Book Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

After reading Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, I wanted to read more books by her. So I eagerly ordered Fangirl from Barnes and Noble.

Fangirl  is one of the few novels in the young adult genre that takes place in a college setting.  I have even found that some YA novels are taking on a spin off genre-new adult. 

When I opened the novel and started reading, I stumbled across a fictional Wikipedia entry explaining who Simon Snow is. 

We are introduced to Cath and Wren Avery, who have been Simon Snow fans since childhood.  Cath and Wren would dress up for movie premieres, hang out in the forums, and write fanfiction.  Cath still writes fanfiction, while Wren is ready to move on from it all. 

Simon Snow fandom helped the girls to cope with their mother leaving when they were eight years old on September 11^th.  Yes, that September 11^th. 

Reading Fangirl reminded me of my college years.  I didn’t go away to college or live in the dorm.  However, I can recall the days of writing papers, stressing out about finals, etc.  I also remember feeling totally out of place when I first started school.

Cath and Wren are starting their first year of college at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.  Wren doesn’t want to be Cath’s roommate, and wishes to live separate lives.  Cath ends up with an older roommate, Reagon, who thinks that she is weird because of the Simon Snow fandom.

There are many layers to this novel.  Cath develops an unlikely friendship with Levi, Reagon’s ex-boyfriend.   (He spent a lot of time in her room anyway). 

Cath and Wren’s relationship suffer throughout the course of the school year.  Although Wren is making friends, she develops a drinking problem and parties too much. 

I ‘m not sure if she does this because she thinks it is what you suppose to do in college or to deal with her estranged mother trying to come back into their lives.

Of course, there is the whole Simon Snow layer.  I personally don’t care for Simon Snow because he reminds me too much of Harry Potter based on the fictional Wikipedia excerpt.  I have never been into the fantasy genre. 

In my opinion, the fanficition and book excerpts were unnecessary to me. I didn’t see how these excerpts related to Cath and Wren’s story.  However, I believe that Rainbow Rowell felt that including the excerpts were necessary and helped the story to make sense. 

Cath is taking an advanced fiction writing class.  She decides to turn in one of her Simon Snow fanfiction stories as her assignment.  Professor Piper considers Cath’s story as plagiarism and thinks that fanfiction is the end of civilization.  Cath gets upset and throws an emergency dance party of one.  This emergency dance party consists of Cath dancing to Kanye West songs.

What?  I didn’t picture Cath listening to hip hop music.  Yes, I know, I never judge a book by its cover.

Cath doesn’t believe that she can write her own stories outside of the Simon Snow world.  As the semester progresses, Cath procrastinates about writing her final project.  It is forgotten when she has to return home for a family emergency.  The writing project is forgotten until Cath sees her report card.  Professor Piper understands Cath’s circumstances and gives her a second chance.  

What annoys me about Cath is that she still proscrastinates on the writing the story for her fiction writing class.  She still doesn’t think that she can write an original story.  She is so invested in writing Simon Snow fanfic, she waits to the last minute to write it.  I wanted to yell at Cath and shake some sense into her, Simon Snow can wait. Your project can’t..   I think that she takes Simon Snow too seriously. Which seems very obvious from I have written here so far.

I believe that Professor Piper gave Cath a second chance because she saw potential in her.  Despite the ups and downs of her family life, Cath kept a 4.0 GPA, stayed in her room to study, and didn’t miss class unless she had to.  If Cath was a slacker, she would not have received a second chance.   How many professors/teachers/instructors give their students a second chance? Not many.

The reason why I was interested in reading this story is because I am always interested in reading stories about writers-famous or not yet famous. 

Cath calls it writer’s block, but in Cath’s case does it turn into laziness or procrastination?

For Cath, I think that it was overall procrastination or avoidance.  She had a lot to deal with because of  Wren’s drinking problem and other family problems, and adjusting to college overall.  I think believe that writing class was good for Cath because it  forced her to step outside the world of Simon Snow.

Book Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell is the story of two misfits, Eleanor and Park who meet on a school bus one day.  The story takes place in 1986 in Omaha, Nebraska.  What was I doing in 1986?  Let's see, I was three years old and playing with dolls.

