AUTHOR: Rainbow Rowell
STARTED: April 29, 2017
FINISHED: April 29, 2017
PAGES: 438
GENRE: Fiction
FIRST SENTENCE: There was a boy in her room.
SUMMARY: [From BN] 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? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?
THOUGHTS: I can't pinpoint exactly why this book makes me squee with delight, but it did. The characters were just so really that I feel like I knew them. I was with them from the start and could not wait to see where they head. That feeling went for ALL the characters - the characters in the main story, the characters in Simon Snow stories, and the characters in the Snow fic. I was with them all the way. Rowell crafted multiple worlds for this book and all of them are a success.
This book took me back to my days in college. I read a hell of a lot of fan fiction in high school and college (I even dabbled in writing a few Gilmore Girls stories myself - lord knows where those ended up on the web) so this world was immensely nostalgic for me. All the details are right and the writing is descriptive without being flowery.
There is nothing challenging or exceptional about this book. It's just a very good story with characters who feel like real people.
RATING: 8/10 [Terrific]
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