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Me and Earl and the Dying Girl<\/em> \u00a0took a pickaxe to my heart last summer. \u00a0I was a popsicle, and that book was the heat of the summer sun beating down onto my unsuspecting \u00a0soul.<\/p>\nYou can imagine, then, the EXTREME PALPITATIONS \u00a0I had when I found out about the April 2016 \u00a0release of Jesse Andrews’ second venture into YA territory: \u00a0The Haters<\/em>. \u00a0If you click \u00a0back to \u00a0the \u00a0interview<\/a> \u00a0we had with him last \u00a0June, you’ll get some background \u00a0on \u00a0MEDG, \u00a0<\/em>but also \u00a0observe \u00a0that he’s a an \u00a0all-around A+ dude (when I told him that it was my first time interviewing anyone besides my cat, \u00a0he reassured \u00a0me he was just a regular \u00a0human, *smiles,* and I think \u00a0I sweat 80% less after that).<\/p>\n Haters<\/em> is delightedly \u00a0written \u00a0in the same style as Me and Earl<\/em>\u2014first person, lots and lots of script-format dialogue, more than a couple \u00a0lists and hypotheticals, a LOT of song references that the main character forces you to google before reading on. Not to give away \u00a0too \u00a0<\/em>much, but there is \u00a0also definitely something like Reid’s flowcharts<\/a> in this book. You’ll be able to see how he was inspired by Jennifer Egan’s Goon Squad<\/a><\/em>\u2014putting words into formats other than paragraphs \u00a0is a tall drink of water, tbh. \u00a0To qualify the \u00a0experience for you, I burnt my rice because I forgot it was on the stove \u00a0while I was reading this book, and \u00a0I almost \u00a0never burn my rice.<\/p>\n You’re probably thinking, \u00a0Who are the The Haters, and what are they hating on?<\/em><\/p>\n 1. That’s why it’s such a brilliant title, \u00a0and 2. you’ll have to read to find out. What I will<\/em> tell you is that the \u00a0person who has the most to say about that topic \u00a0is Wes Doolittle, our narrator\/bass player\/hater supreme. Wes and his best friend Corey are \u00a0high schoolers from Pittsburgh \u00a0who trek \u00a0through the \u00a0hell and high water of Connecticut \u00a0to attend jazz camp, which they soon realize they’re wildly \u00a0unprepared for.<\/p>\n Not to worry, though. Wes and Corey snag the attention of \u00a0the one<\/em> girl at this camp on their first day by throwing a justified (I think) \u00a0tantrum in rehearsal. She bestows upon them the honor of a jam sesh, \u00a0they \u00a0have a \u00a0“we just \u00a0FOUND OUR \u00a0SOUUUUND” epiphany, and then they jailbreak at 2 AM to go on a two-week tour of the south. Turns out they actually kind of suck and end up performing in the pits of hell (acoustics-wise), like a Chinese food buffet and for a few minutes in the backyard of a nice lady they met at CVS. Really.<\/p>\n The one girl is named \u00a0Ash, btw, and much as John Green did with \u00a0Paper Towns<\/a>, she serves as a clear counter to the enormously irritating \u00a0Manic Pixie Dream Girl<\/a> trope that we’ve all *had \u00a0enough* of by now. I asked Jesse about it in his recent Reddit AMA<\/a>, and this is what he said:<\/p>\n taken literally, her behavior is not at all manic (if anything, it’s depressive); i don’t think she’s physically pixie-ish (she’s athletic and kind of butch); she’s definitely pretty opposed to fulfilling wes’s romantic dreams, or for that matter anyone’s, because she feels mostly asexual; she is a girl; so to me, she’s 1\/4. in general i think the MPDG label is badly over-applied, which sucks, because overuse makes it lose its usefulness. and it is useful for when writers are being lazy and gross and create female characters that are just sex objects with no interior life.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Ash is a fantastic \u00a0character; a plot-creator, a personality, a complex human who refuses to drink \u00a0smoothies for a very good reason. I can’t wait \u00a0to see who’s cast as \u00a0Ash \u00a0when this gets turned into a movie\u2014and \u00a0it looks like it will be<\/a> \u00a0\u00f0\u0178\u02dc\u008f\u00f0\u0178\u02dc\u008f<\/p>\n In the same way that \u00a0Haters<\/em> \u00a0is not a “that one time at band camp” story, it’s not just another road trip story, either. \u00a0There’s dialogue about race, parents being far from perfect, money and lack of money, sex, \u00a0love, \u00a0friendship, drugs, and really good sashimi. \u00a0Every other page sees \u00a0the \u00a0characters caught \u00a0in \u00a0are-you-for-real \u00a0situations, but they’re \u00a0just wacky enough to be completely plausible. Wes’s \u00a0voice is so quick\/observant that you’ll feel \u00a0right there. <\/em>I certainly felt right there \u00a0when I got off at the wrong subway stop because I had my nose in this book. \u00a0I’ve been reading reviews that say \u00a0the target audience is teen boys, but I think this book has something for everyone. I \u00a0really, really dug it.<\/p>\n Other \u00a0observations that cannot be grouped into the above paragraphs:<\/p>\n The Haters<\/em> is \u00a0very<\/em> different from Me and Earl<\/em>, but \u00a0Jesse’s style is unchanging. Go forth and purchase.<\/p>\n Are \u00a0you curious\/excited\/BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS about <\/em>The Haters? \u00a0Is his book tour<\/a> coming to your town?!<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Me and Earl and the Dying Girl \u00a0took a pickaxe to my heart last summer. \u00a0I was a popsicle, and that book was the heat of the summer sun beating down onto my unsuspecting \u00a0soul. continue reading<\/span>\n