Book Summary
“In Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, 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?”
– Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (Amazon Preview)
Fangirl Review
Initial Thoughts
I had to read this book as part of a college book club for an English class. I was wary at first because I was in a bit of a reading slump, but I loved the summary (okay, and the cover was also adorable). As someone who grew up with Harry Potter, I knew would love this book.
I was 1000% correct. Although this book is meant for a younger audience, Fangirl sucked me in right away. I could hardly put it down, and it was so hard to stop when I needed to since we weren’t supposed to read further than our group.
It made me laugh, it made me bawl my eyes out, and it had me holding my breath at some parts. I recommend this book to practically everyone who is asking for recommendations.
Fangirl Itself
When you first get into this book, the scene is immediately set for you. You never lose your place in the setting since the author does such a good job of describing when and where events are happening. The story happens over the course of Cath’s first year in college, and the pacing was really enjoyable. While there are some heart racing moments, there are also intimate and sentimental moments to balance it out.
The author’s writing style was really unique to me. She did such a fantastic job of using humor, and I found myself laughing out loud at this book so often that my husband would have to tell me to shut up in the middle of the night (oops). She also did such a good job of describing anxiety within characters, and as someone who suffers greatly from anxiety, I was able to easily relate to her characters.
At the start of each chapter, you actually get to read a snippet from one of Cath’s fanfictions. I absolutely loved that element was included because it brought so much depth into Cath as a character. Over the course of the book, she was just so well developed, and you could really see her growth by the end of the book. Even some of the characters with small roles had clear development, which was a nice change from most of the books I’ve read. The characters were not only just relatable, but at some moments, I found myself forgetting that this wasn’t a book written about me.
Tropes
Some of my favorite tropes in this book were “Actually, I Am Him“, “Bait the Dog“, and “You Are Better Than You Think You Are“.
For a full list of tropes addressed in this book (with some spoilers), check out this list.
If You Like That, You’ll Like This
Since Simon Snow is an intentional rip-off of Harry Potter, anyone who enjoyed the Harry Potter series growing up will definitely love this book. Cath’s connection to Simon Snow is extremely relatable to anyone else who had an obsession with a certain boy wizard.
Although I was (surprisingly) never into the whole fanfiction scene, this book is definitely a must read for fanfiction lovers. Whether you wrote it as a kid, read it as a kid, or just appreciated the work fanfic did, you should definitely pick up Fangirl the next time you’re at the book store!
