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A review by hhamlet
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
5.0
Have you ever stumbled across a book that you swore, in your heart of hearts, was not destined for you to pick up? Maybe the title threw you off; maybe the synopsis seemed too cheesy or gory for your taste. Or perhaps it was the hype surrounding the book in general…maybe you were even as shallow as to literally judge a book by its cover (hey, it happens to the best of us). For me, reading Fangirl was an obstacle; one that I was pigheaded in my refusal to read for nearly a year now. Everyone I knew raved about it; everyone told me I’d love it if I just gave it a chance. So why was I so adamant about refusing them? Why did it take me reading another Rainbow Rowell book—Eleanor & Park, my first—to grow interested at all in the contemporary YA phenomenon that is Rowell’s most famous literary work to date? I like to think it’s the result of a few things, mainly my fear that I would feel the same way about Fangirl as I had about other popular YA contemporary publications, my skepticism over the entire plot in general, and just a general fear of YA contemporary in the first place.
Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.
Quite obviously, the correlation and parallels between the Simon Snow series and the Harry Potter series are outstanding—even some of the physical attributes of the characters, such as Baz’s grey eyes—and the idea of Cath leaning so fiercely on a children’s book series that had been her entire world was something that tugged on my heart strings. As one of the thousands of Harry fans who clung to the books in times of distress and need, the circumstances surrounding Cath’s dependency definitely hit home. And with the rise of fanfiction and the “fandom” life that is cultivated so beautifully within the pages of these books, Cath’s story seems more realistic than some of the other contemporary garbage the young adult section spits out these days. Dealing with social anxiety, geek-related things, and struggling your first year of college with realizing who you are and where you think you belong is entirely normal, and a great deal more interesting to read about than some of the overly-confident, overly-privileged characters in books on the mainstream market today. Because, children of the world, let me clue you in on a little secret…college isn’t the nonstop party and lovefest that so many people depict it to be. A lot of students fall into a rut; some never surface from it again. It’s a terrifying thing, crossing that bridge into adulthood, and Cath is only all too aware of that, even as a freshman.
In addition, I love that Rowell’s characters are not conventionally beautiful or stunning beyond all belief. While I can definitely appreciate the Greek Adonis every now and again, reading about a character who wears nothing but t-shirts and jeans and refuses to let her hair down or wear makeup falling in love with a boy who has a strangely-receding hairline is refreshing. Perhaps even more so because Rainbow Rowell doesn’t make the sole focus of their characters being what sets them apart from more “mainstream beauty” characters or attempts to give them full-fledged makeovers that take away from who they really are. Instead, she has the characters explore one another’s beauties in terms of the very phrase we’ve uttered so many times throughout life: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” And for Cath, who had convinced herself for so long that she was somehow the uglier of two identical twin sisters, hearing Levi identify her as beautiful is enough to cause her heart to stutter with affection…and all of ours, as well.
In addition, I love the realism attached to the broken household of the Avery family. I like that their father’s mental conditions aren’t taken lightheartedly, and that Cath seems to recognize it as an illness rather than a frame of mind he can’t shrug himself out of. That, and the two starkly contrasting ways in which the Avery girls deal with the absence of their mother growing up and the lasting effect it’s had on them both is both tragic and realistic to read about. Having one child act out while the other implodes on herself and develops trust issues and social anxiety shows two extremes of a situation, each as realistic as the next. And, in addition, it further adds to Rainbow Rowell breaking the trope of twins being unidentifiable. Too often in literature, an author will rope together identical twin brothers or sisters as mirror images of each other who do nothing more than finish each other’s sentences and share absolutely everything in life…including all personality traits. And while Wren and Cath both share a love for Simon and get along (sometimes), they’re both entirely different and unique characters, from the way they dress to how they think to what their hobbies are. They’re constantly identified as two separate entities within the novel, and it really helps to flesh out Cath as a character, in my opinion.
And, of course, I can’t ignore Rowell’s writing style, which is so unique to me that I think I’d be able to pick one of her books up blindfolded. She’s excellent with dialogue, much like Cath (which might have been a self-insertion, but I think authors are allowed that every now and again), and she has the ability to make even the most tragic of back stories end on a cute and fluffy note. However, as I noticed with Eleanor & Park, there seems to be a trend with Rainbow Rowell’s writing that leaves me disoriented and confused: her abrupt endings. As I know I’m not the first—and certainly not the last—of her readers to point this out, I’ll make my commentary on the matter fairly concise. Essentially, there’s something I like to call Rainbow Rowell Syndrome: it’s the confusion and clear need of want that overwhelms a reader who has finished one of her books. Because while the rising action and climax of her stories are always nice, fairly steady build-ups, the conclusion tends to come crashing down on us without always feeling like just that…a conclusion. As one of the only complaints I have about her books, though, I suppose that’s fairly good; expanding on endings and conclusions is something that can always be honed as a writer progresses, and I hope to see more concrete, smooth endings to her future novels.
