Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: Macmillan USA
Pages: 448
Rate: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis:
A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love.
Cath is a Simon Snow fan.
Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan..
But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.
Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words… And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.
For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?
And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Review:
Hello there, today’s  review belongs to one of my favorite YA books, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. It has been a while -literally, I think over three years- since I read it however, interesting enough I remember almost everything about the book,which makes it good enough to me. There are a lot of things I want to talk about this YA novel but the first thing that I want to mention is the beauty of this turquoise cover. Look at this glory, look at this grace. To be quite frank, I often don’t mind the cover design but when I see a good cover, I appreciate it, I love it, it makes me want to read the book even more I cannot lie. The cover got full mark from me, the design, the colour, everything blends with pastel harmony. I find this kind of illustrative covers especially hard because they often reflect the whole vibe of the book and the brightness of this design is beautifully fit with the plot.

Before I get to the actual review, let me tell you a little about the history between me and this book. I got it right after it was published. I was so excited, I was so happy because everything about the book (from the cover to synopsis) was eye catching to me. However I think I made a mistake by trying to read it before reading Carry On. Do not get me wrong, you will understand everything perfectly well even if you don’t read Carry On, so it is not a “must read” before Fangirl. However when I tried to read it before Carry On it simply didn’t feel the same. I couldn’t understand the world of Simon, I couldn’t get the whole point, why she loved it so much. Thus it might not give you the feelings as well because the book is strictly based on the author’s other book. If you want to get the full taste, my suggestion is that you read Carry On first. Now, let’s go into the book, plot and characters.

“Underneath this veneer of slightly crazy and mildly socially retarded, I’m a complete disaster.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

The plot mainly revolves around Cath, a nerd and an aspiring author who has many dreams. She dreams of becoming an author, she even writes fan-fiction of her favorite book. Cath and her twin sister Wren get accepted to university and leave their home, their father for the new journey. I call this as “journey” because the book touches on many subjects such as the idea of friendship, the feeling of growing apart, love, hardwork, disappointment. You name it. Cath’s life is just like any other teenager’s life: homeworks, hobbies, family issues. At first, she stands as a self-isolated figure, as we read the book, we mainly read her way of opening up to the world around her as well. She tries to adapt herself to her new university life and her new roommate, Reagan. (I love her, she reminds me someone I love very deeply.) Every character around her has purpose, whether being a supportive character or main character, I loved reading all of them because each one of them showed us something incredibly important throughout the book. Especially her father’s naive yet colorful character, it made me think about my father couple of times!

Our precious girl Cath is a Simon Snow fan. If you are asking who is this Simon Snow person, let me explain it to you very quickly: he is the protagonist of a fantasy book. The book which I told you about; Carry On. The book which is full of magic, crazy antagonists and love. Being a crazy fan herself, Cath writes a whole new story based on this book. She is a character filled with joy even though she doesn’t show it that much at first. Through the book, we walk among these colors and thoughts of Cath. Raegan, the gloomy but lovely friend; sweet and humble Levi; grumpy and confused sister Wren… everything around her happens to show us that there are indeed different ways of seeing things. Especially the conflict between twin sisters. When we think about twins, we tend to forget that they are diferent people. Just because they look the same doesn’t mean that they are the same; and the book gives us this truth so well, at some point I stopped getting angry to Wren for all her behaviours and accepted her as who she is. Unlike Cath, Wren gets used to her new life so fast that she doesn’t even remember the family she left behind, but nothing is wrong with that right? At first it seemed cruel watching her slowly but surely growing apart from her sister but this is what life is all about. Sometimes you stay the same, however you often change and grow. It was very beautiful to watch this slow progress as pages went by. It was real, it was cozy.

Another thing I loved reading was the cute relationship of Levi and Cath. I love understanding partners. I love when a relationship in a book is not toxic -especially if that book is a YA book- because the justification of toxic relationships in books often effect people and give them wrong expectations. Which at the end cause them become the victim or the poison. I simply enjoyed reading everything about the love between them. It was pure, it was very sweet and naive. The perfect relationship may not be real in real life but their love was perfect enough for me. I just loved it,I can twaddle about it for hours. Good job Levi, keep being a sweet potato!

Last part of the book was my favorite, before I finish this long review, let me touch up on one subject: determination. The book itself was a representetive of this word. Determination. It shows us that no matter how it ends, the determination, the hardwork is the most important thing of achieving your goals. After finishing the book, I closed it and sat there thinking everything I’ve ever tired but ended up giving up. I remember this very well after all these years, I asked myself “Why? Why I don’t try it once again?” This is the exact reason that I chose this book to start this blog. I want to do as much as I can to achive my dreams, I want to give my full.

I hope that you’ll love reading this book too.
Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments! Lots of love, stay safe and keep your social distance! 

“Sometimes writing is running downhill, your fingers jerking behind you on the keyboard the way your legs do when they can’t quite keep up with gravity.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl