Fangirling over Fangirl?
November 17, 2016
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Genre: YA, Romance, Mental Health
Blurb: Cath and Wren are identical twins and until recently they did absolutely everything together. Now they're off to university and Wren's decided she doesn't want to be one half of a pair anymore - she wants to dance, meet boys, go to parties and let loose. It's not so easy for Cath. She would rather bury herself in the fanfiction she writes where there's romance far more intense than anything she's experienced in real life.
Now Cath has to decide whether sh'e ready to open her heart to new people and new experiences, and she's realising that there's more to learn about love than she ever thought possible.
Opinion: In this world, there is a super popular series called the Simon Snow series which can be compared to Harry Potter (though Harry Potter also exists in this world). Cath writes Simon and Baz fan fiction (basically Harry and Draco fan fiction *rolls eyes*). Also, she's quite introverted and has social anxiety and she barely leaves her dorm.
Wren... I'm not sure if I like Wren as much as Cath. She just seems very reckless (eager to get drunk) and that bothered me. However, this doesn't mean I necessarily like Cath. She's way too defensive about her fan fiction (and the stuff ain't good quality either, folks). (Spoiler: She even wrote some Simon and Baz fan fiction for Fiction Writing class. WHY?! And she also argued that in some ways, she's better than the Simon Snow author. Since this came from a person who struggles to write their own stories and only writes fan fiction, I lost so much respect and refused to take her seriously afterwards.).
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| I HAD TO |
I found Levi (Le-vee or Lee-vy?) super annoying at first, with his 'Cathers' and that smile he always wore (that should've been a comfort but it creeped me at because it was him). He became less annoying (to me) as the novel progressed.
Also, other people call Cath Cather. WHYYY?!
A little too much dialogue for my taste (and I really like dialogue).
Didn't like the Simon (original story) or the Carry On extracts.
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| OOH, THIS IS AN S.O.S *cough* NOSTALGIA, PEOPLE! |
I didn't dislike everything about this, though. My favourite character was Cath's roomate, Reagan. I kinda disapprove of her and wouldn't like her that much if I met her in real life but you know what, she spoke her mind. None of that fake friend nonsense. None of that fake nonsense, period. She could be a little mean, but mainly she was brilliant.
Reagan scowled at Cath. "Are you Zack or are you Cody?" (too brilliant to leave out)
I also liked how the theme of family was not neglected. I admired how Cath took care of her other family members when they weren't well.
No obligatory sex scene that is supposedly a requirement for YA novels. HALLELUJAH! (Authors, don't even lie. This kinda stuff doesn't occur so much in real life amongst teenagers).
I liked how Cath's writing life was realistic. Even though it was fan fiction. Meh...
Also, I liked the use of Spanish. iQué bueno!
Recommendation: Rainbow Rowell fans, future college students and fan fiction writers
Content: Swearing. Innuendo.
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(Sorry about the gargantuan amount of gifs ;P)
Hellooo. Haha, y'all think I'm a hater of fan fiction and fan fiction authors. That's not true. I just dislike them. Okay, only some of them. Back in my One Direction days, I read One Direction fan fic...
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But you know what made it different? It was about a girl who simply befriended the boys (or dated one. Mainly Harry). Those fan fics were GOOD QUALITY. They could be sold except for the fact that... they were fan fiction. I don't read fan fiction anymore. Mainly because I don't like One Direction anymore. Also, most fan fiction is bad quality, dirty and very creepy. I don't have time to search for roses in the midst of thorns!
If you write fan fiction, I ain't gonna judge you but if you're literally the real life version of Cath, this is my message to you:
Well... you guys probably hate me now.
Soz.
4 comments
This is really funny because one of the first posts on my blog was called fangirling about fangirl. I liked it a lot more, though. I thought Cath's journey from being over defensive and in a shell about fan fiction to writing her now things and trying new stuff was good. The fan fiction didn't have to be good. Some of my friends went through a 1 direction (and associated fan fiction) phase, but not me (because why? I've read very very little fan fiction). And I thought Levi and Cath were the cutest things ever. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree?
ReplyDeleteShoot. I thought I was being original (okay, not THAT original :P). Yeah, maybe I'm just bitter. I kinda imagined he was like, 30. xDD
DeleteSPOILER And when he kissed that other girl, I GOT SO MADD.
We'll agree to disagree :P
I legit thought you or Shanti would fight me. For real xD
Thanks for commenting!
Aww, sorry you could not enjoy this one better. I liked it myself but I totally get it where you are coming from. I wasnt the biggest fan of Simon story or Carry on extracts either, it kind of ruined the flow of whole novel.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, when I first saw this email, I legit thought you were going to fight me xD
DeleteYeah, the extracts annoyed me so much! >.<
Keep it all clean, man. Well, if you really wanna curse, use minor swear words. And I mean the minorest of minor ones.
"Or what?" you ask in indignation.
"Or else."