Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
I loved Eleanor & Park so I was ecstatic to pick Fangirl up. I really enjoyed this about Cath who is socially awkward, writes fanfiction, and learns to live without her twin stuck to her side. Being such an introvert, this is all new and scary to her so she hides in her dorm eating energy bars, doesn’t make effort to befriend anyone but loves to escape into the world of Simon Snow (similar to Harry Potter). Since she can’t lock herself away forever, we see Cath gradually come out of her shell, make a few friends, deal with her family issues as well as facing her own personal demons.
This is another book by Rainbow Rowell that does not disappoint. Her writing flows nicely with snark and wit. I loved how the inner dialogue and thoughts of Cath really explained why she came off so weird and unusual to the outside. This I really appreciated because I’ve read some books where authors just do not know how to pull that off and writes the inner totally opposite from the outer. The side characters were also amusing to meet. Some were mean and ruthless and then there were the ones that you can’t help but to “root” for ;) I look forward to reading more by Rainbow Rowell.
Side note:
I noticed several 90s references and being a woman in her 30s, I can really appreciate all that. It even made me smile and feel nostalgic reading some of those lines. But I question if the new adults in this book would really know any of it. If Cath is 18 and the year is 2011/12, then she probably was born around 1993. So, she was either not alive or only 1-6ish years old when these references were around: “Homey Don’t Play That” from In Living Color (1990-94), Brenda, Brandon and Dylan from 90210 (1990-2000), the movie Single White Female(1992) and the TV show Sister Sister (1995-99). Are New Adults these days privy to 90s pop culture? Maybe with the internet and reruns of syndicated shows but I would think joking about current day pop culture would be more in character for this generation than 90s pop culture. But what do I know since I’m feeling kind of old myself…just some thoughts in my humble opinion.
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