Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Fangirl

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

76 reviews

hopearianna's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The first quarter of the book was really difficult for me. The characters felt very unreal and irritating how they were acting. However, the more I read, the more my rating of the book increased. I think when real life things started happening to these characters and they started to act more like real people with real experiences, histories, and emotions, that I started to actually care for them. Also, I really appreciated the kind of love letter to fandoms and fans that it became in the end.

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mapleleaf_rag's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Devoured this. Really good.

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audacityspork's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This book is light like cotton candy, with some poignant parts in the middle. It bounces about between “reality” where the MC is a college student writing fanfic & trying to figure out who she is in the constellation of her family; her fanfic which is a veiled homage to Harry Potter; and the “source text” which is a fake version of Harry Potter.

The good: this book made me cry in a light and cathartic way. It ends pretty happily. Anyone who’s a writer will love the main plot, wherein the MC struggles to know how to be a writer, especially since her favorite way to write is through appropriating another writer’s creation. The romance is cute enough and has some emotional moments. Levi sometimes reads like a "trad guy," so if you like chivalry, you might find it swoon-worthy instead of patronizing. I remain ambivalent about him.

The meh: something about the end feels unresolved. We don’t know what will happen with

the MC’s mom

—I wish we’d seen the MC and her sister discuss this more. I wish we’d gotten to read more of the MC’s story she wrote about

her family and her mom, which she struggled to write for a lot of the story, and then she wins an award for it

. I was disappointed that we didn’t end up having access to that story. I never quite felt like we had total intimate access to the MC’s experience with

her mom & sister

—for whatever reason, I had an arms-distance sense from the book about this. The MC was often avoidant, which is annoying but I get that some people are avoidant. Still, the text itself seemed to avoid delving into the juicier parts.

All in all, perhaps this book reads differently to someone in college. Levi certainly feels like a college boyfriend (the good and the bad). The general lack of resolution in relationships can be a college experience. I was eager to know how it would end, but I felt like it didn’t quite pull off tying up all the loose ends. I still enjoyed it and got a lot out of it. The audiobook was pretty good – the MC sometimes came across as dislikable and antagonistic for the sake of antagonizing people, but I think the voice actor helped bring dimensionality to that prickliness.

Also, it’s so nice to read a book about Nebraska! And the fanfic community. I might have given it more than 3.25 stars, but it wasn’t a book that grabbed me and felt like it totally got me. Arms distance to the end.

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quiettalker's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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samenright22's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

So cute and makes me feel seen in my anxiety.

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leligavi's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Another comfort reread. Honestly, I was just too devastated after the atrocity that is the love story in Daughter of the Moon Goddess that I just needed some concrete, unfailing love that is contemporary romance novels.

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bilingual_introvert's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Love love loved this. Finished it in about 2 sittings. I haven't had time to truly read books in almost 10 years. I've started many but they've never captured me as much and made me complete them. I think it definitely helped me that I started with the Mangas and they got me HOOKED cuz the series is ongoing and I coul n't wait any longer so I read the novel. I've fallen in love with the characters and wanted more. I found the fanfiction portions a bit cringy but I love Cath and relate to her deeply (as a fellow fangirl with poor social skills and anxiety). I loved seeing her grow

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maggies's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"She had to make him another omelet." 🥹 My god, this was not destined to be a 5 star read, but it so so so was. I connected so deeply, in my heart and soul and stomach, with Cath, right from the beginning. And Wren, Reagan, Levi, Dr. Piper, and Art, even Courtney, Nick, and Laura—the whole cast did such justice to the beauty, fragility, strength, brokenness, wit, and charm of Cath.

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maddyreads89's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

Cute, but there’s some janky writing at the sentence level, and it could’ve been 50-100 pages shorter. If I had a bookish teenage cousin, I would not hesitate to recommend this to her.

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pchamblee's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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