The Paw Print

A news publication created by Baruch's College Now high school journalism class

Commentary and reviews

Review: Lunar Chronicles excels at representing women

by Leave a Comment

“Her whole body was wound up tight. She was ready to storm the palace herself – an army of one.”

The thrilling conclusion to the series The Lunar Chronicles, by Marissa Meyer wins hands down as one of the best sci-fi fantasy novels of 2015 that has just about everything you could hope for in a book. Action, romance, suspense, a diverse set of characters, a chilling villian, and more.

Picking up from the last installment Cress, the characters Cinder, Cress, Scarlet, Wolf, Thorne, Iko, and Kai, are aboard the Rampion a space pod ship. They are getting ready to hatch a new plan in order to take down the ruthless Queen Levana of Luna once and for all, so Cinder can rightfully claim her throne. Throughout the novel Cinder also receives help from Winter, a princess of Luna (a moon colony), and Jacin, a royal guard.

In Winter, the readers are introduced to the characters, Winter and Jacin, hence the title. Winter is a character undergoing a disease called “Lunar Sickness” where she experiences hallucinations, as her mental state is deteriorating. 

“…the walls have been bleeding for years, and no one else sees it.” 

Very rarely in the Young Adult Novel world are characters written with this dynamic. 

Including a character who is at the mercy of a disease, with no cure, adds a touch of realism to the book. Including a character who isn’t doing well mentally, adds representation to a large group of people, something that was needed in 2015 and still needed in 2019.

The representation doesn’t stop there. Winter is a manifestation of the tale Snow White, but instead of Winter being caucasian she is described with skin as “black as ebony wood”, and the characters Cinder and Kai, are both from China. 

What has made this series unique is its a series based off of classic fairytales, but the women are strong,  “I was always much more drawn to those strong, empowered female characters — both as a reader and as a writer,” Meyer said in an interview in the Bustle. 

Winter is the final installment in the series, where Cinder, who ever since book one, has been set with the ambition of taking down the queen, and throughout the series we see her grow with new friends along the way. The dynamic between the women in the series is what makes this book so refreshing in the Young Adult genre. These women have stuck together, and do not immediately hate each other, which is what makes them realistic portrayals of women, and therefore this series accurately establishes women empowerment. 

“When they arrived, they arrived in force- a dozen military ships surrounding the safe house, guns drawn.”

Not only does Meyer portray women relationships in an accurate manner, but she also makes them strong. Meyer makes her characters have the will to use weapons and fight, to overthrow a queen. It’s important that women read about characters who are strong, that way they believe they too can fight, and no longer be silenced. 

Even though there were many characters in the novel, 830 pages were enough to pace the story properly, which shows how well done the writing is. Each character was given a solid amount of time, for the reader to get to know, and be able to enhance the plot, leading up to the big showdown between Cinder and the queen.

Opinion: In order to solve climate change, we need to take on wealthy corporations

by Leave a Comment

It’s the middle of summer, and the temperature has been reaching almost 100 degrees. But as carbon emissions continue to rise, the planet is only going to keep getting hotter. With many attempts to prevent climate disaster being blocked or repealed, it seems what needs to be changed is not just how we treat individual corporations, but the way the economy and the system as a whole function.

 

A New York Times analysis of the policy changes under the current Trump Administration reveals that 83 different regulations have been rolled back or are in the process of being rolled back, with 22 of them being related to air pollution. This is during a time when levels of carbon dioxide in the air are at “unprecedented levels” according to a study by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. According to Erika Spanger-Siegfried, a lead climate analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, temperatures by 2050 could reach levels that “[make] it difficult for human bodies to cool themselves and could be deadly.”

 

To pin this problem solely on the Trump administration, however, would be false. An article by researchers from both the U.S. and China published in Nature reveals that more than half of future carbon emissions are expected to come from China, the U.S, and the European Union, the three highest predicted sources of emissions. Although China is the highest by a large margin, expected to emit 41% of the carbon, the US and EU are expected to make up 9% and 7% respectively, which is still a large amount. Climate change is a global problem, but the ones responsible are a few wealthy industrial nations.

