Monday, December 16, 2013

Book Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Book: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Genre: NA Contemporary Romance
Rating:★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
For: Fun
From: Amazon

Wow, but I've heard a lot about this book! Everyone seemed to love it. I had no idea what it was really about. Fangirl? Fangirl of what I wondered. And why did everyone love it so so much?

Well, so she (our heroine) is a fangirl of some Harry Potter type series and she is a very popular online fan fiction writer. Things get interesting when she goes off to college and suddenly doesn't have as much time to keep up on her writings, and besides, now she has writing classes where she has to do "real" writing. And even more besides, she is a bit fascinated with her roommate's ex boyfriend.

So he, this guy named Levi, was the best thing about this book. I agree with everyone that I've seen saying he's their new book boyfriend. He was simply delightful and fun and just the coolest. No wonder Cath was fascinated. But Cath herself, I was just so so about. She was a bit irritating, but still interesting I suppose. I didn't enjoy her Simon Snow fan fiction stories. They were thrown in here and there throughout this book, and they were long and weird and had nothing to do with the story. Except as a device to get Levi and Cath together, sort of. Maybe there's some sort of symbolism deep down, but I didn't dig to find it. I just felt it slowed down the main story and once there in the end, I skipped it entirely to get back to the story.

Have you read this book? Did you enjoy the Simon Snow stuff? Or did it bug you too? I'm really wondering if people generally liked it or not.

Anyway, so the relationship development was fun for me. And the relationship (or lack thereof) that Cath was struggling with regarding her family was interesting and frustrating. I didn't like her twin sister at all and I wondered why Cath even bothered with her. But she is her twin I suppose.

Bottom line: Fun engaging story. I enjoyed it despite the fan fiction stuff. And despite the many many F bombs.

Other Reviews:

As you can tell, though, for me the blend of romance, family issues and friendship challenges worked like a charm! From Anna Reads

The bottom line is that I was bored much of the time and when the swoon-worthy conclusion arrived, it did not compensate for the lack of depth in the secondary characters and their individual conflicts. From Book Harbinger

There's just so much good in Fangirl . Cath has an interesting family dynamic, and a very interesting fanfiction hobby/habbit/lifestyle, and some school drama, and one of the most adorable romances I've read in a while. From Read This Instead

This was a cute, fun book, but the gazillion issues were annoying at times. As were all the Simon Snow bits. Truthfully, I just find it hard to care about a fake novel that sounds too much like HP. From Estella's Revenge

Cath’s struggles to leave her old life behind and adapt to life at college felt very real. From Bermuda Onion's Weblog

8 comments:

  1. One day I will try this again...maybe...but the fan fiction bogged me down, and I just didn't care about the rest of it. I still love Rainbow Rowell, and Attachments is one of my favorite (and unexpected!) books to read this year.

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  2. As you probably know, I loved it. Loved everything about it. And I was just not expecting to at all. Which made the experience that much sweeter, of course. :)

    I really liked Baz. Lol.

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  3. I haven't read this book, yet. I've wonder the same thing... fangirl of what? Now I know. =) Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

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  4. I loved this one, but I could have done without the fanfiction bits, too. I thought maybe they were supposed to show more about Cath but I could never figure out the connection. I did love Levi, though. And Cath's roommate.

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  5. I'm part of the unpopular minority. I dnf this book on page 185. I found Cath to be pathetic and whiney. I've never read any fan fiction so I didn't understand her life revolving around it. I found the pages of fan fiction boring and skipable. If Levi turned out to be a real vampire or if an asteroid hit the college Cath was attending then I feel bad not finishing but if the last two hundred pages was like the first two hundred pages then I'm OK never picking it up again. Want to read a good Rainbow Rowell book, stick with Eleanor and Park.

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  6. I didn't care for the fanfic stuff either.

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  7. My review of this just went live today...in short, I really enjoyed it, but I couldn't relate to all the fan fiction stuff.

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  8. I'm a little worried about all of the fan fiction stuff; I don't care for that kind of writing at all. But Rowell is a terrific writer so I'm sure I'll pick this one up soon. Well, after I finish Eleanor and Park in January anyway.

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