Fangirl

I will confess that I've never written fan-fiction, and have only read a few stories. That said, I don't think this book is about fan-fiction, so much as (when it succeeds) about moving in to a new stage of life, and the fears, failures and triumphs that doing so can entail. Cather resonated with me–the overwhelming feeling that going to college can engender, the weight of having some social anxiety, the fun and fear of falling for somebody when you're 18.

I also mostly liked how Rowell included and dealt with mental illness in this book.

Read my review on my blog here: https://theconsultingbookworm.wordpress.com/2015/01/04/fangirl-rainbow-rowell/

I adored everything about this book. Characters, storylines, everything.

3.5 stars. Sweet and easily lovable.

Made my little nerd heart sing. Loved every character and loved remembering the theories, the fics, and the community that existed in the time before deathly hallows was released.

(read in 2014)
I will never forgive the 2014 book community for hyping this up so much. Ive never seen a bad review for this book (I haven't looked for one) but yo, I hate this book more than anything and its always all over youtube and ig and whatever and seeing it fills me with rage. I see the colour mint green and think of this. Its ruined mint choc chip ice cream for me,, just kidding, I don't eat mint choc chip because im not disgusting

I don't know how to write a review about this book that is coherent and not just gushing. This book was perfect in so many ways. It encapsulated the idea of fandoms and the person who is the fangirl. Characters within the book were just like those encountered in real life. Both the fangirls and other people who don't quite get it.
There are many people I meet in college who don't understand what HP means to me and what it was like growing up with that story, both the actual books and the community and fandom around the series. That series has shaped my life in so many ways and Rainbow Rowell translated that feeling into Cath and her story.
This book is definitely for a very specific audience who can relate to Cath and can understand what she is going through. Throughout this book, I would read things Cath would say or do and see myself in Cath. I think that is why this book was so amazing to me. I saw myself in Cath and could really understand how going to college affected her.

The characterization in this is really good. Took a while to get going (for me) and then I was very invested.

So, okay, I know I'm wayyyy late to this party and people on Twitter have been recommending Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell to me for ages, but I finally got around to it! And. Um. Well.

I loved it.

So the number one thing I've heard people rave about with Fangirl is that they found it really relatable, and, well, I'm going to jump onto that bandwagon because reading Cath was like reading me (I mean, awkward, anxiety-prone, introverted writer? IT'S LIKE YOU KNOW ME, RAINBOW ROWELL). There were so many moments that I thought wow, I've done that or wow, I've felt exactly like that and I have to say? That doesn't really happen often. In fact, I can't really think of even one other time where that's happened before.

But what I really really really loved about Fangirl was something I wasn't even aware the book covered at all: mental illness representation.

I don't think this is a spoiler, since we kind of learn this pretty early on: Cath's dad is bipolar and she deals with some major anxiety struggles. Cath, at least, is never officially diagnosed with anything, but we can see right from the beginning that the anxiety she struggles with is much more than the norm. And it wasn't just that it was included that I loved (though that's part of it), but it was the way Rowell handled it so respectfully and without judgment.

I'll openly admit that I haven't had the chance to read many anxiety-prone protagonists (though not because I don't want to!), but I can say, at least for Cath, that reading her perspective, and what things made her nervous, and how that anxiety manifested felt so real to me, largely because I've experienced many of the same thoughts and anxiety grossness and seeing it represented so honestly was so wonderful to read.

So go read Fangirl for the wonderful writing, the lovely characters, the gay vampire/mage fan fiction (yes, really), the realistic-yet-adorable romance and emotional ups and downs. But also read Fangirl for the way Rowell so respectfully portrayed characters with mental illness, without judging or stereotypes or harmful language or assumptions.

I'm giving Fangirl five stars and a huge high five to Rainbow Rowell. Fangirl is so very well done and I can't recommend it more.

There a lot of reviews about how great this book is, but like every other person pointed out, Fangirl doesn't give the best impression of what it's like to be a fangirl. Being a fangirl doesn't mean just reading a book and writing fanfic about it. It is so much more..

Obsessing. Reading, rereading. Discussion on forums. Online quizzes. Arguing with others. Waiting for the movies. Arguing about the cast. Watching the movies. Obsessing about the movies. Tumblr. GIFs. Hijacking posts. Noticing things you didn't notice the first time. Swooning on a particularly hot guy. Crying about a character's death. Making up your own theories.

Cath doesn't do any of those things. She read the books and writes fanfic and maybe sometimes reads others fanfic. That's not it. That's not what a fangirl does.

