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Fangirl

Rainbow Rowell

Start date: July 1, 2018

Finish date: July 31, 2018

Discussion: Fangirl

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Fangirl

Fangirl- Spoiler Free Discussion
By kay! ☾ · 14 posts · 42 views

last updated Aug 24, 2018 05:00AM

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What Members Thought

Jan 19, 2019 Jill rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, contemporary, coming-of-age

3.5*

Cath is an introverted, well-known fanfiction writer starting her first year at college with her twin sister, Wren. Her and her sister drift apart; Wren goes out to parties and meets new people, while Cath keeps to herself and writes her fanfic. Despite her social struggles, she befriends her roommate, Reagan. She explores possible romantic relationship with a classmate and Reagan's ex-boyfriend. It's a story about unexpected love, family struggles, and true friendship.

DISCLAIMER: My rating 3.5*

Cath is an introverted, well-known fanfiction writer starting her first year at college with her twin sister, Wren. Her and her sister drift apart; Wren goes out to parties and meets new people, while Cath keeps to herself and writes her fanfic. Despite her social struggles, she befriends her roommate, Reagan. She explores possible romantic relationship with a classmate and Reagan's ex-boyfriend. It's a story about unexpected love, family struggles, and true friendship.

DISCLAIMER: My rating might be low due to the high expectations surrounding the hype of this book.

This book did not resonate with me as it did with the fan base behind this story. Cath is a very shy, introverted girl, who suffers from social anxiety. She blames it on her mother's abandonment. She uses her fanfic writing as an escape from her problems. I am the polar opposite of Cath, and couldn't relate to her at all. I didn't even know what fanfic was prior to reading this book. I also wasn't loving her fanfic story, and found myself skimming through those excerpts. I appreciate Rowell writing about Carry On, and then publishing the real book. I think it is a very cool tie in.

I was very annoyed at Wren for the entire book. Wren ditched her twin sister at school, and started partying with her new roommate. I thought she was a little too harsh on Cath, and not at all understanding of her situation. It's one thing to do that to an acquaintance, even a friend, and quite another thing to do it to family. I know the partying was her self-medicating (which I actually found relatable), but she was so unlikable. I really couldn't stand her.

A big part of this story was Cath and Wren's mom. She walked out on her family when they were young on the same day as the September 11th attacks. She reached out to the father and the girls in hopes of rekindling their relationship. Cath shut her out immediately, the father had a nervous breakdown, and Wren gave her a chance. All three of them never recovered from it, and have very different ways of coping. Her leaving did serious damage to them and to the family. There was an exchange between the mom and Cath that was kind of disturbing (hospital). I wasn't a fan of the mom either. But I found this aspect of the book to be enjoyable because of its heart-wrenching quality.

Now on to the best part of the book: Levi. Levi is every girl's dream guy. Sure, he makes mistakes (we don't talk about THAT night), but everyone messes up time to time. He was so patient and genuine and kind UGH I totally fell in love with him. He challenged Cath to do better, but still stuck by her side and let her be herself. He was my favorite part of the story.

Fangirl is a great contemporary novel for a lot of people, but for me, it was a little middle-of-the-road. ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Apr 03, 2017 Janett rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: goodreads, one-time-read, young-adult, 2017-read

3.0 stars

I usually don't read contemporary YA books because I like to escape to a different kind of world and give my brain a break from the current "real" world we live in. "Fangirl " reminded me why I don't prefer to read this platform of YA books.

To be honest, the story is somewhat of a fun, light read with a lot of family and personal drama...if you like that sort of thing.

The writing itself wasn't my favorite. It's very linear, very simple and reminded me of what I would read in a fanfi ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Jun 22, 2017 Delores added it

I. Hated. This. Book. I. Hate. It. With. A. Passion. I can't believe I wasted four hours of my life on it. I hated it from cover to cover...anything that is possible to hate in a book, I hated. From the characters, to the storyline, to the secondary storyline, to the style of writing. The language was fairly excessive and completely unnecessary and there was way too much discussion about sex. Nothing graphic was described..it was insinuated and implied frequently....far too frequently. I dislike ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Feb 24, 2017 Ashlynn rated it it was amazing

This is the best contemporary I have EVER READ! But that's just my opinion. As long as you are a human...this book will relate to you in some way. I was crying and laughing and having my emotions tipped all 'round...I can't write a review without FANGIRLING (tee-hee) at least a lottle (a mix between a little and a lot)!

See the rest of the review on my blog!
www.bookishblessings.weebly.com ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Jul 14, 2017 Naw rated it it was ok

Shelves: what-a-bore, young, romance, wheres-your-editor-mate, stuff-i-can-barely-remember

#UnpopularOpinionAlert

Finally. finally I'm done.
This was harassing.
Don't get me wrong, this is exquisitely written, the characters are incredibly well done, it was funny and relatable more than once, but... But.
This was way too long. And I mean way, WAY too long.
And there was basically no plot.
This would have been a solid 4 stars with 300 pages less, or maybe even 200 pages less. But god. This was getting practically nowhere, but it sure was still going. And still going. And never stopping. An C ...more

3 likes · Like · see review