Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell review

As mentioned in my Eleanor & Park (review here) this is my Fangirl review by Rainbow Rowell.

Fangirl is known as ‘a coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love.’  I have to say I completely agree!

The story is about Cath and her twin sister Wren and their lives as first years at university. The story is told with Wren as the main character and along side her we experience how she deals with life without being by her sisters side, her first break up, crushes and first love, new friendships, betrayal and family troubles.

Cath finds out what its really like to be stranded in university and without having anyone to fall onto until she finally meets and become friends with intimidating room mate, Reagan, and her best friend, Levi, who Cath (luckily) becomes very close and reliant upon.

One of the main themes of the book is fanfiction that is represented through Cath and her Simon Snow fanfiction (like Harry Potter for us) and although Wren may have distanced herself from it, this is how Cath goes back to being herself at home with Wren and makes the outside world seem like nothing to her. This is also how her and Levi get together which I personally think is adorable as although he thinks its weird he loves how it makes Cath feel and wants to share it with her. On the other hand her teacher doesn’t personally like fanfiction and tries to convince Cath to stop.

The book shows two sides of fanfiction and for someone who personally doesn’t mind some fanfiction I feel like it shows the good sides of fanfiction for those who aren’t convinced but also doesn’t slate those who don’t like it. Personally I think it was written in such a good way and addresses a current way of writing and expressing feelings for a topic in a book without picking sides.

The book also involves a lot of family drama’s including being brought up by a dad whose still in love with his ex, getting back in touch with a distant mother, struggles of letting go and sticking together when situations get rough for all of them.

One downfall I have with the book is that before Cath and Levi get together the way they act together I found gripping and realistic but once they got together I felt that their relationship went down hill and I didn’t ‘ship’ them as much as before. This could just be me being picky but I personally hoped for more of a sentimental relationship. Although I know Cath is meant to be awkward and it was her first proper relationship I just wished she didn’t hold back as much as she did as I felt it didn’t feel much different to when they were just friend. Although this may be what Rainbow Rowell was hoping it would be like and I may just be a personal grudge from someone who personally doesn’t mind cheesy love stories.

The characters are so relatable and I saw aspects of myself in Cath, Wren and Reagan, which made the book a lot more enjoyable to read. I like that Cath is a massive bookworm and although is shy and some may see her as a nerd I liked how she didn’t get changed due to university life. Wren tries to be more different in uni then Wren and goes to parties most night, gets drunk and gets with different boys but at the same time still tries to hold onto her family which you will discover later on in the book (trying to limit spoilers)!

Reagan is intimidating, sarcastic and hates the world. Which I am most mornings! I love how different she is to Cath, which makes their friendship even better as they are able to change each other in a good way and help each other through different situations in a way you wouldn’t expect.

Overall each three main girls show what its like to be a student at university and shows people that you don’t have to change and being yourself is good as there will always be people there who accept you for who you are.

Levi is such a lovable character that I instantly fell in love with and just like Park I want him to be real just so I can date him! Although Cath was very distant with him and mocked him often he never gave up, which clearly worked in his favour, and was always there when Cath needed him.

The only other boy in the novel I personally liked was their father, Arthur, and although his wife left him, he’s stressed at work and drives himself mad enough to make himself ill, he’s still such a great dad to Cath and Wren and is always there for them when its needed. Even if they were being idiots!

Nick and Professor Piper are the reason I have trust issues! They both seemed so nice and good characters at the start of the book but the further into it you get the moor you see their flaws and realise that they aren’t really there for Cath and realise not everyone is a good guy. Although Professor Piper does remind me of one of my teachers who believes that if it isn’t their way then it’s clearly wrong. Very annoying!

As much as I do love the book I must say I found the ending a bit disappointing and was hoping for either a proper romantic scene from Levi and Cath or find out more about Cath and her adventures with Simon Snow and if she ever reveals who she really is. The book ended, without giving away to many spoilers, with them just carrying on with their lives by going back to college which although is a good thing after what they experience I felt was a bit anticlimactic. Although it does leave you knowing that the characters were happy which overall is a good thing.

Overall I did personally prefer Eleanor & Park but I still do recommend this book, especially for all the fangirls and boys and book lover out there who will instantly click with this book. A 4/5 due to the ending.

Talk to you later x

Just a random note at the end, I wrote this post with Carrie Hope Fletchers song ‘Boys in books are better’, which I am just obsessed with! Check it out here.