Fangirl in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Jul 01, 2013 Hannah added it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya

I dunno. It was fine, and I did not have to struggle to keep reading it or anything, and I really do think Rowell has a way with words, though in no way did this have the emotional or literary impact of Eleanor and Park. But ehh. I think I mostly agree with Kelly here. There is so much to explore in this book, from fandoms to transitioning to college to alcoholism in college to little nods to class and socioeconomics (liberal white people being cool for eating tacos and living in a Mexican neigh ...more

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Oct 30, 2013 stephanie rated it really liked it

Shelves: would-rec, 2014, young-adult, realistic-fiction-ya, stand-alone, 50-states-of-ya-2013, sac-pub-library, winter-challenge-ya-2013, alphabet-ya-challenge-2014

oh heavens. freshman year was so awkward, but even more so for cath. there's fanfic - she does have friends! - and. mostly i loved reagan. seriously. i want reagan and levi and cath banter. for hours. i could read fanfic about that!

i loved the deal with a twin sister, and how they both dealt with it in their own ways, but that this was cath's story. and their dad. and their mom.

i don't even think i can review this correctly. i loved it. i didn't mind the romance at all. i loved all the characte ...more

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Jan 05, 2015 Lydia Presley rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, fiction, coming-of-age, 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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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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Aug 26, 2016 Yasmin Khayal rated it it was amazing

I loved this book. The story was really well-written and the dialogue is so good. The author dealt with so many difficult issues such as anxiety, abandonment, and more. It made me miss the college years and I wish there was more with these characters; she made them seem so real and fun.

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Sep 08, 2013 Melissa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya, 2014

I absolutely adored this. Maybe not quite as much as E&P, but pretty darn close. I loved the characters, loved how it completely transported me back to freshman year in college (I was craving dining hall food the whole time I was reading it), loved the sweet relationship between Cath and (spoiler). I am, of course, hoping for a sequel (but not till after you write one for E&P, Ms. Rowell). I wonder if there's any Rainbow Rowell fan fiction...

P.S. Now that I've read all of Rainbow Rowell's books, ...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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Dec 25, 2013 Kate McCartney rated it it was amazing

Shelves: friendship, teen-fiction, audiobook, 2016

I started this as an audiobook and I was loving it, loving it too much, I didn't have enough places to drive so after searching my second library, I had already left the one I work at for the week, I got the book this morning and had to finish it!

I want to live in Rainbow's books, I want to be her characters, I want to fall in love for the first time all over again like they do!

I love how real and frustrating and beautiful her characters are. I like that they are relatable how they make me a 38 ...more

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