Book Review: Fangirl

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Publication Date: September 10, 2013
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

In Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, 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? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

She’d spent the night with a boy. Slept with him. And never mind that that’s all they’d done, because it was still a huge deal. She wished she could talk to Wren about this.

The library had six levels aboveground and two levels below.

What’s the point of having a twin sister if you won’t let her look out for you? If you won’t let her fight at your back?

Too much crying, she thought. Too many kinds. She was tired of being the one who cried.

After only two of her books, I am convinced that I will forever be a fan of Rainbow Rowell’s writing and her many vivid characters. Her books, and more importantly her writing, just have this flair about them that sweep you off your feet and you are on Chapter 5 before you know it. Her books are more relatable than any I have seen or read in the past years, and her characters have tendencies and say and do things that many of us do and probably think that no one else does, if that makes sense. They are down to earth people and really similar to strangers we meet every day. Everyone has a story to tell, after all, and Rowell draws that out of her characters in a more real and understandable way than a lot of other authors. Cath’s story is quirky and a little out of the ordinary, but aren’t we all?

Cath has just started college and feels alone, sad, awkward, and just plain left out. Her character starts out in a situation that is way out of her comfort zone. She is away, for the first time, from her twin sister and she is being forced to room with someone who is nothing at all like her. Cath is not your typical heroine. She is not adventurous, socially accepted, and to be honest I don’t think she wants to be either. She is not at all like most New Adult heroine, thus why she is freakin’ awesome! Cath is such a Fangirl when it comes to Simon Snow, a series of that she has followed for most of her life. When she gets to college, she is not ready to give up that part of her childhood. And this right there is why I am forever devoted to Cath! She is an outstanding role model because she is not afraid to say and do what she loves!

This is a book of writing about a character who loves writing! Cath’s writing was taken very seriously in this book and so were her hopes and aspirations. This book was written for English nerds, or just nerds in general. Excerpts of Cath’s writing are thrown throughout the book, and are also very believable and add so much detail to the story. Cath is awesome; have I said that already? All she knows and wants to focus on is reading and writing. Perfect character, right?

I have been so caught up in Cath that I forgot to mention anything about the romantic aspects of this book! Yes, they are there and they help break Cath out of her shell. This book was so relatable for me because even though I was nowhere near as introverted as Cath, I still had to train myself to branch out when I reached college. I was an only child growing up and was used to a static comfort zone. Go out and buy this book!

***A copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at St. Martin’s Press in exchange for my honest review***