Book Reviews

Fangirl (2013)

Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell (2013)

Rating: 1/5

Genre: YA, contemporary

Cath is an 18 year old girl starting her freshman year at college. Cath is a fanfiction writer who goes by the name Magicath, she writes stories about Simon and Baz. You could say Cath has a bit of an obsession with Simon and Baz, she like many fangirls has posters, shirts and the occasional reference. But she has also been writing the same fanfic for 2 years and she writes every night and doesn't care that much for her withering life outside Simon and Baz.

Just shoot me. This book was awful.

"I can't help it," Reagan said. "You're really pathetic."
"I am not."
"You are. You don't have any friends, your sister dumped you, you're a freaky eater ... And you've got some weird thing about Simon Snow."

Facts about Cath:

- Cath is socially inept.

- Cath thought she could survive college by only eating protein bars.

- Cath writes fanfiction.

- Cath has an identical twin named Wren.

Cath is the stereotypical fangirl, or as I like to call it the Vampire fangirl, she sucks the life out of everything, she is boring as hell. Cath has no friends and she has no interest in getting any, all she wants to do is write about Simon and Baz. Cath doesn't eat properly and she acts like the most important thing in her life if writing fanfiction.

"You've been living here more than a month."
"I know."
"And you haven't found the dining hall?"
"I haven't actually looked."

Throughout the book Cath has a story due in her fiction-writing class but she puts it off because all she wants to do is write fanfiction.

"Baz's hair is sick'', Wren said during Simon Snow and the Selkies Four. All the actors had longer hair in this movie. Baz's black hair was swept up into a slick pompadour that started at his knifepoint widow's peak.

Cath's fanfic is basically a Harry Potter AU. Rowell, in my opinion could have gotten away with a really good coming of age story if she hadn't mentioned any fandom stuff.

"That's such crap,'' Simon said. ''Who even started calling me that?''

'Probably the Mage. He won't shut up about you. 'The one who was prophesised,' ''the hero we've been waiting for,' et cetera.''

As I was reading this book I kept having to put it down and rant about it to my friends because I was so sick of it. The characters are crappy and lame and the plot is boring.

Cath is a really pathetic character and I felt no emotional attachment towards her whatsoever.

Something about this book really hit me and I mean hit me HARD. I was so incredibly insulted by this book but it also made me think ''is this what the non-fandom side of the community thinks I am?'' Well, I most certainly AM NOT! Do I spend a lot of time on my laptop? Yes. Am I awkward? Hell yes. Does this mean I'm socially inept? Fuck NO! A lot of the fangirl community spends a lot of time in the internet and reading gay fanfics. So what? I'm a fangirl and I'm proud but this novel is a misinterpretation of a fangirl. There are probably some people like this but the vast majority of fangirls/boys are completely different to Rowell's interpretation.

Cath is probably the most pathetic character I have ever had the misfortune to read about.

Rainbow Rowell is going to be publishing the fanfic that Cath was writing throughout Fangirl, it's called Carry On (I actually didn't mind the excerpts from the fanfic towards the end of the book but for the first ¾ or so I really disliked them).