Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.

Book: Fangirl

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Pages: 385

How Long it Took me to Read: 2 days

Plot Summary: Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Simon Snow is basically like Harry Potter.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend- Levi, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate, Nick, who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Characters: Cath is our lead character and she is a pretty unique voice. She suffers from some form of social anxiety (though it isn’t diagnosed) and she is often lost in the world of Simon Snow. She is a rather well-loved fan fiction writer and takes pride in her many readers and the many comments her stories garner. But that is not the real world, in the real world Cath is nervous and anxious and likes keeping to herself. She isn’t taking being away from her twin very well. Cath was an interesting person to get to know and be immersed in her world. I liked that she wasn’t a typical YA heroine, she wasn’t perfect, too pretty and just sassy and confident or tough as nails. She was vulnerable and nervous and messed-up and scared and damaged. She was real and one could feel her stress and tension, even her unwillingness to leave her room to go to the dining hall for meals seemed understandable.

I also liked Levi, again a non-typical YA hero. His hair is sorta thinning- so he ain’t perfect. Also he is our lead character, Cath’s roommate’s ex. So slight complication there too. While Cath is a reader and a book love, Levi doesn’t read. Rather he can’t read…no he isn’t illetrate he has a reading disability (not clearly spelled out in the book.) so the leading romantic couple is pretty different. And while in some book this leads to sizzling chemistry or bickering. In this book it leads to a normal and fascinating relationship. I liked Levi, he was caring, sweet and lovely.

Wren, the errant twin was a character I wished there was more of. I wish we had seen more of her reason behind wanting to live a life independent of her twin.

What I Liked: I liked the writing, a lot! I remember being a few pages in and thinking to myself- I love the way this author writes.

I also liked how the characters were written and how they shaped up and remained consistent to the very end.

Interspersed with the regular chapters of the books, there are portion of the Simon Snow books and some of Cath’s fan-fic. I found this quite fun to read.

I liked getting to know the world of the super fan. Now I LOVE me my some Harry Potter, but I’ve never ever felt the need to read any sort of fan fiction. Even though I’ve come across some pretty hair fan-fics about Hermione and Harry! A former roommate of mine made me read a few lines and it was enough to make me sick to my stomach! Really, Harry and Hermione!?! I also know there exist some pretty explicit Draco and Hermione stories…I do not want to read them. So getting back to the point, I liked reading about a person who was so invested in the lives of fictional character and in fact wanted to create scenarios of her own.

What I Didn’t Like: Hmmmm…. I enjoyed the book for most part. But there were certain things I found a bit off.

Somewhere, in the middle of the book, about halfway in, I found my attention wavering. I was getting a little bored. I felt that there was too much going on. The book is basically Cath’s first year of college and it is one stressful thing after another. Her life in this one year was pretty damn crazy and it came across as slightly forced.

As much as I was enjoying Cath’s world. Cath herself was little tiresome. As much as I empathised with her social anxiety, I was getting a little sick of this being mentioned over and over. Cath was in the beginning of the book, not leaving her room and not venturing out to find her dorm’s dining hall because she didn’t want to be in a social situation. Instead she was eating granola bars for all meals. Even though she was hungry. 

This fact, or rather this occurrence was repeated over and over and over again. Yes, we get it, she is shy and socially awkward, and we don’t need it repeated so many times.

If you are someone who likes neat endings and every little aspect of the book tied up nicely by the time the last page arrives, you might not like this book. The book ends at the end of Cath’s first year and a lot of things are left unsaid or unexplained.

I also wished there was some more insight into Wren’s character. I wish we had gotten to see her perspective and why she wanted a life away from her twin and away from all the things that they had in common.

General Thoughts: I really want to read Eleanor and Park, the author’s hugely successful book but I just can’t get my hands on it. And I don’t want an eBook for it! So I got this one, because it sounded nice and to be fair it didn’t disappoint. It was an enjoyable read. But I did get bored smack in the middle of the book, which in my books is a pretty big let-down.

Will You Like It? Hmmm…you might if you like nice writing and fun characters.

Rating: 3/5