Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Rowell, R. (2013). Fangirl. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Griffin.

Cathy Avery is an insecure college freshman that learns she can overcome the hurts of her past. Since she was eight, Cath has dealt with life by disappearing into writing about her favorite young adult book series. She and her twin sister, Wren, used to be involved in the fandom together. But now, her twin sister is asking for space. Her mother who abandoned them wants to rekindle their relationship and the end of the Simon Snow series is coming. For the first time in her life, Cath is separated from her more outgoing twin Wren, who has decided she no longer wants to be known as Cath’s twin. Luckily, Cath’s roommate, Reagan guides her but despite her help, Cath’s first semester of college does not go well as she witnesses her twin sister drink and party to excess. Then, a boy pretends to be friends with Cath to only claim her work as his own for a college fiction writing class. Sadly, her father is sent to a mental hospital and Cath leaves college early to take care of him, missing the end of her first semester. As the novel concludes, Cath finds peace not only in her real life, but also in the make believe world that has helped her cope with all of her issues for so long.

As I read the story, it took me a while to figure it out. It looks like there isn't a sense of rising or falling action, and there are a few points that could possibly count as a climax, but no specific point where everything turns around. Life doesn't have rising and falling action, after all. It all reads fairly realistically, and the characters are all interesting enough to hint at having their own stories and motivations. Perhaps a freshman college professor could use the book as part of a reading assignment in order to help these students understand that juggling different things may be challenging while attending college the first year. Anyone who had trouble adjusting their freshman year will also make a connection to this novel.

Any teenage girl going through any kind of change will also connect to some of the themes found on this novel. It focuses on the fear of making new friends and the change of relationships with people, as you move on in life. It explains the importance of not changing yourself but growing. Often times, people think growing up means growing out of childish things, and often times it does mean leaving parts of us behind, however, there is always a way of balancing things that are important to us with things that are important for our future. I believe life is all about finding this balance. If you enjoyed Fangirl, perhaps you may correspondingly like Eleanor & Park, as it is also written by Rainbow Rowell. This novel consists of 427 pages.