Saturday, August 16, 2014

Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell

Title: Fangirl
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Pages: 438
Published: 2013
Challenges: I Love Libraries, Blogger Summer Reading
Genre: Contemporary, Fiction, Young Adult
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Library

Description: 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? Open her heart to someone? Or will she just go on living inside somebody else’s fiction? (from Goodreads)


Thoughts: I did read this book because others were reading the book and also because I really enjoyed reading her previous work, Eleanor & Park (at some point I'll get to Attachments, which I have heard is also pretty good and am looking forward to reading Landline this coming fall).  It took me awhile to get into this novel, probably because I was comparing it to my experience with Eleanor & Park, in which I got right into the book.  But once I was able to get into the book, I really couldn't put the book down and got into Cath's world, not only because of the story, but also because to a certain degree, I also wrote fanfiction at one point, but nothing to the extent that Cath did.

I really liked how the author was able to express Cath's trouble with trying to find her place in a world that was free of her dad and her sister and to find friends that understood her as much as her sister may have and the struggle that she had with not being with her sister all the time.  

Bottom line: If you enjoyed Eleanor & Park, you probably will enjoy this book. And even if you enjoy  other young adult/new adult books, this might be a book for you. Highly recommended.

Rating: 4.5/5

Pages for 2014: 12,603

If you have read this book, what did you think of it?

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