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weekend read: Fangirl

February 14, 2015 By mary 6 Comments

Since reading Rainbow Rowell for the first time (Eleanor & Park

–read it now!), I’ve needed to read her other books too. Just to make sure I wasn’t missing anything as beautiful as Eleanor & Park. The good news is Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell is good too. Not as good, but I probably set the standards too high to be honest.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl is great young adult literature because the main character, Cath, is a freshman in college and I love that she’s not in high school suffering through real, but sometimes annoying, high school drama. Reading about what college can be like, not all frat parties and fun study sessions in the library, but about not fitting in and feeling lost and wanting to go home, about a mom that abandons and a dad who suffers from mental illness, this book just feels like real life.

I’m going to be honest and say that the fanfiction part of this book, where Cath writes about popular book characters in new ways (kind of like taking Twilight and Harry Potter characters and making up your own story then posting it on the internet) is not really my thing.  I know that some people LOVE fanfiction, but I just never cared about it. Maybe because I have never read Twilight or Harry Potter (I KNOW, HOW COULD I?), but I’ve never understood the appeal. But I also acknowledge that the Fifty Shades of Grey series started out as fanfic and I did read those. So, judge away, I guess. I mostly tolerated the side story of Simon and Baz because it was important to the main character, but didn’t really care about it.

But I loved the real relationships, the struggles, the first love, the sister drama, all the stuff that was realistic fiction, Rowell knows how to write authentic characters that are flawed but perfect. So I’m going to continue my Rainbow Rowell adventure, Attachments and Landline (not YA books) will be next with Carry On coming out soon. Unless it really is about the Simon and Baz story, then I’ll skip it (I just looked it up, it is. Blah.). But don’t skip Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, it’s a good one.

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Comments

  1. Ashley Miller says

    February 14, 2015 at 5:57 pm

    I’m slightly shocked that you haven’t read Harry Potter. I went for a long time not reading it and thinking all the buzz was just hype, but they are SUCH good books. I read the Twilight series too, and I did enjoy it but in sort of an ironic tongue in cheek sort of way.

    I can’t wait to read Fangirl…waiting on the kindle version in the library to come my way, and also Landline. Eleanor and Park was one of the best books I’ve read in a long, long time, and Attachments was really great in its own way as well.

    Reply
    • mary says

      February 14, 2015 at 8:58 pm

      I don’t think anything can compete with Eleanor & Park, but I am loving all her other stuff too. I need Landline next as well.

      My students lose their minds when I say I haven’t read Twilight or HP. I think it’s my thing now and I can’t read it out of principle. But I can see maybe reading them when the girls are older and doing it together, I just can’t see myself reading them on my own. I know, I should lose my English teacher license… 🙂

      Reply
  2. Ashlyn Forstall says

    February 14, 2015 at 8:46 pm

    I felt the same way about Fangirl! Practically skipped the fanfiction sections. I love Rainbow’s books. Also, I just finished Harry Potter…fantastic. First few books seem a little disconnected but it gets better. (I watched the movies after each book was finished. Disappointing. But what movie is as good as the book right?)

    Reply
    • mary says

      February 14, 2015 at 9:00 pm

      I’m always disappointed with the movie version, but I can’t stop watching them with hope anyway. 🙂

      Did you hear that Rowell is actually writing the Simon and Baz story as her next novel? She’s taking the story and making it her next novel because so many people loved it. Boo. I can’t see myself reading that one.

      Reply
  3. KD says

    February 16, 2015 at 7:31 pm

    Landline is terrible compared to these two, unfortunately.

    Reply
    • mary says

      February 16, 2015 at 8:42 pm

      Nooooo. How can that be??

      Reply

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