I've heard a lot about Rainbow Rowell, mostly in reference to Eleanor & Park, a title that I haven't read yet but is sitting on my bedside table, ready to be opened... when I was surfing through Rowell's list of titles and came across Fangirl, I was shocked that I hadn't heard more about it. Because, quite honestly, it's a breath of fresh air and it feels like it was written just for me. Just for my generation. Just for us.
I'm going to spare you a summary, because I think that the book's jacket (or GoodRead's blurb) does it enough justice and anything I write will just lack the eloquence that it deserves. Fangirl is the book that every Harry Potter geek has been looking for. I know for me, personally, it defined freshman year. I was instantly drawn in with the Simon Snow, Harry Potter-esqu phenomena that Rowell created; not only is our main character at the perfect age for change and personal growth, for finding true love and finding out who she is as a person away from her twin, Wren, but she's dealing with something that is so near and dear to our (the fandom's) hearts. Cath loves to write fan fiction.
Rainbow Rowell, you had me at hello.
How wonderful a story? And why didn't I come up with this idea sooner? I have to admit, I skipped a lot of the Simon Snow excerpts, but that should speak as a compliment rather than a complaint. I cared soooo much more about Cath and Reagan, Cath and Wren, Cath and LEVI. God did I care about Cath and Levi. Levi. What a heartbreaker.
Again, on a personal note, I felt like Cath's character really spoke to me, personally. No, I'm not claiming that there's any divinity in the book or that somehow Rowell has created this character who's so deep and so well rounded that anyone could connect to her... but I think she kind of has.
*In a way, the following may contain some spoilers*
I've felt that longing for a friendship that's been torn; one that is as close a bond as a sister but one that's also been broken in a way that feels like it might be past repair. I've had that feeling of loss, of being left, of wondering if I'll every be able to trust and let someone into my life again... that fear that as soon as I do let someone in, they'll just leave again. I've had that feeling of being so terribly in love and so desperately wanting to let myself love I end up keeping myself from moving forward out of that same fear of being left. Rainbow Rowell hit the nail on the head and she did it in a way that feels as natural as breathing.
Her characters are heart wrenching and lovable. Her setting is realistic and endearing -- there's no real plot, but it feels like life and you realize that there's not much plot to life, but somehow, it's worth living. I don't care that it's just a story about freshman year. What's better than soaking up such a pivotal time of a person's life and relishing in its beauty.
Over all, I fell in love with this book; I could hardly put it down. However, I did find that I was looking for something more at its end. I felt like there were loose ends. I felt like Cath and Levi were in a good place, but that I still had a lot of questions. I felt like Rowell was afraid to let too much be set in stone, and I think that held back their relationship a little bit. There's an overarching theme (spoiler) of Cath reading Simon Snow to Levi, and that's pretty much how it ends... and while I thought it was sweet the first few times, I really wanted Cath to realize, like I had realized, that living the life in front of you is better than living the life that's found between the pages of a book. I wanted her to relish in the man that was sitting beside her, to put down the laptop, put down the book, and just have at him already. I think I felt like that would have been the gem that made the whole package for me and I was really sad to see that it wasn't there.
HOWEVER. I'm still marking it as a favorite, and I'll still buy a copy of the book, and gosh darn it, I'll still fangirl over Fangirl for a long time to come. Because it was a refreshing.
