Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

The Simon Snow trilogy by this author are among my favourite books of all time. So it was inevitable that I would, at some point, need to read the book that started those off.

And it was 100% worth it.

Fangirl is just lovely. A protagonist that, while being deeply insecure and a bit of a lock-in, is touching and sympathetic, without getting whiny (something that is not easy to get right). Characters that are well rounded, even with the ‘antagonist’ Nick, we can see the logic he uses to justify his actions. And of course I loved the snatches of Simon Snow that appeared in this book, comparing them to the story I know so well. (I read Carry On again, after Fangirl, even though I can quote entire sections by heart at this point).

The book is a coming of age story. Exploring that weird time when you leave home for the first time. It’s about learning to compromise, or to balance, who you were as a child and who you are (or think you are) as a adult. The author (my version has some interview questions in the back), talks about the balancing of the new and old people in your life.

It’s about getting out of your comfort zone – this to me felt like the meaning for the fan-fiction plot. Pushing Cathy out of the world she had been hiding in and inspiring her to take ownership of new experiences, including expanding her writing oeuvre.

There is also an exploration of childhood trauma and how leaving the safety of home can cause those issues to manifest in unexpected ways, which we see through how Wren struggles. But also how those very crises can inspire both youngsters and adults to take ownership of the problem. For years their dad had coped with his illness by letting his daughters take care of him, but once he saw how his illness threatened their futures he took the sort of action he should have done a long time ago.

It really is very appealingly written, you root for these characters the whole way through.

Really I would recommend this to anyone.