 

Yet despite some of the wealthiest countries being the main causes of climate change, the ones that are being hit hardest by it are those that are less fortunate. According to a study by researchers at Stanford University in California, the wealth gap between the richest and poorest countries is 25% higher than it would be without climate change. Not only are the choices that the U.S, Europe, and China are making going to cause disaster for their citizens in a few decades, those choices are also disastrous for the most vulnerable countries right now.

 

So why is climate change still an issue? Why do we have a government that is reversing policies that would prevent climate change? The answer to these questions, it seems, is money. Think Tanks such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which spends a large number of its resources on promoting climate change denial, receive funding from a variety of wealthy corporations.

 

The CEI is funded not only by the Charles Koch Institute and the American Fuel and Petrochemicals Manufacturers, which are known for lobbying against the regulation of fossil fuels, but also by larger companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, according to the New York Times. This is because the CEI, as an Amazon spokeswoman said, “will help advance policy objectives aligned with [Amazon’s] interests.”

 

The reason these corporations fund the same organizations as fossil fuel lobbyists is that despite how much Amazon or Google may claim to oppose the fossil fuel industry, they both have the same top priority: promoting a pro-corporation, anti-regulation agenda. In the case of the CEI, their beliefs, aside from man-made climate change not being an issue, include opposing a $15 minimum wage and wanting to repeal antitrust laws, both of which are in the interests of large companies that probably would become trusts if they were legally allowed to. They may sign a declaration in support of global climate agreements, but they will still be naturally allied with the AFPM, as will nearly every for-profit corporation.

 

The fossil fuel companies themselves also have far too much influence. In Oklahoma, a state agency funded mainly by oil companies creates classroom materials and teacher training, according to the Washington Post. The goal of these classroom materials is, to downplay climate change and promote the usage of oil.

 

We cannot trust corporations to solve climate change for us. A permanent end to rising temperatures and carbon dioxide levels requires a permanent end to, or at least a drastic reduction of, the fossil fuel industry and our usage of fossil fuels. If we are acknowledging and tackling the threat that the fossil fuel industry poses, then we also need to acknowledge that in this struggle, corporations are an obstacle.

 

A system that promotes corporate interests and enables companies to be as powerful as Microsoft or Google, and that enables oil companies to have power even in our classrooms is not a system that will let us solve climate change. It is a system that promotes and perpetuates climate change, causing the summers to get hotter, the poorer countries to get poorer, and the time we have left before our planet becomes unlivable shorter.

This is a test

by Leave a Comment

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. Matt Gonzales, Director, The School Diversity Project, New York Appleseed speaking at an event titled, The Harm of Segregation: Why where we live and learn matters. The October 23rd evening event took place at St. Ann & Holy Trinity Church located on Montague Street in Brooklyn.

“The curriculum taught me that white people captured me and took away my freedom. Why would I want to learn this?”

That goes through the minds of many black students as they sit in social studies class, says Jamaal Bowman, principal of Cornerstone Academy for Social Action in Co-op City.

Cornerstone takes a different approach. While many schools begin their study of black history with American slavery, Cornerstone reaches back to Ancient Egypt’s African roots. His students, Bowman told a town hall on education in the Bronx last month, learn that they “are descendants of kings and queens, not descendants of slaves. That’s a big difference.”

Parents, students and educators at the town hall are part of a larger conversation about how to make schools welcoming and relevant for all children—not just the white, middle-class ones. Equalizing resources and even integrating schools is not enough, says Matt Gonzales, NY Appleseed’s Diversity Project director. We, also, he says, “have to do deep work so all kids who enter the classroom are uplifted.”

Nelson Luna of the Bronx, now a first-year student at Columbia University, agrees that’s not currently the case. “When you don’t see yourself, you don’t feel connected and you don’t feel passionate. You feel out of place,” says Luna, a co-founder of Teens Take Charge, which organizes students to speak out about integration and other issues.

The Remake of ‘Boys Over Flowers’ Everyone is Anticipating

by Leave a Comment

By: Nayely Deleon

When Shancai, the female lead of Meteor Garden, entered college, she never thought she would get caught up in a love triangle between two of the most popular guys at school.

Meteor Garden is a Chinese television series based on the wildly popular Japanese manga series, Hana Yori Dango, which has been made into Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese television series. It first aired on July 9, 2018 and is available on Netflix with new episodes released each week. Over 40 episodes will be released by the end of the summer with subtitles available.

