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lucymoosie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol
risten's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Alcohol, and Abandonment
Minor: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Vomit
injiofthebooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Vomit and Alcohol
Minor: Fatphobia and Drug use
ellacole03's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, and Addiction
jazzy_t's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Mental illness, and Medical content
crufts's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The premise of the story is established in the very first page, an imaginary Wikipedia article about the Simon Snow series - a seven-part fiction series that's effectively this world's equivalent of Harry Potter, having sold millions of copies, spawned seven movies and achieved worldwide fame.
Meanwhile, our protagonist Cath is a big-name Simon Snow fanfiction author. Her magnum opus fanfic is Internet-famous; but in real life, she's a nobody. The world of fandom is comfortable for her, whereas her new world of college life is unfamiliar, frightening, and worst of all, real. With a group of college roommates, friends, and classmates around her, Cath is thrown into this new world and has to learn how to deal with it.
Amongst its many fine points, I adored Fangirl's depiction of anxiety. The author takes Cath's irrational fears and writes how they twist and bend to become rational and believable, showing the true, internal experience of anxiety.
How can [my roommate] just fall asleep like that with a stranger in the room?
It also made me laugh that the Simon Snow series had all these parallels with Harry Potter, tiny details that fans will enjoy:
[They were watching] Simon Snow and the Selkies Four [i.e. the fourth movie of the series]. All the actors had longer hair in this movie.
Fangirl ended a little abruptly, with some of the climactic crisis decisions being resolved in less than a page - e.g. the conclusion of Cath's university fiction writing course was resolved in a one-paragraph text excerpt. However, perhaps the author knows this because she added a little FAQ section to this edition, answering the questions of what the characters got up to after the story. A little odd, but hey, it worked.
I really enjoyed this book, and I hope you will too.
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Mental illness
Minor: Rape and Toxic friendship
Rape is mentioned briefly in a discussion of the risks to college students.kate_1910's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
gabe7372's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Alcohol and Mental illness
anyname's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Alcohol, Mental illness, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Infidelity
jc_wb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Cath was really well written, I loved the book in a book of the fanfic/Simon Snow books.
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, and Mental illness
Minor: Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment