Book Review: Fangirl

College was such a memorable time and there are days when I miss just being able to go to a dining center and have all food readily available at a moment's notice. Or studying with friends at my favorite cafe in the downtown area. Thanks to Rainbow Rowell, I was able to relive the college experience vicariously through Cath, the heroine of 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? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind? (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.)

Technically, Fangirl is a young adult novel. It's about a girl almost 20 years my junior. Yet, I was drawn to the story even more than some of the chick lit novels I've read. (But shh...don't tell!) Rainbow Rowell writes Cath to be so genuine and believable that you forget that she's a work of fiction. I could easily have seen myself becoming friends with her in college. She reminded me of one of the girls I became close friends with shortly after I started my freshman year. The way Cath was obsessed with Simon Snow reminded me of my obsession with The Rocky Horror Picture Show and how I made it part of my identity throughout college. (I also loved V.C. Andrews' books and even created an online fan club for them.) Her innocence and apprehension when it came to guys and relationships was similar to my own, as well. I also could relate to her twin sister, Wren, in some ways. Like when I got to college, I wanted to shed my high school persona and get out more socially.

I also loved that there was a story within a story, in that Rainbow gave us a glimpse of Cath's fan fiction, as well as bits and pieces of the actual Simon Snow stories. Simon Snow is similar to Harry Potter, but it also seems darker in some ways. Cath's fan fiction twists made Simon Snow even more compelling. It was just incredible how Rainbow created two worlds within one novel.

I'm really glad I read Fangirl and have been recommending it to all my friends. The dialogue and visualizations were realistic and made me feel like I was hanging out on campus with Cath. It has inspired me to try my hand at writing fan fiction, so be on the lookout for that in the near future. I was sad that it had to end at all. However, seeing that I had it in e-book format, it took me twice as long to read because I don't get to spend as much time with my Kindle for PC. I look forward to reading Eleanor and Park soon and can't wait for Rainbow to produce her next novel, Landline, which sounds like will be more along the lines of chick lit. After reading and loving Attachments, I know Rainbow is already great at writing in this genre.

I had a hard time finding the right cast for a movie version, but I could see Aubrey Plaza as both Cath and Wren (like how Hayley Mills played twins in The Parent Trap), especially after seeing The To Do List.


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