This highly anticipated drama does not fail to capture the hearts of many fans, including mine.

The show revolves around a girl named Dong Shancai who begins her college journey at the elite Mingde University where she majors in nutrition. After standing up to F4, a rich and powerful group of 4 seniors, she gains their respect and captures the leader of the group, Daoming Si’s, attention.

The show follows a Cinderella-like love story. Daoming Si, who comes from a wealthy and renowned family, risks his life to win over Shancai, who comes from a working class family.

Although Shancai is portrayed as painfully dense and is often put through various unrealistic situations, she values friendship and is protective of her friends. For example, after hearing that her best friend, Jiang Xiao You, was last seen outside during a blizzard, Shancai rushed out and spent hours trying to find her despite nearly freezing to death.

Even though not all the scenes are very realistic, this is what classifies the show as a drama. Without these dramatic scenes, the plot would be boring and dull.

The acting—although a bit overdone—is fairly impressive and makes it easy to understand how the characters are feeling. The camera angles, quality, and cinematography are also top-notch. In a must-see scene that continues to baffle me, Shancai sends a flying kick to Daoming Si’s head. The shot freezes their positions and the cameras move around them, making it seem like time has stopped.

“What I love is that—in this version—I can actually tell that the male lead really likes the female lead… He’s clearly got personality issues and doesn’t know how to communicate (not a surprise if you’ve seen the other versions), but I find myself liking him a bit more,” said a fan on My Drama List’s review section of Meteor Garden.

Some may argue that the show’s plot progresses very quickly in the first few episodes, however that “prevent[s] it from being draggy and we [are] already met with iconic scenes in just the first episode… [these changes] actually made it better,” says Gab Agar from Drama Panda.

Since the show has not finished airing, it has lots of potential and many fans—including myself—sit at the edge of our seats waiting to find out what happens next. So far, Netflix has released 20 episodes. New episodes are released Tuesday-Thursday.

Americans do not usually watch Asian dramas. Whether that is because the drama is in a different language, the plot is too traditional, or simply because the program was not produced in the U.S, people are definitely missing out.

Is ‘Thirteen Reasons Why’ Safe for Teens to Watch?

by Leave a Comment

Thirteen Reasons Why is a Netflix original series in which a teenage girl, Hannah Baker, commits suicide and leaves behind 13 tapes for each person she deemed responsible.

The producer of the series, Selena Gomez, has battled with both depression and anxiety in her life.

On one hand, the series is very gruesome and has trigger warnings for almost all episodes. On the other, it is very eye opening and sparks discussion for taboo subjects that need to be discussed such as sexual assault, addiction, suicide, bullying, sexuality, gangs, criminals, the justice system, peer pressure, PTSD, anxiety, depression, mental disorders, relationships, friendships, grief, intervention, recovery, and racism. The show sheds light on these subjects by presenting them in a sort of in-your-face manner.

It is no secret that the episodes can be upsetting to some, but it is the viewer’s job to determine whether or not to keep watching as well as which episodes to skip (if any). The writers and producers of Thirteen Reasons Why have repeatedly advised both young and old viewers not to binge, but to take breaks between episodes.

Anyone below the age of 14, anyone with severe depression, victims of sexual assault experiencing PTSD, anyone who does not like serious topics discussed onscreen, anyone autistic, anyone homophobic, and/or anyone with severe anxiety, should not watch the show for their own safety.

Each season consists of 13 episodes and because there is a small amount of episodes and a large amount to discuss, many upsetting things, both verbal and visual, are packed into one episode. In the second episode of Beyond the Reasons, a piggyback series off Thirteen Reasons Why, the meanings behind the episodes and the purpose of scripting them the way the writers did was a major discussion. There were also professional psychologists on the writing team because the writers needed help to figure out what was okay to script and what was not.

Triggers were also discussed during Beyond the Reasons because copycat suicides are a risk. However, the creators were trying to open people’s eyes and get them to understand that there is absolutely “nothing glamorous about suicide” and it should never be seen as an option. Brian Yorkey, the series co-writer, said during an interview. He makes it known that Hannah’s death was portrayed as a painful experience and should not be repeated by anyone in any way.

