Fangirl in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

May 04, 2019 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it

Shelves: audio, young-adult, lotsa-buzz, wouldnt-normally-read, chick-lit

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this!!!

Rainbow Rowell has been a sensation for several years now, but I've avoided reading her books, specifically because she's a sensation. Yeah, I know. But this year, one of my reading challenge categories is "set on a university campus" and "Fangirl" fit the bill perfectly.

And the thing is, there's a reason "Fangirl" has been so popular. It's good! It's fun! It's kind of real!

I could really identify with socially dysfunctional Cather, I felt for her as I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this!!!

Rainbow Rowell has been a sensation for several years now, but I've avoided reading her books, specifically because she's a sensation. Yeah, I know. But this year, one of my reading challenge categories is "set on a university campus" and "Fangirl" fit the bill perfectly.

And the thing is, there's a reason "Fangirl" has been so popular. It's good! It's fun! It's kind of real!

I could really identify with socially dysfunctional Cather, I felt for her as she negotiated college on her own for the first time, and I enjoyed getting to know her friends Reagan, Levi, and Nick as she got to know them. I LOVED Reagan! This book clearly wanted to be about Reagan, but Rowell kept forcing it to be about Cather. (I did think it was a little unrealistic that the people she first met turned out to allll be wonderful, but okay. It's fiction. I'm down with that.)

But it's not perfect. While I could identify with some aspects of Cath's personality, there were sooo many times when she just did something ridiculous. It was consistent for her character, but never the decision I would have made. She's completely codependent. Their family is loving but hopelessly dysfunctional. Cather, Wren, and their father (and probably their mother, too) all desperately need therapy. YEARS of therapy. But the only time therapy is suggested, it's brushed off as a ridiculous suggestion. Uh ... guys?? It's not a ridiculous suggestion.

I could have done without all the Simon Snow, too. After all those Simon Snow excepts and Simon Snow fanfic excerpts, I have little interest in reading more (no Carry On for me, thank you). That will probably resonate with fanfic fans, but did nothing for me. (Yes, I have enjoyed some fanfic, but apparently not enough to fully appreciate the amount of "fanfic" in this book.) And ... Simon Snow is such an obvious Harry Potter, sooo many parallels, I thought it was meant to be a joke. You know, part of the fun! But then ... they mentioned Harry Potter?! And that just makes it all feel very weird. I had no idea what to make of that.

Thirdly, Rowell has a writing style that I'm not fully in love with. She likes to write incredibly detailed scenes full of the quotidian and mundane, dialogue about the most basic things, which is cool, but then ... poof! Next scene! and hours/days/weeks have gone by. I had a hard time getting a grip on the passage of time because of this. The book feels like a series of vignettes that are awkwardly stitched together.

And, finally, what the hell was that ending? Or, rather, WHERE was the ending, I must've missed it. Was anything at all concluded or resolved or even changed?? ...more

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Oct 13, 2016 Heather - hturningpages rated it really liked it

Shelves: bookclub

This book brought back so many memories! The characters are so achingly relatable to me, I had such a hard time putting this down! The only negative thing I have to say is the end was sort of anti-climactic to me :/ I expected a few other things to get tidied up and they didn't, so I was left kind of surprised and disappointed :( maybe that's the point though? Or maybe I'm reading into it too much haha It just felt like the timing was off, like there was something missing that I can't quite put ...more

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Jan 23, 2018 shalini rated it really liked it

I had stumbled onto this YA author when I picked up a copy of Eleanor & Park which was a super sweet love story set in high school and was etched out just right. So when I saw this one in the bookstore, I didnt hesitate in picking it up.

Fangirl is a typical Rainbow Rowell fare - sweet, soft and very real representation of the emotional life of a teenager. The storyline is based on writing Fan fiction - a genre made most popular after Harry Potter (I think) and consists of online fan clubs/blogs ...more

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Jan 05, 2015 Lydia Presley rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, coming-of-age, young-adult, 2015

I'm in two camps when it comes to Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl. First, I absolutely, "five-star" loved this book due to its setting and the description of Lincoln/Omaha area - in fact, Rowell's heart is definitely in Nebraska and that's why I'm drawn to her storytelling as much as I am. On the other hand, there were several elements of Fangirl that I really struggled with. So I'm going to flesh out each of these camps and leave it to you to decide if you want to pick this one up.

Read the rest of thi ...more

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Dec 12, 2013 Melissa rated it it was amazing

http://merrylandgirl.blogspot.com/201... ...more

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Jun 02, 2018 Sam rated it really liked it

Shelves: e-book, library-book, young-adult

This was a good YA read. Definitely one I would recommend. Like with Eleanor & Park, I started off a little hesitantly but was hooked in the first few pages. I can't quite put my finger on the right word to describe the book, or how it made me feel, maybe just that I understood Cath - her motivations, her fears and anxieties, the "cracks in her foundations" from the past, and her determination to throw herself into something that she can control. These heavier aspects are balanced by a mostly fl ...more

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Apr 02, 2016 Christina rated it really liked it

Shelves: popsugar-2016-reading-challenge

A version of this review appeared on my blog, drinkingandink.

Popsugar 2016 Reading Challenge: A YA Bestseller.

