ME and EARL and the DYING GIRL (audiobook) by Jesse Andrews

 







Published in 2015 by Listening Library.
Read by multiple actors from the 2022 movie adaption of this book.
Duration: 6 hours, 9 minutes.
Unabridged.

Synopsis:

Greg is a senior in high school. His plan has been to get along with everyone, be welcomed by every group but avoid being a part of any of them. So far, that has worked out. 

His only friend is a kid named Earl. Earl is a rough sort of guy. Greg and Earl don't have a lot in common - they don't even hang out together in school. But, they do share a love of moviemaking. They watch movies, dissect them and even make their own movies. 

One day, Greg's mom comes and tells him about a girl he knew in middle school. She had developed leukemia. It's a particularly tough form of leukemia and she is unlikely to live more than a few months. She wants him to befriend Rachel (without really realizing how big of an "ask" this is) and Earl comes along...

My review:
The author, Jesse Andrews

I picked this book based on an article that mentioned it was on a list of books that Moms for Liberty wants to remove from schools. Here is a site that discusses it.

The Moms were concerned about potty language in the book. To be sure, there's a lot of it  For example, the Moms say that the F word is used 94 times (they have a chart). I teach high school in a school that is on the boundary of urban and suburban. The characters in this book speak pretty much the same as real high school students when they don't know that adults can hear them. They curse a lot and veer into inappropriate content because they want to show that they are no longer children and they can talk about adult topics. If you don't want your kid to read this book because you don't want your child introduced to curse words, you are too late.

So, would this teacher want to teach this book in a classroom? No. The focus in class would be the curse words. Would I keep it in a classroom library? Sure. 

Notice that I said, "Sure" and not "Absolutely!" I really enjoyed the first 30 minutes of this audiobook. I would give it 5 stars. I enjoyed it's style and irreverent humor. It was a nice change of pace. But, the book just continued on with the same notes over and over and over again. For this adult in his fifties, it got old. I am okay with this book, but not enthusiastic about it.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: ME and EARL and the DYING GIRL (audiobook) by Jesse Andrews.

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