The 13th episode of the 2nd season depicted a scene of an especially brutal sexual assault and a murder attempt. A character, Tyler Down was jumped then sexually assaulted in a school restroom with a mop by a group of guys on the baseball team. He then went home and gathered a few handheld weapons to put in a car before driving to the school with the intent of shooting up the dance. He’d never gotten a chance to because another character, Clay Jensen stood in front of Tyler’s gun and stopped him from entering the school. Tyler eventually surrendered after hearing Clay out.

A couple of obvious triggers in this episode are sexual assault and gun violence. Although these are concerning for viewers, there is a clear warning before the episode starts that states, “The following episode contains graphic depictions of sexual assault & drug abuse, which some viewers may find disturbing. It is intended for mature audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.”

Watching the show on Netflix will give viewers an opportunity to choose whether or not it’s in their best interests to continue watching. The show is safe for mature teens and adults that can handle the topics being depicted and discussed in the show, being that it is rated TV-MA.

However, it can be educational to watch but also worthwhile. In the first season, the story line is more of a mystery whereas the second season has more of a “law & order” story line. This eases the tension of the suicidal background and gives a more slightly entertaining side of the story to make it easier to watch while still taking in the information the way it should be.

I’ll Give You The Sun

by Leave a Comment

It will make you love the color orange and understand life on a deeper level.

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson is an American young adult novel that focuses on the lives of two twins named Noah and Jude.

This book deals with serious issues that affect many teens today. It is important for people to read this novel in order to have a better understanding of what it is like to be a teenager in today’s world.

Jude enters a relationship with a boy much older than her. He pressures her into sex highlighting the debate of consent.

Many teenagers feel peer pressure and the book shows how this can affect people by showing the long term effects it had on Jude, and how she regrets losing her virginity at a young age. It also shows how even though Jude did not say no, it doesn’t mean she said yes either.

Consent is an issue that not many people are willing to speak about, but it is important because many people are uninformed. Even Yale students are chanting around campus vulgar things about consent and claiming it doesn’t exist.Many people think that consent is not needed or that you don’t need to say yes to consent, but this isn’t true.

The book also focuses on Noah’s acceptance of being gay.There are many ways Noah and Brian are discriminated against for being gay. Noah’s boyfriend was on a baseball team and suffered severe bullying because he was gay. Thus making Brian not wanting to openly admit being gay. Many people are discriminated due to sexual orientation and the book shows how even through bad experiences you should still accept who you are and not pretend to be someone you are not.

The book discusses grief and how it affects mental health. When their mother dies it affects the twins greatly causing them to bottle up who they are. While at first they do not deal with their grief in a healthy way, it is important to overcome it. If a teen reads a book where everything is perfect it will make them feel dysfunctional but if they read about overcoming past trauma even if it wasn’t handled in the best way before, it makes them feel better.

The descriptive nature of the chapters makes the reader feel like they are reading the mind of a teenager.

In conclusion it is important to read this book because it discusses and gives the reader a better understanding about many issues that are affecting a lot of people but are not discussed as much as they should be.

The Death of Cable T.V.

by Leave a Comment

its a tv
Photo Credit: arstechnica.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s the early sixties. Television is wildly popular and becoming more mainstream each year in America. Families, friends, coworkers, and acquaintances gather together to watch T.V., and a revolutionary outlet for the spread of news is born. Who could have imagined that something so life changing could become obsolete so fast?

50 years later, and the consumers’ mind is beginning to shift.

The internet was created in 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee, but streaming video has been relevant for about a decade. Since the beginnings of companies such as YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and recently Amazon; people have steadily been making online streaming part of their daily routine, with Netflix alone having almost 82,000,000 members.

There are two main reasons for this. One, the $10 or less a month subscriptions to most online streaming services – with the exception of YouTube, which is free – is far less expensive than the hundreds of dollars a year that cable TV can cost. However revenue for these online companies reaches into the billions each year.

In addition, having things to watch online is much more convenient than watching live or even recorded TV. Not only can people watch on their computer, phone, or tablet, but they can watch anytime, with no restraints on the number of episodes or videos they can view.

The overall consensus by data gathering companies is that streaming shows are overtaking the popularity of traditional television; in fact, each year the number of new unique viewers rises by 146 percent, according to Adobe.

Older generations on average are more likely to have cable subscriptions than the younger ones, 80 percent of 32-48 year olds picked pay TV over online subscriptions, but as time progresses and the majority of content is produced on the internet, this will change.

