Freshman Comes into Her Own

After devouring Eleanor and Park, sought out another Rainbow Rowell novel. Did my best to let go of the previous characters and give this one a new focus and attention.

Cathe's twin is moving in a different direction as they enroll in college. Alone, nervous, a little odd, she spends most of her time writing fan fiction in a Harry Potteresque world; Simon Snow and Bas. She has a huge fan base yet can't seem to devote the same amount of attention into her fiction assignments.

Some of the characters are predictable and some surprise you. Took me a little while to adjust to the Simon Snow pieces (as narrated by 80's hottie, Maxwell Caufield), but found the ending of both storylines tied up nicely. Rebecca Lowman is superb as Cathe, who is awkwardly searching for a foothold in friendship, possibly love, and her future in writing. Worthy novel for an entertaining read.

39 people found this helpful

Nerd Alert

It's a strange situation when you read and review books that were other people's choices. This is true particularly when you're an older male and your reading partners are much younger females. I've listened to, and learned more about romance audios than I ever desired to know. The first Rainbow Rowell to become a part of my library was Attachments; a humorous look at a mama's boy and a couple of twenty-something females and not too much of the angst and ennui that are a large portion of Rainbow Rowell's novels. Eleanor and Park never moved past angst and ennui Fangirl does and it only takes nine hours; yippee, what fun.
There are certain components of this audiobook that are very well done and Rebecca Lowman did a good job as the narrator. The aspect of twins and the behavior exhibited by the newly freed college students away from home for the first time were both unique and well done. The story of the twins father and the balancing act between being functionally manic and way too manic that is the reality for anyone afflicted with bipolar disorder was another positive point. I struggled at times getting through the slower portions of this audiobook and after the first couple of chapters the Simon Snow sections were merely a cue for me to fast forward through the end of chapters. The fact that I don't read or listen to Fantasy, nor am I any sort of follower of fan fiction which I'm certain didn't help my appreciation of this selection.
The girls appreciated this one more than I did and I'm betting that won't vary a lot.

14 people found this helpful

Perfect

I put off listening to this for so long because I didn't think it could live up to the hype. I was wrong. Cath was the perfect, flawed character who was so real and Levi was better than words. The side story had me just as engrossed as the regular story. As a huge HP fan, I can totally get on the Simon Snow train. The narration from both narrators made the story. Loved it all.

12 people found this helpful

A wonderful Love Story, addictively undramatic!

Since I liked Elenor & Park a lot, I went straight to the next Rainbow Rowell book. The recently released Fangirl. What a wonderful love story. Rainbow Rowell wields an effortless power over words and characters. I became a Fangirl-fan after only a few minutes, the story has a great flow and is extremely addictive without being overly dramatic. No villains, no death, no great deception, not a lot of crying and all the same. I grew so attached to Cather and all her friends. I would have loved for the story to never end.

The Narration by Rebecca Lowman is perfect. Her voices are distinctive without being overacted. Five Stars. Maxwell Caufield is a bit over the top for my taste, but since he is only reading the Simon Snow Excerpts at the beginning of the chapters, it was sort of funny.

10 people found this helpful

Couldn't stop listening then it was O V E R.

I am going to start with this I WAS SO DISAPPOINTED BY THE END.

Alas, you really have to love the rest of the book to be disappointed by an end AND YES I loved this book. I mean, most of the time I loved it. Kinda like you love your family most of the time and sometimes you just really don't. You don't love them and you can't listen to one more minute of their whiny useless drivel. There were plenty of times I wanted to pull Caths ponytail right out of her head.

This book is so well written. It's smart, funny, sad, moving, and snarky! I literally could not stop listening.

I have lots of criticisms.... and really that just means it has substance and curves and nooks and little places to get lost and found. I mean the book enthralled me, made me feel something, made me invest and wish for other things. Really everything a novel should do.

So I highly recommend you listen or read or whatever, just do it, add Fangirl to your list, and then come and complain about it with me.

OH and the narrators are great.

9 people found this helpful

I'm such a fan...

