Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: September 10, 2013
Pages: 433
Source: Bought
Rating: 5 Stars

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?

In short: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell made a fangirl out of me.

"Loving Simon isn't something one does alone or once a year at a convention - for thousands of fans of all ages, loving Simon Snow is nothing less than a lifestyle." - pg. 141

Fangirl is the story of my life (I am only slightly exaggerating here). It is seriously so, SO similar to my life's experiences as an obsessive and active fan in the Harry Potter fandom. The above quote is so apt because for a decade, loving Harry Potter WAS a lifestyle for me. I never wrote any fanfiction as I am no writer, but there was a period in my life when all I ever read extracurricularly was Harry Potter and Harry Potter fanfiction. And in fact, I did read a number of Harry/Draco slash fanfics in my time that were EERILY reminiscent of Cath's Simon/Baz slash fanfics.

I am not a contemporary reader by any means and more often than not my reluctance for the genre stems largely from a feeling of discomfiture for the realism and relatability of a story line or character. You see, I prefer to read for escapism, plots that are far and away from my own life story. Contemporaries have the ability of cutting right to my core, drudging up uncomfortable experiences from my past, and creating feels that are not necessarily welcome. And Fangirl certainly did all these things. But for once, the scarily relatable story line didn't make me feel totally uncomfortable. It made me feel content and fulfilled.

And I cannot speak highly enough of Rainbow Rowell for this. Not only did she completely NAIL what it's like to be hopelessly obsessed and entirely involved in a fandom, only to have it end and have your raison d'être end with it, but also what it's like to start over in an unfamiliar setting as someone who has intense social anxiety (which is something else that I personally found hugely relatable about Cath...). Reading Fangirl was at times uncomfortable for me in the way that I have come to associate with highly relatable contemporaries, but it was also deeply rewarding. I finished the last page with happy tears and an overwhelming sense of closure. And it's been a long time since I've had that experience with a book.

Okay, so you can probably tell that my love for Fangirl was highly subjective and dependent on my own personal experiences. So now let me say a few things that might be useful for those of you who may not be able to relate as strongly as I did to Fangirl: I haven't read characters and dialogue this charming since Anna and the French Kiss. Seriously. And for those of you who, like me, have been frustrated at the limited and repetitive selection of NA books available - THIS is the New Adult book we've been asking for! A NA book set in college in which the romantic interest ISN'T a goonbag - who knew?

So yes, I guess you could say Fangirl made a fangirl out of me (sorry for the cheese). But for real - Rainbow Rowell became one of my top favourite authors with just one book. And that makes me a fangirl for LIFE.

Other Reviews:
A Girl, Books, and Other Things
Just Another Story
Late Nights with Good Books

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