“I never really thought of anything other than cable as being practical,” an anonymous senior living in New York City explained. “Everything’s on TV… when you’re paying extra on the internet for something you already own, it isn’t responsible.”

As practically all future generations will grow up with the internet, this view will dramatically change: Young people now aren’t used to the rituals of television, and don’t have patience for non-instant forms of media.

So now with the online streaming market taking off, who are the major players?

Most people have a Netflix subscription by now, and Hulu as well as Amazon both offer a vast selection of online stream-able content. But what’s interesting about these streaming companies, is that while buying the rights to certain T.V. shows and movies – they’re producing dozens of their own as well.

Traditional television networks like HBO and AMC, as well as CBS are putting almost all their content online – with dedicated streaming services. Also, virtually all TV channels have some sort of presence on YouTube, whether it be late night talk show clips, or small news segments.

While some say cable T.V. holds a lot of nostalgia with its name and history, it’s now an outdated way to consume programs. Online streaming will prove to become a much better and efficient platform to put shows on. Now that being said, the same companies that provide cable also happen to own the internet, (Internet Service Providers like Verizon, AT&T, etc.). So how the death of T.V. will play out, especially with new rollbacks on Net Neutrality, will ultimately be up to the companies who make the decisions.

 

Why Can’t You Say the N-Word?

by Leave a Comment

 

Asian, Middle Eastern, and Hispanic people in urban areas have seemingly become comfortable with using the N-word as their expression of friendship with black people which is in many ways insulting. This word has never been used to describe or belittle them and there is no need for it to be part of their vocabulary.

In the Oxford dictionary black (adjective) is defined as “of any human group having dark-colored skin, especially of African or Australian Aboriginal ancestry.” However, black should be defined as people with undeniably African or Australian Aboriginal features such as wide noses, thick lips, kinky hair, and darker skin because they are the “niggers.”

Many people use the excuse that their ancestors were black to use the N-word. A “Negro” is defined as “a member of a dark-skinned group of peoples originally native to Africa south of the Sahara” also relating to black people. Therefore, if someone’s race or culture is technically not black, these derogatory terms do not apply to them.

A black person may use the term as they wish. This is a word he or she cannot escape from because it’s been deeply embedded into this country that this is what “black” is and this is how the world will always see “black.” We are the so-called “nappy haired, horse mouthed, black bucks” that white America shaped us out to be. But we’ve come to own the stigma of being black in America and we have even reclaimed ourselves by referring to ourselves as “Niggas.”

Some people feel like since they’re being friendly, it’s fine to say the N-word. But that isn’t necessarily the case. For example, if two friends from the Middle East were joking around and calling each other terrorists, it would be funny to them being that it’s a word they’ve both felt personally victimized by. However, had one of those friends been of another race, it would be seen as an ignorant remark being that other races are rarely, or never, accused of being terrorists.

Many light-skinned Hispanics that I have confronted about using the N-word say, “but my ancestors were black,” to which I respond, “good for your ancestors.” Simply put, Hispanics are a mix of multiple races and peoples, whether they be African and Spanish or Native and Spanish or African, Native, and Spanish. Therefore, that makes them not one or the other but all. You are not black, your ancestors were. You have been able to escape the same reigns of terror black people have face. There are even black Latinx people who experience racism in their countries and are called “Negra/o” because they cannot escape their black ancestry. They cannot escape because the black African blood runs through their skin and features.

For mixed race people, possibly half black and half white, it is how white passing you are that determines whether or not you have the choice to say the N-word. If your features are predominantly black, you are prone to grow up manipulated by white America, you will fear their system. If your features are predominantly European, you have an advantage and are likely to have privilege.

A black person may as well be defined as someone who is manipulated by white America at birth. Someone angered and insulted by the terms “Nigger” and “Negro.” A person whose dark skin and African features apparently defines the content of their character. A person so connected to their African ancestry that they would have either been on the plantation or in the house looking after the white man’s child. And if you can’t personally relate to any of this… You’re not black.

JAY-Z is Sorry!

by Leave a Comment

4:44 was released on June 30th 2017 and is Shawn Carter’s aka JAY-Z’s 13th album. It’s safe to say Jay has reinvented himself with every album he has made from The Blueprint in 2001 to Magna Carta Holy Grail (2013).