I listened to the book Fangirl because my older sister read it over the holidays and told me I would love it and then took it away with her. I had an Audible credit and was agonizing over what to buy when it hit me that I could buy this book by some chick named Rainbow Rowell and I’d get to “read” it. So I did. And it pretty much changed my life.

The book is about Cath and her relationships. Her relationship with her twin sister, Wren, is changing because they’re going to college and Wren wants more independence from her family. Cath doesn’t feel that same need and doesn’t want to be too free. Her relationship with her dad is changing, because he’s home alone for the first time since their mom left, and she worries over him. Her relationship with her fan-fiction community is changing because the demands of college life is somewhat overwhelming. And now she has to deal with her roommate, her boyfriend, her sister’s roommate, her writing partner, and her professors.

Cath writes fan-fic about Simon Snow (a bit like Harry Potter only different) and she’s very serious about it. I wish I had the dedication that she does to her craft. It made me insanely guilty.

Okay, there are so many things I loved about this book, I almost don’t know where to begin. Levi, I’ll start with Levi. Levi is such a beautiful optimist and a treasure. He is Cath’s roommate’s (Reagan) friend, initially thought to be her boyfriend. He has never read a novel all the way through, and Cath actually get angry about it (something I would totally do).

She decides to help him with a test and reads the entire book The Outsiders aloud to him. It was my second favorite scene in the book.

Reagan is a pretty awesome character herself. She’s completely kick-ass and I-don’t-give-a-crap-what-you-think, but her relationship with Cath becomes one of my favorite in the book. They sit in the cafeteria and make fun of people. Reagan is a good reminder to Cath that there are other things in the world besides fan-fic. Like, take this quote for example:

She’s a perfect person to befriend Cath.

And Cath, oh man. I am her, in so many ways. Like she wears her fandom t-shirts every day and is introverted and awkward. She’d prefer to read or write to any other activity. And she cares so much about everyone and doesn’t know how to express it well. My heart bled for her when Wren walked away from, leaving her to room with someone else and basically deal with her freshman year alone. Cath deals with it by isolating herself and writing her fan-fic novel. Which, again, I relate to so well.

The most emotional point in the book for me was the end. That seems cliché and expected, but it isn’t for the reason that you might think. Since Simon Snow is the equivalent of Harry Potter, I felt a kinship to Cath merely because her level of Snow fandom is the same as mine to Potter. At the end of the book, the last Simon Snow novel comes out and Cath and Wren get emotionally overwrought and I lost it. I sat in the dark of my room bawling as I listened because all of my Harry Potter feels resurfaced after seven years and I couldn’t help myself.

ALL THE FEELS!

Rebecca Lowman is one of my favorite narrators of all time and she did such a good job reading this book. Although, I have to say, some of my favorite parts were the Simon Snow bits before each chapter, which were read by Max Caulfield. It was a phenomenal narration.

[SPOILERS]

My favorite parts of the book were Cath/Levi moments. They get together before you reach halfway in the book, so I don’t really view this as a spoiler, but other people might. Levi is the ultimate extrovert, saying ‘hi’ to people he’s never met and starting conversations out of nothing. I admire his mad skills. Cath is the ultimate introvert and thus limits interaction with human beings to the absolute minimum. How could you not see them coming? And how could you not love them together?

This review was originally published on my blog, Infusions of Wit From an Everyday Girl.

7 people found this helpful

Odd premise, excellent audiobook

Would you listen to Fangirl again? Why?

I will listen to every book Rainbow Rowell writes, but it will be a while before I re-listen. When I want to time travel to revisit my own early college anxieties / small victories, I will re-listen to this book. For now, I'm jealous of people who haven't listened to Fangirl yet -- it was a delight.

What other book might you compare Fangirl to and why?

Rainbow Rowell won my heart with "Eleanor and Park." "Fangirl" is less fraught and stressful, but drawn just as well. In both, Rowell conjures the awkwardness and excitement of teen emotions with disturbing accuracy. The "Simon Snow" fan-fic plot was a lot more endearing than I expected it to be. I loved the overt and subtle allusions to Harry Potter and Twilight. This element reminded me of "Ready Player One" because it was both funny and nostalgic.

