Joint review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Date of publication: September 3013

Cath 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.

Fangirl wasn't what I expected.  For the most part, I liked the

overall story.  The coming of age/learning to be grown-up part was fantastic.  Cath learns a lot of life lessons during her first year at college.  It brought back fond memories of my first year at school.  I also loved the romance. It was slow, sweet and had all the elements that a first love should have.  I loved Levi!

The parts that I didn't love were the fan fiction parts.  I could understand the portions in the beginning of each chapter. Those made sense.  But, the long portions of Cath's own fan fiction got boring really fast.  I really didn't think they were necessary and I skimmed over them.  They just seemed like filler to me and could have been left out without taking away from the story.

I should say that  I really don't understand the world of fan fiction.  Maybe I have never been a fan of anything enough to get it.  But I guess, to each his own.

I really liked FanGirl too. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I liked Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park, but I wasn't super blown away by it. I liked FanGirl a lot better. The characters seemed to be more genuine and believable.  I have twin daughters so I'm often curious about what the future might hold for their relationship.  I think this book showed an unpleasant future, but probably not an unsual transformation in unsually close relationships.

Like Kari, I really couldn't get into the fan fiction stuff.  I really like Harry Potter, but I've never read fan fiction, much less written it.  I found myself kinda zoning out on the Simon Snow stuff, I didn't really see the point of having so much of it in the book.  Otherwise, I really liked the book.