Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Content Tags: YA, Mental Health, Substance Abuse, Abandonment

Description from Storygraph:

In Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, 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? Open her heart to someone? Or will she just go on living inside somebody else’s fiction?

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I decided to re-listen to Fangirl while working on a crochet project. Fangirl is one of those comfort books for me where I've read it enough times that I can turn it on and know what's happening even if I'm focused on what else I'm doing. The story is just predictable enough to be an easy read, but not so predictable that it's boring or a let down.

There's not much else I can really think to say. This story is a cozy-read for me even with the dramatic moments that are interlaced in the story. I love Levi and Reagan. I think Wren is hella unfair to Cath. And fuck Nick.

Book Reflection Wrap-up:

What do you think the author’s purpose was in writing this book?

Ya know, for as many times as I've read this, I haven't really considered what the author's motivations might be. For some authors, I know their stories are pulled from real life, but for others that's not the case at all. So I do wonder now if this was just an idea like any other for a book or if there's any sort of personal connection for Rainbow.

Which character in the book would you most like to meet?

I'd like to meet Reagan, but how it would go down is that we'd definitely hate each other for a while before we realized that we're actually very similar and get along really well. lol

Finished 12/12/2023