What about Rebecca Lowman and Maxwell Caulfield ’s performance did you like?

Rebecca Lowman was an excellent narrator for the main story. I enjoyed the interludes of Maxwell Caulfield reading excerpts from the Simon Snow stories. The combination was such a smart idea.

7 people found this helpful

Fangirl is fantastic.

Any additional comments?

This is a fantastic, entertaining, make you laugh and cry, make time fly by fast, very credit worthy audiobook. Rebecca Lowman gives a brilliant performance. She makes the characters and the story come alive in such a way that after a while you stop noticing the narrator. The story just happens inside your head. I like the world of Fangirl very much. It's a small world, but a place I enjoyed spending time in and populated by characters I cared about very much. I especially enjoyed Levi, he's not a conventionally handsome or perfect guy who never puts a foot wrong, but there was just something about him that made me root for him and made me smile inside and out, even when he screwed up. We should all have a Levi in our lives at some point.

5 people found this helpful

Protagonist is a bit of a letdown

What did you like best about Fangirl? What did you like least?

While I enjoyed some of the wordplay, as well as the all-too-rare college setting (why are so many YA novels set in high school? well, I guess that makes sense, but nevertheless), the protagonist is just completely spineless. I actually listened to this while running, and it actually made me run faster because I was just so angry at Cather-- she actively avoids anything new, and resents her sister for meeting new people and having fun in college. Granted, this might have been me projecting at my own memories of being an overly introverted person back in college, but that doesn't change the fact that Cather just cannot stand alone as a protagonist.

There are a number of redeeming factors, however; her roommate, Reagan, is probably the only reason I continued reading the book, and her sister is just fun to read in general. However, the love interest is a bit of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype who cannot stand as a character without Cather, and is wholly uninteresting with manufactured hamartiae.

Finally, the book ended right as the story really got rolling, with the first half of the story consisting of mainly Cather whining. In fact, it was so abrupt that it almost didn't make sense-- and right as Cather was starting to grow on me, too.

Overall, I cannot wholly recommend this book. It is cute. I will grant you that. But if protagonists who rival Hamlet in their wishy-washiness bother you, this book is not for you. It's really too bad.

Would you be willing to try another book from Rainbow Rowell? Why or why not?

I have heard good things about Eleanor and Park-- might try that one. But this one was meh.

Have you listened to any of Rebecca Lowman and Maxwell Caulfield ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven't listened to Lowman or Caulfield before, but they did a really great job considering the circumstances. Lowman reads an especially snarky Reagan.

Do you think Fangirl needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Fangirl's ending was quite abrupt, but it was creative in its used of somewhat mixed media (i.e. excerpts of the fanfic Cather reads all the time). That might be nice to see.

4 people found this helpful

I really tried to finish it

After listening to a dark crime/mystery story, I wanted something lighter. I had hoped for funny, interesting, sweet or romantic, even silly would have worked. Drab did not work. About a quarter into the book, I found myself slogging through it. I stayed with it trying to give the story a chance. I found I didn’t like the main story or the secondary story. I didn’t like the family dynamics, the school experience, and I am still not certain if there were romantic or funny parts. I found the real characters OK – barely, but did not see anything appealing in the secondary characters. I didn’t like either reader. The female reader had an almost whinny thing going on, and the male reader had very little to work with. (SPOILER ALERT – when the main character was reading a fan story she had written to a guy, I was surprised that he didn’t fall asleep or beg her to stop – or throw himself out of the window. That is when I stopped listening, almost half way through the book. The story was inconsistent – for days the main character was too afraid to go into the school cafeteria to eat, but instantly walked home alone on campus at midnight with no problem. The fantasy character asked someone to take him somewhere in a boat, but was surprised that he actually had to get into the boat?!?! That ended it for me. I would agree with the teacher and give the whole thing an ‘F’. It might work for some, but did not work for me.

4 people found this helpful