** spoiler alert ** 
 I didn't really like this book - the "I'm a teenager and I'm not a good writer kill me I can't believe you're still reading this" didn't strike me as cute or funny - actually, I was agreeing with him - I didn't think I should still be reading it too. 
 Another no-no for me was the characters. Let's talk about the kids: I didn't get any of them except maybe Madison. Yes, Madison is the only one I could relate a little bit (a tiny bit, but when compared with the others, is worth mentioning). 
 I mean, we don't get enough of Earl and we surely don't get enough of "The Dying Girl" Rachel. We get a lot of Greg, but Greg doesn't strike me as someone I can relate. I've read a lot of books where I didn't like a character or their choices, but Greg is beyond that. I just don't understand him and maybe that's my bad, but it kind of ruined the book for me. 
 All of these things could be rescued if there was a solid, interesting plot. Let me end the suspense for you - there wasn't. There was a girl who was dying and died. Did we learn anything about her? Nope. She was depressive (oh my God the shock) and that was about it. There was a boy who made home movies, who had low self esteem and didn't want to have close friends in order to not get hurt. And there was a best friend who came from a broken home and who eventually got a minimum wage job and stayed in the same broken home. I didn't feel any evolution, any... story at all. Sorry. 
 I give 3/5 (in my head is a 2,5/5) because I do think it's trying something different (even if not that well executed) and it does try to pass some kind of message? I don't know. I liked Earl's "speeches" to Greg (thought that they were spot on) and Greg's description of death (the whole she didn't leave a mark in this world thing). I thought the "she didn't live much of life so that we can make a movie about her" is also a great point to pass - if I had died when I was 16 I wouldn't have anything to tell in the afterlife - no great loves, no great heartbreaks, a lot of reading books and listening to emo bands. And dying without leaving anything behind, that's what sucks even more that the act of dying.