Not only is Jay a rapper, entrepreneur, label owner, and a businessman, but he is an African American married man, and father. And in this album the world gets to meet the vulnerable and apologetic side of him as he airs out his entire life to the public and puts some of it to rest.

Starting with the opening song Kill Jay Z, the grammatical context of the title, ties with the fact that Jay has decided to change his name from Jay Z to JAY-Z, putting it in all caps, and bringing the hyphen back. And from that one can assume that Jay is in fact erasing the “old Jay Z,” the very version of himself that inspired Beyonce’s Lemonade album.

In the title track 4:44 Jay apologizes no less than seven times in four minutes and forty-five seconds. Jay admits to the infidelity, to his disloyalty, to not being good enough, or mature to be the man he claimed he could be.

Not only is 4:44 the song Beyonce herself may have been waiting for but the song is what the world has been waiting for. This song says not every cheating incident has to end in an ugly divorce. This song says if JAY-Z can man up and apologize so can you guys (you know who you are). He admitted his faults and made art out of it. It becomes heartfelt for fans to see projects like these become more personal and less for publicity and radio play.

In an interview with IHeartRadio, Jay explained the making of 4:44, saying, “I woke up, literally, at 4:44 in the morning…So it became the title of the album and everything. It’s the title track because it’s such a powerful song, and I just believe one of the best songs I’ve ever written.”

There is a powerful message in every song of this album. In the Story of O.J. we see Jay’s view on black culture and how we have to stick together in order to push forward.

Smile, Jay says, in an interview with iHeart Radio, “is just what it is. There are gonna be bad times, and those bad times can do two things: they can get you in a place where you’re stuck in a rut, or it can make your future that much better because you’ve experienced these things.” This song is also the first time Jay’s mom, Gloria Carter’s homosexuality is publicly revealed with the lyrics “Momma had four kids, but she’s a lesbian/Had to pretend so long that she’s a thespian,” he reveals. “Cried tears of joy when she fell in love/Don’t matter to me if it’s a him or her.”

On other songs like Bam, Moonlight, Marcy Me, and Legacy Jay reminisces about problems in the music industry, letting go of his ego, his old days as a hustler and the legacy for the Carter family name.

[contact-form][contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”true” /][contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”true” /][contact-field label=”Website” type=”url” /][contact-field label=”Message” type=”textarea” /][/contact-form]

Not only is the album a masterpiece on its own, but since it was released Jay has been dropping visuals that go along with the sound one music video at a time and fans are living for it.

Thoughts on Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

by Leave a Comment

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews, is well worth the read.

It is a young adult fiction book that is enjoyable for any age. It is such a laid back read that with all the stresses of the world people can find time to appreciate its humor and honesty.

Even though there may seem to be many popular works of fiction depicting tragic teen love stories, this one incorporates a third dimension, cancer. It also kind of eliminates the love too actually.

Despite the incredibly raw moments of watching a teenage girl realize the severity of her illness, I mostly found myself literally laughing out loud at some of the things Greg Gaines, protagonist of the story, says in his narrations. Thankfully I wasn’t in public. One can really appreciate his tumor in the midst of all the dark times.

Simply put, it’s about this very socially awkward high school senior, Gregory Gaines, who avoids any relationships except for one friend, Earl. Greg and Earl are like day and night. Earl lives in a home that’s falling apart, literally and metaphorically, while Greg has a super protective mother. The only thing that brings them together is their love of watching movies that no one else really enjoys, and film making.

This is where the cancer comes in, leukemia to be more exact, and also another friendship. Greg’s overprotective mother makes him reconnect with a childhood friend, Rachel, after finding out that Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia. The resolution of the battle between friendship and getting out of one’s shell is one you’ll have to find out on your own.

The most outstanding detail there is to describe about this book is the amount of second hand embarrassment it gives the reader. This may not sound appealing to just about anyone but this book is a bestseller and now a major motion picture so you tell me. In all honesty, it’s just real. Sometimes people say stupid things. Sometimes people turn themselves into hermits. And sometimes people think they are stronger than they really are.

To me, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was nothing like I had ever read before. I usually go for the more Romeo and Juliet- esque types of romances, like the The Fault in our Stars, but reading this one felt almost so “no strings attached” that it was just like catching up with a friend.