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Author: Rainbow Rowell
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD
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?
“You know what love feels like. I’ve read you describe it a thousand different ways.”
I think I found the book version of myself. Or sort of myself. But I honestly saw myself or a part of it in Fangirl, not just in Cath (although mostly her) but also with other characters. I didn’t really expect this kind of connection to the book when I read the blurb. I expected it, to be honest, to be dorky but Rainbow Rowell seriously know how to put heart in her stories.
Cath was the total opposite of her twin, Wren but they didn’t really noticed the differences between them until they started college. Cath just wanted to stay in her bubble, writing fanfictions with her twin and fangirling over Simon Snow. While most might say that it’s because college is daunting, it think it’s more of being comfortable and being safe in a bubble doing the same things like before. She’s scared of exploring the world and living it. A part of me wanted to be the one to push her out of her comfort zone while the other part wanted to just hug her and comfort her when the things about her family weighs too much.
The conflict about her twin was what broke my heart most. I may not have a sibling but drifting apart with someone you spent your entirely life is never easy. Especially when you’ve seen the changes happen in front of your eyes. I love how Cath was so adamant about family and taking care of her father. Even though Wren brushed it away and started to live her life on her own, Cath never really changed. She might have made friends with her roommate but she never forgot her family and she never put others above them. Her anger towards her mother was perfectly understandable and it’s nice to see two perspectives from the twins regarding the issue. I like that their relationship with her didn’t magically mend by simple apologies and explanations. Her abandonment made a huge impact on the twins and was not easy to neglect.
The romance was definitely well-cooked. It was not rushed and it took a lot of subtle hints for them to arrive to where they were at the end of the book. They were both cute and adorable that I was really worried when Cath went crazy over finishing Carry On, Simon and seems to neglect her guy. To those who read Eleanor & Park, you guys might understand why.
I love the incorporation of fandom in this book. There are a lot of people who could relate to this but there are still a few who would think that Cath was crazy. Well, she was a bit crazy but being that crazy is quite normal when you’re in a fandom and you’re heavily shipping a ship or you’re ship is a noncanon. (Believe me, I’ve been through all that.)
This is for every person who loves writing or reading fanfictions, every valiant noncanon shipper or even to those who just want to enjoy a good novel. The characters and their transformation through the book was exceptional. And the cutesy scenes are adorable, I can’t even! After reading two books, Rainbow Rowell is now officially on my auto-buy list.
This copy was provided by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