And before this review gets to be too ridiculously long, I have just one final thing to say: where’s my Levi? As a self-identified nerd who has been to hell and back for school, Harry Potter, and fanfiction, I’d like to reap my rewards with a cute farm boy who works at a coffee house. Any day now would be nice, Rainbow Rowell.
You can find the full post with my review here: http://writtenwonderland.tumblr.com/post/91157143128/fangirl-by-rainbow-rowell-rated
Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.
Quite obviously, the correlation and parallels between the Simon Snow series and the Harry Potter series are outstanding—even some of the physical attributes of the characters, such as Baz’s grey eyes—and the idea of Cath leaning so fiercely on a children’s book series that had been her entire world was something that tugged on my heart strings. As one of the thousands of Harry fans who clung to the books in times of distress and need, the circumstances surrounding Cath’s dependency definitely hit home. And with the rise of fanfiction and the “fandom” life that is cultivated so beautifully within the pages of these books, Cath’s story seems more realistic than some of the other contemporary garbage the young adult section spits out these days. Dealing with social anxiety, geek-related things, and struggling your first year of college with realizing who you are and where you think you belong is entirely normal, and a great deal more interesting to read about than some of the overly-confident, overly-privileged characters in books on the mainstream market today. Because, children of the world, let me clue you in on a little secret…college isn’t the nonstop party and lovefest that so many people depict it to be. A lot of students fall into a rut; some never surface from it again. It’s a terrifying thing, crossing that bridge into adulthood, and Cath is only all too aware of that, even as a freshman.
In addition, I love that Rowell’s characters are not conventionally beautiful or stunning beyond all belief. While I can definitely appreciate the Greek Adonis every now and again, reading about a character who wears nothing but t-shirts and jeans and refuses to let her hair down or wear makeup falling in love with a boy who has a strangely-receding hairline is refreshing. Perhaps even more so because Rainbow Rowell doesn’t make the sole focus of their characters being what sets them apart from more “mainstream beauty” characters or attempts to give them full-fledged makeovers that take away from who they really are. Instead, she has the characters explore one another’s beauties in terms of the very phrase we’ve uttered so many times throughout life: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” And for Cath, who had convinced herself for so long that she was somehow the uglier of two identical twin sisters, hearing Levi identify her as beautiful is enough to cause her heart to stutter with affection…and all of ours, as well.
In addition, I love the realism attached to the broken household of the Avery family. I like that their father’s mental conditions aren’t taken lightheartedly, and that Cath seems to recognize it as an illness rather than a frame of mind he can’t shrug himself out of. That, and the two starkly contrasting ways in which the Avery girls deal with the absence of their mother growing up and the lasting effect it’s had on them both is both tragic and realistic to read about. Having one child act out while the other implodes on herself and develops trust issues and social anxiety shows two extremes of a situation, each as realistic as the next. And, in addition, it further adds to Rainbow Rowell breaking the trope of twins being unidentifiable. Too often in literature, an author will rope together identical twin brothers or sisters as mirror images of each other who do nothing more than finish each other’s sentences and share absolutely everything in life…including all personality traits. And while Wren and Cath both share a love for Simon and get along (sometimes), they’re both entirely different and unique characters, from the way they dress to how they think to what their hobbies are. They’re constantly identified as two separate entities within the novel, and it really helps to flesh out Cath as a character, in my opinion.
And, of course, I can’t ignore Rowell’s writing style, which is so unique to me that I think I’d be able to pick one of her books up blindfolded. She’s excellent with dialogue, much like Cath (which might have been a self-insertion, but I think authors are allowed that every now and again), and she has the ability to make even the most tragic of back stories end on a cute and fluffy note. However, as I noticed with Eleanor & Park, there seems to be a trend with Rainbow Rowell’s writing that leaves me disoriented and confused: her abrupt endings. As I know I’m not the first—and certainly not the last—of her readers to point this out, I’ll make my commentary on the matter fairly concise. Essentially, there’s something I like to call Rainbow Rowell Syndrome: it’s the confusion and clear need of want that overwhelms a reader who has finished one of her books. Because while the rising action and climax of her stories are always nice, fairly steady build-ups, the conclusion tends to come crashing down on us without always feeling like just that…a conclusion. As one of the only complaints I have about her books, though, I suppose that’s fairly good; expanding on endings and conclusions is something that can always be honed as a writer progresses, and I hope to see more concrete, smooth endings to her future novels.
And before this review gets to be too ridiculously long, I have just one final thing to say: where’s my Levi? As a self-identified nerd who has been to hell and back for school, Harry Potter, and fanfiction, I’d like to reap my rewards with a cute farm boy who works at a coffee house. Any day now would be nice, Rainbow Rowell.
You can find the full post with my review here: http://writtenwonderland.tumblr.com/post/91157143128/fangirl-by-rainbow-rowell-rated