Also, the Simon Show is obviously inspired from Harry Potter. And Simon and Baz are obviously Harry and Draco. I get why Rowell had to use different names. Copyright problems. I get it, I do. But I really wish she stocked to it. To a world, without Harry Potter. You either use the real deal, or you fake it. You don't mix both. So when she mentions Harry Potter in the book, it made me so mad.

Also what the hell is wrong with Cath? Being a fangirl and being neurotic isn't the same thing. The girl stashes energy bars because she's scared to go eat in the dining hall. What the hell? I have never in my life done that or anything similar to it. And if someone called me pathetic, I wouldn't be okay with it. But Cath just whines and forgets about it. Which pissed me.

Okay so there's so much more I could say about it, but I won't. Despite all that, the book was a good read. The biggest problem with this book for me was that Rowell is probably not a fangirl. Or atleast didn't do enough research. But if she did this would have been one of the best book and would have easily gotten five freaking starts.

Well done story in the mind of a girl...coming of age in college-dealing with all of that + she's a twin...with challenging family dynamics.

Here's the kicker - if you are going to read the Simon Snow series (and you should) —- read that first. This book's POV character writes fan fiction for a fictional series set with the same characters in the same world but also will spoil some of the joy of the discovery in the series.

Everyone seems to enjoy this book a lot, so I'm not sure why I didn't like it so much.
Despite the story dealing with anxiety, tumultuous sibling relationship and parental issues, it's still a light read and the writing style is very easy. I loved the idea of Cath being so involved in the fandom and the small snippets of Simon's story. Ofcourse, I wasn't very surprised by it all because I read Carry On first.
But I never really connected with any of the characters. The twins relationship with their dad seemed the most genuine for me. The love story of Cath and Levi also didn't really interest me much. I just can't pinpoint what it is about the book that felt lacking but it didn't connect with me emotionally. But I can definitely understand it's appeal.

I pretty much devoured this book as quickly as I could, and got more and more panicked as it came to an end. I didn't want it to stop, but I absolutely loved the ending. I'll be reading more from this author.

This is not the typical college experience romance book. To me, this is probably the realistic college experience most of us when through. Cath is a painfully shy, awkward, and has serious social anxiety. Freshman year she must leave her father and the safe zone of her home and room with a stranger, the tough Reagan. Her twin sister, Wren, didn't want to room with her. Cath must overcome new environments, and getting screwed over. Cath must learn to sticking up for herself, trust people, and fall in love.
Rowell did a great job of making you feel the anxiety Cath feels with her description. I couldn't help thinking, “exactly” at multiple parts. Cath's anxiety is so strong it get frustrating. You just want to help push Cath in the right direction but that's what makes it Cath coming of age story. The author does a great job at giving you a clear picture of the characters. Reagan is the perfect combination of tough, bad ass, and caring in her own straight to the point kind of way. I did feel the relationship (won't say. Don't want to spoil it.) was too perfect. Also, some of the people and situations in the book felt not finished, forgotten or brushed off.

This story was unique and wonderful. I felt giddy the whole time. It made me laugh and feel warm. I loved each level of story. First, the story of the fangirl herself, then the Simon Snow canon story that she loved, and then the fanfiction she wrote. So well woven together. It took me back to my teenage obsession with fanfic writing. I'm excited that the story within this story is going to be it's own book in October! Can't wait for Carry On.
Overall, I just loved this book so much. It is by far the lightest of all Rowell's novels, and I truly enjoyed it. I also love how Rowell ends her books. Nothing is ever a nice neat bow at the end, and I love that about her.
Now go. Read it.

reread jan 2019: still one of my faves :') so fun and heartwarming, will reread forever

What a sweet little book! I devoured it in almost one sitting. It's similar in tone to John Green's YA romances, but with a little more backbone and a little bit less...operatic emotion.

okaaaay i'd finally finished that book \o/
e, em resumo, foi bom.
O que realmente salvou tudo foi Levi (sorry)
Tirando a parte de bla bla bla da fanfic (I'm not a Fanfic person... i really like to write, Although It's my own stories.. anyway) - que apenas ao final do livro, percebemos que TALVEZ a GTL tenha realmente lido as fanfics de Cath para dar uma reviravolta na história - bem JK, e o momento que Malfoy ajuda Harry - que achei um tanto massante, o romance do livro, como todos os livros de R. Rowell, são muito bem estruturados, cativantes e com um toque de humor fofo que torna a leitura fluida.
Claro, como toda pessoa que já ficou presa a uma série e com medo de acabar, bem como o sentimento de ser freshman em uma universidade que, a principio você não fit in, a dificuldade em enfrentar seus medos na aula de escrita de ficção são fatos muito bem retratado pelo papel da Cath e sim, leria um numero dois de fangirl.
Dócil, mas poderia ter sido muito melhor, pois faltou alguns pontos a serem destrinchados, pelas personagens, pois são muito ricas e bem estruturadas.
E, como não poderia faltar:
Levi
Levi



Levi.

