Fangirl

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Genre: Contemporary Young Adult

Number of Pages: 445

Published in the same year as my favorite Rainbow Rowell novel, Eleanor and Park, Fangirl is a train I’m so glad I jumped on.

Not sure at first how I would feel about the novel, I was almost unwilling to start it. After careful consideration, I bought the ebook and began my journey.

Fangirl is basically about a girl who writes fanfiction about a (loosely based) Harry Potter-esque book series. Cath and Wren are twins, but completely different people. Wren is an extrovert, Cath is an introvert, and Wren wants to branch out while Cath would be content rooming with her sister for the rest of their lives. Wren makes friends easily, and Cath’s favorite form of friendship is the thousands of fans she has online.

Cath is having a hard time adjusting, and her roommate, Reagan, makes it even tougher, with the help of her “boyfriend” Levi.

Cath still suffers from her mother’s abandonment when she was eight years old, but Wren is more than willing to reunite with her.

Wren and Cath experience separation from each other, due to the stress Cath feels at school, and their extreme differences. They are pulled back together when Wren gets alcohol poisoning and ends up in the hospital. Here, Cath realizes Levi is more to her than she lets on.

The novel is not as much about the romance as it is about sisterhood and friendship. The sense of belonging Cath struggles with is one thing I related to most within the novel, along with her fanfiction writing. When I was younger, it was my favorite thing to write. When Cath has a hard time finishing her original fiction story, I felt it. I was the same way years ago.

Cath and Wren make my heart melt, and while the book doesn’t focus on it as much, so do Cath and Levi’s friendship and eventual relationship. They’re so unconventional, Levi loving when Cath reads him fanfiction, and I’m in love with every second of it.

The book itself is beautifully written, with the twin characters adding to its aesthetic.

My favorite line of Cath’s is, “How do you not like the Internet? That’s like saying, ‘I don’t like things that are convenient. And easy. I don’t like having access to all of mankind’s recorded discoveries at my fingertips. I don’t like light. And knowledge.” She says this to Nick, if I remember correctly. I almost spit out my water at lunch one day, while reading this.

Nick is her awful writing partner who steals her juice.

Not literal juice. But all of her ideas and her literal words.

I’ve never been more content with a book I originally didn’t even want to read, but gosh, I’m so fortunate to have hopped onto this bandwagon. Carry On is my next read.