So here's the thing that I'll tell you up front: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is unlike pretty much every other book I've read that deals with death and teenagers. It doesn't have the cry your eyes out storyline that will leave you broken for hours after you finish (you know, it doesn't read like a Lurlene McDaniel book where they fall in love and someone dies). It avoids the obvious in both its narrative and general storyline and all around seems to dodge all the obvious tropes that generally come with a story like this. And you know what? I LOVED IT. The honesty and humor with which this story is told will have you laughing from page one. 
 Greg Gaines is a pretty typical teenager. Entering his senior year of high school he's achieved his ultimate goal: not to be hated or really noticed by any one clique of student at Benson High. Granted, he's sacrificed any real shot at friendship through the choice, but he feels like he's made it. Of course, his mom throws all his plans for skating through unnoticed when she tells him that his former Hebrew school classmate, Rachel, has been diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia, and she expects Greg to spend time with her. Out the window goes Greg's anonymous status! 
 Greg is a character who I think is easy to relate to. His sarcasm and humor were right up my alley and his attitude seemed very authentic. He doesn't sugar-coat things that he thinks and does just to make it into a good story and you'll laugh a heck of a lot more than you'll cry (and yes, eventually Greg does cry, but I don't think it's going to move you to tears as well). Earl is a great side character who clearly has a lot more depth than the reader ever really gets to experience and it's clear that Greg, too, doesn't really know Earl all that well. 
 If for nothing else, read this for the laugh out loud moments throughout. You'll constantly come across passages that you want to write down or share with others (just ask my husband). The writing style is conversational with a very authentic male narrator. Certain scenes throughout are written in a "screenplay" style that I wasn't sure I was going to like at first as it made some of the scenes seem disjointed. By the end, those scenes didn't stick out nearly as much to me, but I'm still not sure that they were really the best (or my favorite) way of handling it. Overall, this is a more light-hearted look and death than you'll probably find anywhere else. I read that the movie rights were sold to this book back in March, and while I'm not 100% sure how the humor and inner sarcasm will come through on screen, I'd probably be in line to see this one.