Ik had echt even twijfels over dit boek terwijl ik het aan het lezen was. kwam er vrij slecht doorheen, toch heb ik er echt heel erg van genoten!

Reread July 2021:
Lowered my rating by one star (thus to a 3 star rating).

I love, love, love the anxiety representation in this book. It is well executed.
I kinda like Cath and Levi. They are adorable, okay. And sometimes I like cute, fluffy stories.
I like Levi as a character even though he has major flaws (smoking when other people smoke -,-).

What bothered me this time around was the joking atmosphere around mental illnesses. It was hard for me to read. What also bothered me was the joking about gay stuff, that's not something to joke about, tbh.
And the weird comment about eating ... That definitely could be a trigger for people suffering from an eating disorder.

I liked the story bits of Carry on! :)

Overall, I still liked the story, I just liked it less than five years ago when I first read it.

No one can write messed-up characters like Rainbow Rowell can – socially awkward, clever, emotionally scarred, and incredibly likeable. A lot like many people.

Speaking of likeable, it takes no more than a few pages, maybe even a couple of paragraphs before Cath wins the reader over completely. Okay, so she's a little too into this semi-Harry Potter world, and spends what many would consider an unhealthy amount of time on her fanfic – but she gets great grades, and something resembling a social life, who's to judge? She's having a hard time adjusting to college life – her identical twin (Wren – get it?) is taking the opportunity to go out on her own, and Cath's just not ready for that. For the first time in her life, she's really not half of a set, and that takes a toll on her esteem, confidence, and – actually – everything. Her high school boyfriend being in another state and mostly incommunicado makes it all worse.

Slowly, Cath starts to find a place in college – makes a friends (most of which are worth having). There's a lot of ups and downs along the way – there's plenty of family drama – friction between the sisters, emotional troubles for their dad at home, and a lot of unresolved issues surrounding their mother's/wife's abandoning the family years ago. Which doesn't help out her schoolwork at all – and drives her further into her fanfic.

This is done in such a way that it doesn't feel like silly teen/young adult dramatics – it feels like a rough patch that a dear friend is going through. The former would be easy for many authors to evoke, and I'd probably end up walking away from the book. But because Rowell can make us feel the latter, we pull for Cath, and keep reading on, getting further invested in her character.

There are bright spots – Cath and others make some progress in dealing with troubles from their past, Cath meets some fans of her fanfic, and – not at all surprisingly – there's some fun (and awkward) and heartwarming romance kindled.

I know precious little about fanfic, honestly – I've read a few authors pouring out the hate for it, and some defending and/or celebrating it. I hardly have enough time to read the original works set in the worlds I like, I certainly have no time for the “unofficial” takes on it. So I really didn't care about Cath's passion for her hobby – or for those who had a different take on it. I thought Rowell dealt with it pretty well, on the whole, and was fair enough to both poles while staying fairly realistic.

Not as gut- and heart-wrenching as Eleanor & Park, but told with the same amount of heart (and more laughs). This is one of those books that when you see the end coming, you start to read slower, because you're just not done with these people yet. If she had the story, I'd have read another few hundred pages just to stick with Cath, Wren, Levi, Reagan and the rest for a little longer – honestly, I'd have done it without the story.

i LOVED this book

I really liked the book, the only downside was that the main character could be too caught up in self-pity from time to time and that bugged me a little. Aside from that I have no negative things to say. It was nice to have a background story on Carry On (which you should read first, there are small spoilers in this book for Carry On) and the pacing was great!

Let's just talk about how fantastic this book is and what a great idea it was. I think everyone on in a fandom should read this book.

Go on a journey with Cath as she tried to figure herself out through college, family problems, love, and finishing her fanfiction! Just reading the first page made me fall in love with this book. It was perfect in every way and how Rainbow Rowell ended it was a great conclusion for the Simon Snow fandom and for the Fangirl fandom!

I was upset that I didn't get to see what would happen next year.. I would love another book but I don't think that will happen. I will just have to read other Rainbow Rowell books so I can be emerged in her writing style. This book makes you laugh, cry, and wish it wasn't over. When I finished it, I went through the pages saying “WHY?! I NEED MORE!” I would definitely read this again and I am happy to say it is one of my favorite contemporary young adult books right now!

Fangirl is the winner for me. I was totally immersed in the characters. Excellent story. I felt the characters were well developed, outside of the mom (understandable). This book for me was so much better than Landline. Now, I see why Rowell has such hardcore fans. Kudos