Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Publication: Sept 10th 2013 by St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Chick-Lit, Coming of Age
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?
I came across this book while browsing for illegal ePubs of the holiday collection Let It Snow, and I’m telling you - the title captivated me like no other. I am a fangirl. Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Sherlock, name it. I am part of that fandom. (Other than Twilight and Supernatural of course, but that’s an entirely different story) So obviously I had to get this book. and read it. And oh boy, that I did.
One of the sole reasons I liked this book was because I could see myself in Cath and Wren. Yes, both of them. I can see me as Cath two years ago, trying to balance RL with internet life. Having a popular fanfiction circle, being a part of a close-knit Harry Potter next generation forum. Blogging about it. Having people wait for me to update. Then I can see myself as Wren just a few months ago, giving up on fanfiction because it was time to grow up. I can see all of that and actually relate to these characters. I can actually feel Nick here: captivating Cath, using her unknowingly. I have had that happen to someone I used to know. I can also sympathize with Cath and Levi here, because I did know someone just like him. I used to be the Cath to that person’s Levi. I can see everything in the book so clearly, because this is an everyday story. I am an everyday girl, and I can relate to it. Simple as.
However, I did have a couple problems about this story. I am not letting those go.
Simon Snow is very obviously a Harry Potter in disguise, and Baz is Draco Malfoy. I could see that. While I am not a homophobic, I am not homosexual either. I didn’t open this book to read gay magicians romancing with each other. I would have just gone on fanfiction.net and read cheesy, unrealistic Drarry instead. I know I will be challenged about this, but I’m just stating my opinion. I found myself blatantly skipping the whole read-alouds of Simon and Baz. I’m sorry, I just could not get through those. There were just too many.
Secondly, this was supposed to be ‘coming of age’, in the same genre as The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Catcher in the Rye. Characters grow, change. They accept their surroundings and move a step closer to conquering their fears. I did not see that happening here.
Cath stayed the same throughout the book. Wren was much better and I found myself wishing it was her who was narrating the story instead. She did not conquer her fear of original fiction, and stuck to the comfort zone of fanfiction-writing. You may argue, citing the last page as the proof that she did write her own thing. But tell me, did you see the process? Did you see her get hurt on the way to her goal? No. Instead we see her reading out slash fanfiction in to her boyfriend in a bid to get intimate.
Speaking of, I think the romance drove the novel way too much than it should have. Cath’s family and her writing took a backseat at times when she was with Levi. I found myself wiching so many times that she would just write her stuff and get it done with I was impatient about it. I did not want to see the romance so desperately; I wanted to see her writing journey. Rainbow Rowell failed in that aspect.
I’m not saying it was a bad book. It was good one. It just could have been better. I was hoping that the Carry On, Simon fan Cath meets would have had more significance in the novel, but that didn’t happen. That plot thread didn’t get closure. It would have been amazing to have Cath get influenced by that incident. That scene was just there, dangling. I wish it had been worked on.
Overall rating: Three and a half out of five stars (3.5/5)
Final comment: Could’ve been better.
Publication: Sept 10th 2013 by St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Chick-Lit, Coming of Age
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?
I came across this book while browsing for illegal ePubs of the holiday collection Let It Snow, and I’m telling you - the title captivated me like no other. I am a fangirl. Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Sherlock, name it. I am part of that fandom. (Other than Twilight and Supernatural of course, but that’s an entirely different story) So obviously I had to get this book. and read it. And oh boy, that I did.
One of the sole reasons I liked this book was because I could see myself in Cath and Wren. Yes, both of them. I can see me as Cath two years ago, trying to balance RL with internet life. Having a popular fanfiction circle, being a part of a close-knit Harry Potter next generation forum. Blogging about it. Having people wait for me to update. Then I can see myself as Wren just a few months ago, giving up on fanfiction because it was time to grow up. I can see all of that and actually relate to these characters. I can actually feel Nick here: captivating Cath, using her unknowingly. I have had that happen to someone I used to know. I can also sympathize with Cath and Levi here, because I did know someone just like him. I used to be the Cath to that person’s Levi. I can see everything in the book so clearly, because this is an everyday story. I am an everyday girl, and I can relate to it. Simple as.
However, I did have a couple problems about this story. I am not letting those go.
Simon Snow is very obviously a Harry Potter in disguise, and Baz is Draco Malfoy. I could see that. While I am not a homophobic, I am not homosexual either. I didn’t open this book to read gay magicians romancing with each other. I would have just gone on fanfiction.net and read cheesy, unrealistic Drarry instead. I know I will be challenged about this, but I’m just stating my opinion. I found myself blatantly skipping the whole read-alouds of Simon and Baz. I’m sorry, I just could not get through those. There were just too many.
Secondly, this was supposed to be ‘coming of age’, in the same genre as The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Catcher in the Rye. Characters grow, change. They accept their surroundings and move a step closer to conquering their fears. I did not see that happening here.
Cath stayed the same throughout the book. Wren was much better and I found myself wishing it was her who was narrating the story instead. She did not conquer her fear of original fiction, and stuck to the comfort zone of fanfiction-writing. You may argue, citing the last page as the proof that she did write her own thing. But tell me, did you see the process? Did you see her get hurt on the way to her goal? No. Instead we see her reading out slash fanfiction in to her boyfriend in a bid to get intimate.
Speaking of, I think the romance drove the novel way too much than it should have. Cath’s family and her writing took a backseat at times when she was with Levi. I found myself wiching so many times that she would just write her stuff and get it done with I was impatient about it. I did not want to see the romance so desperately; I wanted to see her writing journey. Rainbow Rowell failed in that aspect.
I’m not saying it was a bad book. It was good one. It just could have been better. I was hoping that the Carry On, Simon fan Cath meets would have had more significance in the novel, but that didn’t happen. That plot thread didn’t get closure. It would have been amazing to have Cath get influenced by that incident. That scene was just there, dangling. I wish it had been worked on.
Overall rating: Three and a half out of five stars (3.5/5)
Final comment: Could’ve been better.
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