Stars". This novel depicts coming-of-age and realism themes very well, and I enjoyed it very much. I just hope that Jesse Andrews is able to recreate the same magic in a later novel.

Also: this book has been adapted into a movie! It didn’t sell very well, but it received high marks! Check it out here.