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A review by liralen
Gena/Finn by Hannah Moskowitz, Kat Helgeson
3.0
I remember, vaguely, the world of fandom from when I was a teen—not that I was ever on anything but the (far, far, far) outskirts of any fandom, but the exchanges here feel so very real to those online interactions: such strong opinions and lack of capital letters and intense friendships that burn fast and bright and run the risk of flaming out early.
There's a lot going on here—Gena's life and Finn's life and the fandom and the actual show and mental health and an accident and a relationship with grey boundaries. I sort of love that last part: that they're partly trying to figure out what to do with these intense feelings, but there's never a question of identity. I was much less a fan of the Big Dramatics in the book (the plot took a rather unexpected turn), and I'm left wondering what might have happened—how much they might, or might not, have learned about each other in other circumstances. (I remember reading another epistolary novel, a long long time ago, in which the characters met briefly in person and then communicated solely by email and instant messaging and the like for months...and then when they met again they realised that they'd been showing only their best selves, or at least particular sides of themselves, through their communications, and they weren't actually all that well suited in person.)
Interesting; not what I expected; not feeling any huge need to read any more about an imaginary fandom any time soon.
There's a lot going on here—Gena's life and Finn's life and the fandom and the actual show and mental health and an accident and a relationship with grey boundaries. I sort of love that last part: that they're partly trying to figure out what to do with these intense feelings, but there's never a question of identity. I was much less a fan of the Big Dramatics in the book (the plot took a rather unexpected turn), and I'm left wondering what might have happened—how much they might, or might not, have learned about each other in other circumstances. (I remember reading another epistolary novel, a long long time ago, in which the characters met briefly in person and then communicated solely by email and instant messaging and the like for months...and then when they met again they realised that they'd been showing only their best selves, or at least particular sides of themselves, through their communications, and they weren't actually all that well suited in person.)
Interesting; not what I expected; not feeling any huge need to read any more about an imaginary fandom any time soon.