I’ve mentioned more than once that I’m a former (okay, maybe former and current) fanfiction writer. So after I read Eleanor & Park last year and discovered Rainbow Rowell had written a book about a girl who writes fanfiction…well…consider my interest piqued.
Cath is a normal college freshman. She’s anxious to start her first year of college, bummed that her identical twin sister is trying to break away from their special built-in bond, and terrified of leaving her manic father alone. She still harbors a lot of hurt over her mother’s abandonment and her college roommate appears to hate her. Then there are boys. You can’t blame a girl for wanting to crawl inside her fandom and disappear. We’ve all felt like that a time or two.
What made me love Fangirl? All of the things. Literally…all of them. My first year of college was so similar to Cath’s that I just melted under all the nostalgia. Rowell is the master of creating real teenagers. Everything from Cath’s extreme social introversion to her oddly forceful awkwardness around boys can be found on college campuses around the world. The relationship she had with her roommate was great – perhaps the best relationship in the book. Their dialogue was quirky and age appropriate which I often find lacking in young adult literature.
Many readers have claimed Fangirl has too much going on – too many little plot bunnies running around and not enough time to give the proper attention to any of them. These are valid complaints. But this didn’t bother me even a little bit. I, too, had crazy family drama going on around me during college and often didn’t have the time to focus on my actual real life issues. So for me, this felt just like what I had actually gone through a decade ago. It’s like Rowell had channeled 20-year-old Brooke and written this novel just for me.
My own personal criticism lies only in the romance. I loved the slow build-up, but the after parts were too squishy. Every time Levi called Cath sweetheart I wanted to gag…sorry, not sorry. This pet peeve is also just a personal preference. Jimmy and I have never used pet names for each other because I think they’re gross. See why romantical stories are not my favorite? But, the rest of the book was the perfect bookend to my twenties and felt particularly poignant with the big 3-0 looming on the end-of-month horizon. And even though I wish I’d had Rainbow Rowell all those years ago, I can honestly say I’m just as happy I’ve got her now.
I really liked this one, too. I have a low tolerance for the ‘squicky’ kind of romantic stuff, too, but I loved the scene where Cath and Levi first kiss–it just felt so real that she could have been writing about something that I’d experienced first hand. She really gets young love.
She does get it, doesn’t she? She’s really able to take me back to those years of hyper emotion and fraught anxiety.
I loved this review! I’m glad the plot bunnies didn’t give you any problems. lol
Down with the plot bunnies!
I never really noticed the whole ‘too much going on’ argument while I was reading it. I was enjoying it too much and got through it very quickly. I read Fangirl before E&P which I’m pleased about because whilst I liked E&P I seemed to connect more with Fangirl. I quite enjoyed the reasoning behind naming the twins Cath & Wren. And I agree with your comment that the relationship with her roommate was very interesting to see develop.
I connected for personally with Fangirl as well. It was like my life sprawled across the page.
Some day I need to get to Rainbow’s books …
Yes, you must!