In Rainbow Rowell's 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? Open her heart to someone? Or will she just go on living inside somebody else’s fiction?
I saw this book everywhere and hearing good things so I finally decided to pick it up. And I was not disappointed. It was also a bit different than I thought it be. I thought it would be more about her and the fandom of Simon Snow and it is to a point but mainly about Cath and her new life in college. Or trying to navigate through college and trying new to her things.
I love the relationship Cath has with her family , I love even more that the family is far from perfect. We have mom that left when they were little, some mental health issues with dad and then there are Cath and Wren with their own set of issues… I like how things are handled and how each of them deals in their way as well.
Obviously I loved the close relationship Cath has with Wren, but things start out very rocky for them and they have to work through some stuff. I really enjoyed all her relationships and people she met. Good and bad because that helped her grow and see things differently. Reagan, man I loved her. Yeah she was a bitch but she was a nice bitch and in the end looked out for Cath. I really enjoyed her.
Levi. Not much to say about him other than that I absolutely loved him and must say he had a lot more patience than I ever would when it came to Cath. I loved how they relationship devolved slowly and how natural it felt. The ups and downs and everything in between.
Cath, herself, I really enjoyed her and her nerdiness … most of the time. It was easy to relate to her and feel for her as she struggled and tried to find new ways. Other times she got on my nerves a bit when she was more stubborn than scared to come out of her comfort zone, really the whole English paper thing drove me nuts and I wanted to smack her.
But overall I really enjoyed her. She and Levi made me laugh and swoon a lot throughout the book.
Now is where I probably lose a lot of people, but unlike most I didn’t care much for the fan fiction within the book. I didn’t not like it, I liked it, I just didn’t love it.
I listen to the audiobook and the narration was awesome.
I rate this book 4 ★
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