The story opens with Park on the school bus.  He notices the new girl-Eleanor coming down the aisle looking for a seat. No one wants to share a seat with her, so Park reluctantly offers his seat.  At first they don't talk to each other.  Eleanor refers to Park as stupid Asian kid, and Park thinks that Eleanor is weird.  Eleanor has red hair, heavy set, and wears decorated men's clothes.  Eleanor is not trying to make a fashion statement or act like a boy.  There is a reason for her abnormal wardrobe.

At first, the two characters avoid talking to each other.  Suddenly, Park breaks the ice by loaning his comics to Eleanor.  Soon he shares his music, and before you know it they bond over comics and music.  An unlikely friendship/relationship develops.  Eleanor and Park are smart enough to know that first loves almost never last, but they are willing to try anyway. Eleanor & Park is far from a light and fluffy young adult romance novel where everything works out nice and neatly for them in the end.

The novel deals with race, abuse, and poverty.  Eleanor's family is poor.  They only have one car, the kids including Eleanor have to share a room, and they have to buy their clothes at the thrift store. Eleanor can't even afford a toothbrush or batteries for her walkman.  To some readers, this fact alone may seem odd and unrealistic.  Some would be quick to say that she could have gone down to the dollar store to buy a toothbrush or pack of batteries for $1 or $2.  As the story unfolds, readers gain a better understanding of Eleanor's situation, and how poverty and abuse interact with each other. For Eleanor, having money is a luxury.

For example, Eleanor's biological father pays her to baby-sit.  When Eleanor returns home, Richie (stepfather) says that he's taking the family to the movies and he looks at Eleanor. To me, this indicated that Eleanor used her babysitting money to pay for it.  On another occasion, Richie gives her $50 for Christmas, but Eleanor gave it to her mother to buy groceries.

Home is supposed to be a safe haven, but for Eleanor, her siblings, and mom, they are constantly walking on eggshells and doing everything that they can to avoid offending Richie, especially Eleanor. Richie kicked Eleanor out for a year and she was forced to stay with acquaintances.  Since Eleanor's return, every moment in that house is terrifying.

Park is biracial-his mother Korean and his father is white. He is the only Asian student in the school and likely in the state of Nebraska. Park is popular but what sets him apart from the other popular kids is his taste in music and love for comics.  Park is not afraid to be seen with Eleanor a.k.a. Big Red by the other students.

Park introduces Eleanor to his family and they slowly embrace her. Eleanor begins spending time with Park at his house during the evenings. However, Eleanor lies to her family about where she is spending her time. Eleanor keeps Park a secret from her family. Eventually, her brothers and sisters find out. Then when Richie finds out, everything falls apart.

The novel takes you on an emotional roller coaster.  They bond over comics and 80's music. Since I love 80's music I thought that this was so cute. I understood most of the pop culture references.  Park doesn't care that Eleanor has crazy red hair or the fact that she doesn't look like Barbie.  As their relationship develops, you would have thought that they would be together forever, but that would have been fairy tale due to the circumstances.

When Eleanor returns home, she finds her closely guarded possessions-walkman, make up, comics, tapes, the grapefruit box, etc. destroyed and a very sick note from Richie written on the lid.  There were very sick notes written on her school books, but for a long time Eleanor thought that it was someone from school. This was all Richie's doing.  Eleanor knew that she had to get out of there.  It is not clear why Eleanor was kicked out a year ago, or if Richie actually sexually abused her.  In the novel, Rainbow Rowell indicated how Richie would "look at Eleanor."  Eleanor would make sure that she would take a bath before Richie got home; and her mom guarded the bathroom (due to lack of a door) if he was home.  Eleanor felt sick to her stomach when she saw her little sister sitting on Richie's lap when she returned home. These facts alone make me sick to my stomach.  After reconsidering these facts, he probably did.  Thankfully, Rainbow Rowell spared us from the details.

I wanted Eleanor and Park to stay together.  Park knew that he had to drive Eleanor to safety in Minnesota. After explaining the situation to his dad, he gave Park permission to go.  After Eleanor and Park's departure, their contact ceased. Park wrote numerous letters, while Eleanor struggled to write one.  The ending was sad, but at least Eleanor was in a safer environment. There will always be the hope that they would find their way back to each other.