Book review: Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell

[lauren3210]

I just finished reading this book, and now I have way too many Drarry feels. I really enjoyed it, it was fun and cute, while at the same time exploring just how difficult it can be trying to navigate new places when you spend most of your time paralysed by social anxiety (which I do). I liked that the fanfic wasn't made fun of, and that it wasn't just left behind, as though it was just a silly thing Cath did to avoid growing up. I liked how her world didn't change so much as it just expanded, and that she didn't have to make a choice between fannish things and the real world, but rather learn that she could have both.

I think you kind of have to be a bit zen about your own place in fandom to not feel a bit defensive over it while reading this book, because there are times when other characters are a bit dismissive of the concept, and there are times when Cath's obsession over it comes across as wrong, which made me roll my eyes a little. But I thought that on the whole, the subject was dealt with very respectfully.

More importantly however, the fandom Cath wrote fiction for was so obviously a very thinly veiled parody of Harry Potter, and the little excerpts of her Harry/Draco Simon/Baz fics have made me crave some good drarry stories, which I haven't read since Erised (I got a bit burnt out). So, I'm going to go find some good ones, be back later!

Comments

[amorette.livejournal.com]

I started this and then put it down back in December :) I should pick it back up soon.

[lauren3210.livejournal.com]

I did the same tbh, it was given to me as a present for Christmas 2013, and it took me a year to decide to sit down and read it properly. It was good in the end though!

[amorette.livejournal.com]

That's awesome! :)

[nia_kantorka]

I had a lot of fun reading this book. And, yes, Simon/Baz felt like old friends as Harry/Draco do. And I would have loved to read more about their story in the story. :D

Enjoy all the fics you're going to read.

[lauren3210.livejournal.com]

Oh God, they were so obviously Draco and Harry, it really made me giggle! It was a fun read though, I thoroughly enjoyed myself!

[blithelybonny.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this review! I've been wanting to read Fangirl but part of me was like ehhhhh, idk how I'm going to feel about reading something that hits so close to home, haha.

[lauren3210.livejournal.com]

I felt the same way at first, and I was wary that it would turn into a phase that the character has to learn to move on from in order to grow up or whatever nonsense. But it didn't do that at all, which I appreciated. You'll have to tell me what you think if you decide to read it!

[amorette.livejournal.com]

I was wary that it would turn into a phase that the character has to learn to move on from in order to grow up or whatever nonsense.
OMG That would have been so heartbreaking/infuriating!!!! I am so glad it doesn't do that. I would just feel gutted if I had to read some bs like that.

[blithelybonny.livejournal.com]

That's really good to know. I'm definitely going to add it to my reading list. :)

[amorette.livejournal.com]

That's why I'm eyeing it warily on my shelf. I have the book, read the first couple chapters, and then had massive anxiety about it. I'm weird.

[lauren3210.livejournal.com]

No, you're not weird, and I think we probably think along the same lines. Fandom is really important to me, it's where I realised that I had spent 20 odd years of my life thinking that I was the only one who got as obsessed with fictional characters, who liked to write stories of them in my head, when there were so many people out there just like me. So on the one hand, I'm glad that a book like this exists, because it can only help to normalise the feelings the people in fandom have. But on the other hand, I'm sceptical that it could be written with the respect I think it deserves. Fangirl isn't perfect, but I would give Rowell an 8/10 for trying though.

[amorette.livejournal.com]

That all sounds really great:)

[blithelybonny.livejournal.com]

Not weird at all! That's seriously how I felt.