Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell Genre: contemporary-romance “Well,” she said. “I’m frustrated.” “Don’t make me angry-kiss you.” If it's one thing that kept me going at the start, it definitely is her 100% relatable character we rarely see in books. THANK YOU RAINBOW ROWELL FOR GIVING ME CATH AND 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?
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?
“Underneath this veneer of slightly crazy and mildly socially retarded, I'm a complete disaster." |
As someone who has no problem fitting into the exact description of Cath's personality, I'm going to bring some light to her character. This justice is needed. Cath is definitely not someone with zero backbone, social insecurity and awkwardness has nothing to do with being a weak character. She is basically afraid to explore new grounds and meeting new people, and for me, this is very normal. I think Cath is not one who outwardly approaches people to make friends, rather, she waits for someone to approach her instead. To summarize, she is too scared to take this initiative and leaves it to fate for everything to fall in naturally.
And it actually did happen that way:
And it actually did happen that way:
“I feel sorry for you, and I'm going to be your friend." |
As much as Cath was shy, she didn't let others bullshit her. And even when she put herself in a pathetic position for others, it was more out of compassion and empathy than anything else. My point is: Cath was perfect and there wasn't one point in the book I disagreed with whatever she did. Just hand her the star-daughter-sister-student-friend award already.
The fiction-writing class was the best thing yet. At this point I'm ready to send in a proposal to my school for such a class if I didn't think it would be rejected the second the school gets a whiff of it. It would have been great to be given a better insight on this class so I can fantasize about it all day and night.
Cath was fantastic in fiction-writing though I bet she wished it was fan fiction-writing class she was in. Sadly, I didn't give two shits about Simon Snow at all throughout the book. In fact, the Simon Snow excerpts are what I felt ruined the book for me. Honestly, Simon Snow parts were just too long and boring.
I love how characters were portrayed in this book. Specifically, Levi was another best-thing for me throughout the plot. He was a bit of the party guy, fun and quirky, funny and compassionate. I love how he always smiles.
The fiction-writing class was the best thing yet. At this point I'm ready to send in a proposal to my school for such a class if I didn't think it would be rejected the second the school gets a whiff of it. It would have been great to be given a better insight on this class so I can fantasize about it all day and night.
Cath was fantastic in fiction-writing though I bet she wished it was fan fiction-writing class she was in. Sadly, I didn't give two shits about Simon Snow at all throughout the book. In fact, the Simon Snow excerpts are what I felt ruined the book for me. Honestly, Simon Snow parts were just too long and boring.
I love how characters were portrayed in this book. Specifically, Levi was another best-thing for me throughout the plot. He was a bit of the party guy, fun and quirky, funny and compassionate. I love how he always smiles.
“You flirt with everything.” She could tell that her eyes were popping—her eyeballs actually felt cold around the edges. “You flirt with old people and babies and everybody in between.” |
I can't even remember the last time I read a book where the love interest wasn't buff and has a thing for smirking - I have probably never read one.
THANK YOU RAINBOW ROWELL FOR LEVI.
THANK YOU RAINBOW ROWELL FOR LEVI.
“Maybe we should go on lots of double dates,” Cath said, “and then we can get married on the same day in a double ceremony, in matching dresses, and the four of us will light the unity candle all at the same time.”
“Pfft,” Levi said, “I’m picking out my own dress.”
As far as I'm concerned, parents are usually neglected in books. But in this case they weren't. At least for the dad side. She's always calling and checking up on her dad, making sure her dad was okay. The supporting characters were also what made the book so colourful. Relationships: SO CUTE. With Reagan and her sass:
Reagan was sitting at Cath's desk when Cath woke up. |
Fangirl is a solid book about dealing with the lemons life gives you. It's not much of a fandom thing and more of growing up and touching on new ground and adapting to them. Here's a quote I loved but shouldn't have:
“You can tell Laura to go fuck herself. Like, to infinity and beyond. She doesn’t get to move on with me. Ever.” |