Although I selected this for my "YA Bestseller" read, I could also have reasonably chosen it for my "recommended by a family member" book. My older sister read it first, and told me it made her think of me. I was not sure how to feel about that, especially when I got around to starting the book. You see, "Fangirl" is about a college freshman with fairly severe social anxiety, separating A version of this review appeared on my blog, drinkingandink.

Popsugar 2016 Reading Challenge: A YA Bestseller.

Although I selected this for my "YA Bestseller" read, I could also have reasonably chosen it for my "recommended by a family member" book. My older sister read it first, and told me it made her think of me. I was not sure how to feel about that, especially when I got around to starting the book. You see, "Fangirl" is about a college freshman with fairly severe social anxiety, separating from her twin and her father for the first time, who spends as much time as possible shut away fully absorbed in writing fanfiction for a thinly-veiled "Harry Potter" series. Is that how my sister pictured me in college? Yes, I was a socially anxious, awkward, nerdy teenager, but two things: 1, I was actually very outgoing in college, and 2, I never wrote fanfiction, thankyouverymuch. Okay, there was maybe that one Star Trek story when I was 15, but I invented my whole own ship and crew rather than using any of the existing characters. That has to count for something!

Sigh. This book got me worked up, which was to its credit. Cath - look, that name. First of all, every other heroine in existence has a Catherine-based name. Second, I sort of get "Cather" as a name, I get the explanation in the book, but I have spent too much time working in hospitals. You know what a cath is in a hospital? Yeah, you do. It's not obscure. Okay, back on track. Cath was a frustrating, complicated heroine and I appreciated how much the author resisted ever simplifying her. I wanted to smack her several times, related to her on a number of levels, and felt for her at other times. I thought the father was well-done (and that although I could comfortably have diagnosed most of these characters without getting any pushback from an insurance company, none of them were ever just what the DSM would have to say). I loved Reagan. I thought she was a fully-believable fairy godmother for our shy heroine, also complicated, also with her own shit going on, and just so hilarious. Characters who exist only to inexplicably like Our Heroine, who has been thoroughly unpleasant to them, are my pet peeve, and Reagan could easily have stepped over that line. She didn't. I would be friends with Reagan. I thought Wren was about 3/4s of a good character, but had a sense that there was a middle step we missed in her development. We never really cracked the box open on Wren, and I was sorry about that, because she's important. Cath, her father, and Reagan especially made me appreciate the psychological consistency the author was capable of. I could not, however, warm up to Levi. That he went all "wives, mothers, daughters" on the creep in the bar was enough to completely lose me (or, you know, you shouldn't be a creep because these girls are people who don't want to be creeped on, not because they have a father who wouldn't like to hear it! This thought was apparently too complex for Our Love Interest, and no one ever suggested it to him, even when Cath was fighting him on other Items of Chivalry). But even before then I thought he was smug. And he remained smug, even when he was apologizing or messing up or confessing vulnerability. Smug.

This book was uncomfortable reading, too, both for the unflinchingly uncomfortable moments and the memories it brought back of my own college years (yesterday marked 9 years since graduation, if that gives you any hint how far back I had to reach for freshman year memories). And that was in its favor! The realness of it all!

This book also made me think about what incredibly mixed feelings I have about fanfiction. I'm reasonably conversant in the terms, having read a tumblr or two: I know what a "ship" is in fandom, I know what OTP and AU stand for, and I have created a headcanon or two. Like Cath, I was a writing major in college and had professors in fiction writing who banned us from turning in genre pieces, for bullshit reasons of snobbery in academia (I don't know what they would have done with fanfiction - killed it with fire, probably). I think people should be able to write whatever they want and get feedback on it. I don't think it's fair to look down on fanfiction on the internet when Jane Austen fanfictions get published every year essentially because people can't get enough of fantasizing about Mr. Darcy, and that's somehow more okay than Draco/Harry slashfic. On the other hand, fanfiction gave us the crime against humanity that is Fifty Shades of Grey, and it...well, much of it makes me uncomfortable. But people have been lovingly crafting their sexual fantasies into works for art since forever, and "because I wouldn't want to do it and it makes me uncomfortable" is the baseline reasoning for a lot of current legislation that I'm very much opposed to. So carry on, fanfiction (see what I did there? If you read the book, you did).

Bottom line, I guess, is that this is a very frustrating, uncomfortable, but honestly good book. ...more

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Mar 04, 2016 Courtney rated it really liked it

I have really enjoyed what I've read of Rainbow Rowell so far. Cath was such an interesting girl and I loved her and how she dealt with her anxiety. My only complaint would be that I felt it ended abruptly- but perhaps because that's because I was reading it so doggedly and was so enveloped in the story that I didn't even realize it was wrapping up. ...more

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Jun 14, 2014 Grumpy72 rated it liked it

An interesting look into the world of fan-fiction. An interesting perspective of how people see fan-fiction writers. But I can assure you they aren't all like that! ...more

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Jan 06, 2016 Kate rated it it was amazing

I loved this so much that I need to have a day or two cause it's over. ...more

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May 12, 2015 Leanne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015

If you found Cath insufferable when you started reading this book, keep reading. She gets much much better.

If you didn't find her insufferable, you're probably a better person that me. ...more

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