Book Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love. 

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?

Release Date: September 10, 2013

I wasn’t sure if Rowell could top the brilliantly written and constructed Eleanor & Park, but when I was at BEA and St. Martin’s hosted Rainbow at their booth for signed copies of Fangirl, I couldn’t resist.  

See the pretty? 

Anyway, the novel is completely different than E & P in the sense that it is told from one point of view, it involves a large amount of geekiness (which I loved), and the main characters are all in college.

The pros to this novel having one point of view is that the reader is completely involved in Cath’s neuroses and we are forced to understand how scary it is for an introvert to move from a comfortable situation to a totally new college campus a few hours from home to live with a roommate that she doesn’t know while being seemingly abandoned by her twin sister.  Whew, that was a lot.  

The inclusion of a faux novel universe and the idea of fan fiction was definitely a new angle for young adult fiction, despite the fact that fan fiction is specifically written by fans for fans.  I really adore Rowell for writing about how important fan fiction really can be to massive fans of television shows, book series, and even movies.  I don’t know about you, but I 100% relate to the fact that Cath is a rabid Simon Snow fan.  As a huge Doctor Who fan myself, I find it wonderful that an author supports the writing and reading of fan fiction.  On the other hand, I really appreciate how Rowell depicts the struggle between writing and creating your own fictional world versus writing “within” an already constructed world.  

I also really enjoyed how organically the relationships developed between Cath and the secondary characters.  The unlikely friendship between Cath and Reagan, and the adorable and awkward relationship between Cath and Levi really helped spring Cath off the page and made her more realistic.  

In addition, I think that Cath and Wren’s relationship with their father was handled extremely well by Rowell, and I could really feel how hard it was for Cath to cope with her father’s mental illness and how it affected her behavior and her fear of getting out of her comfort zone.  

Things that didn’t work for me:  I really wanted some more closure in the mother situation and for Wren to be a bit less self centered, but I think that comes from my intense dislike of her due to what she did to Cath early on in the novel.  

Overall I really enjoyed this novel and I remain on the edge of my seat for the announcement of Rowell’s next novel and can only hope that I get an advanced copy for that one as well!

4.5 Bards