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mishmashedmagic 's review for:
Fangirl
by Rainbow Rowell
I've been hearing about Rainbow Rowell for a while now and finally decided to pick up one of her books. Fangirl is, with the exception of Carry On, the book that I've been hearing the most about so that's why I picked this one.
I found the story to be really engaging, mostly because I could identify with Cath so much. The book draws an immediate and pretty clear parallel between Simon Snow and Harry Potter and I loved reading the book from such a unique but familiar perspective. I grew up with Harry, so to speak, and so I could quickly relate to Cath's love for Simon Snow. In a way, I felt like I was reading a parallel to my own life because of all the similarities.
I also felt myself very much relating to Cath on an emotional level as well, particularly the anxieties that came with starting college and feeling out of my element. The book does a very good job of addressing many issues, including alcohol abuse, and I liked how Cath went from looking like the one who was the most unstable to the most stable by the end of the book.
Initially, it looked like Rowell had thrown in a love triangle, but I was very happy to find that (as the book went along), that was not the case. I like how the romance in the book builds slow and steadily, I think the instalove is way to overplayed in YA and a slow-building romance makes much more sense for Cath's anxious and inexperienced character.
A couple small things bothered me. One was a character that later 'takes advantage' of Cath. I wonder if Rowell was trying to show the difference between fan fiction and plagiarism but I wasn't a fan of how she went about it. The second was that I wasn't really interested in Simon Snow. Throughout the book there are a lot of excerpts from the 'original seven books' as well as Cath's fanfiction. I found myself skimming over a lot of those excerpts but found that it didn't really take away from the overall story. In a way, I want to go into Carry On blind, and then maybe I'll reread those excerpts from Fangirl so it all falls into place.
Overall, it was a sweet and enjoyable book and I found myself reading it quite quickly despite it's 400+ pages.
I found the story to be really engaging, mostly because I could identify with Cath so much. The book draws an immediate and pretty clear parallel between Simon Snow and Harry Potter and I loved reading the book from such a unique but familiar perspective. I grew up with Harry, so to speak, and so I could quickly relate to Cath's love for Simon Snow. In a way, I felt like I was reading a parallel to my own life because of all the similarities.
I also felt myself very much relating to Cath on an emotional level as well, particularly the anxieties that came with starting college and feeling out of my element. The book does a very good job of addressing many issues, including alcohol abuse, and I liked how Cath went from looking like the one who was the most unstable to the most stable by the end of the book.
Initially, it looked like Rowell had thrown in a love triangle, but I was very happy to find that (as the book went along), that was not the case. I like how the romance in the book builds slow and steadily, I think the instalove is way to overplayed in YA and a slow-building romance makes much more sense for Cath's anxious and inexperienced character.
A couple small things bothered me. One was a character that later 'takes advantage' of Cath. I wonder if Rowell was trying to show the difference between fan fiction and plagiarism but I wasn't a fan of how she went about it. The second was that I wasn't really interested in Simon Snow. Throughout the book there are a lot of excerpts from the 'original seven books' as well as Cath's fanfiction. I found myself skimming over a lot of those excerpts but found that it didn't really take away from the overall story. In a way, I want to go into Carry On blind, and then maybe I'll reread those excerpts from Fangirl so it all falls into place.
Overall, it was a sweet and enjoyable book and I found myself reading it quite quickly despite it's 400+ pages.