From Goodreads: Cath is a Simon Snow fan. 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, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end
of the civilized world, a handsome classmate 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?
My Rating: 4 hearts
Thoughts
on the Novel: After seeing so many positive reviews for Rainbow Rowell’s
Eleanor and Park and then Fangirl, I figured I should probably give one of her
books a try. Since Fangirl is Rowell’s latest novel, I thought I’d start with
that.
As someone who has never even been
remotely interested in fanfiction, I wondered if I’d be able to relate to Cath.
Fortunately, I found that I could. While I’ve never been so socially anxious
that I’d resort to hiding in my room and surviving on granola bars for over a
month to avoid going to the cafeteria alone, I can understand why Cath would do
that because I, myself, tend to feel uncomfortable at large gatherings. Also, though
I’ve never written fanfiction, I know what it’s like to be part of an online
community and the friendships and drama that can come as a result of that.
It wasn’t just Cath who was a
realistic character; all the secondary characters were as well. Of those, I
think Levi deserves a special mention. As the love interest, Rowell could have
easily made him a physically handsome guy, but she doesn’t. Instead, Levi
is described as too tall and skinny with a receding hairline. I thought that
was awesome because YA novels tend to delude you into thinking that you can find guys who
look like models on every corner.
Another strength of Fangirl was its
focus on different relationships. The book gives equal page time to familial
relationships, friendships and school relationships. My favourite of these
would probably be Cath’s relationships with her father and her roommate Reagan whereas my least favourite was that of
her relationship with her twin Wren, who I disliked.
Besides not liking Wren, I also didn’t enjoy the random excerpts from the Simon Snow series and Cath’s fanfiction at
the beginning of each chapter. I thought they were kind of all over the place and not
really necessary to the plot.
Fangirl was released in September
2013 by St. Martin’s Press.
Comments
About the Cover: I like its simplicity. It does a great job of showing off the
characters of Cath and Levi.
