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Summary
Summary
In Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl , Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life--and she's really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it's what got them through their mother leaving.
Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath's sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can't let go. She doesn't want to.
Now that they're going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn't want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She's got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can't stop worrying about her dad, who's loving and fragile and has never really been alone.
For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? Open her heart to someone? Or will she just go on living inside somebody else's fiction?
Author Notes
Rainbow Rowell's adult debut, Attachments, was published in 2011. Her other books include Landline, Eleanor and Park, and Carry On. Fangirl won the Silver Inky Award in 2015.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Rowell's follow-up (2013) to the fabulous Eleanor and Park (2013, both St. Martin's Griffin) doesn't disappoint. Cather and Wren are identical twins, both freshmen at the University of Nebraska, who were abandoned by their mother when they were eight, and have been dealing with their loving yet unstable father since then. Though they have shared a bedroom and friends all their lives, they react to college in very different ways. Wren insists on living apart and wants to discover a new life for herself without her twin; she parties obsessively. Cath retreats inward, seldom leaving her room except for classes and throwing herself into writing fan fiction based on the mega-popular "Simon Snow" fantasy series. The story, told from Cath's viewpoint, perfectly portrays the anxiety and nervousness a shy freshman can experience at a large university. Listeners get caught up in Cath's life as she make mistakes, gets her heart broken, and grows from the experience. The audiobook benefits from having two narrators. Rebecca Lowman's (Eleanor in Eleanor and Park) understated delivery is perfect for Cath. British actor Maxwell Caulfield's crisp narration of both Cath's fan fiction and the "Simon Snow" books, which are interspersed with the story, adds dimension to the audiobook. Give this to fans of Harry Potter, realistic fiction, and romance. A must buy for audio collections.-Julie -Paladino, East Chapel Hill High School, NC (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Cath's freshman year at the University of Nebraska does not begin well: her roommate is aloof and scary; her identical twin sister, Wren, ignores her in favor of beer and some airheaded new friends; and Cath has too much social anxiety to even find the cafeteria. Narrator Rebecca Lowman reads most of this coming-of-age novel, giving depth to Cath and many of the book's other characters. One of the more delightful aspects of this audio production is the occasional appearance of Maxwell Caulfield, who is the narrator of the Harry Potter-like fantasy novels that Cath is obsessed with and upon which she bases copious fan fiction. Caulfield's clipped tones poke gentle fun at Cath's fixation without mocking it, and becomes comically seductive when he reads pieces of Cath's fan fiction about the forbidden passion between her two main characters-vignettes that relate to elements in Cath's own life. Ages 13-up. A St. Martin's Griffin hardcover. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Cather Avery struggles with the changes that college brings: moving away from home, leading a separate life from her identical twin sister Wren, and having to do anything (eating, socializing, etc.) beyond obsessively working on the Simon Snow (think Harry Potter) series fanfiction she and Wren used to write together. Lowman's narration draws listeners in as she transitions fluidly between different voices, her inflections and pacing reflecting an impressive familiarity with the text and sensitivity for Cath's character as she slowly matures. But it is British actor Caulfield's charismatic lilt as he narrates the Simon Snow passages between the chapters that really adds something special to this audio edition. His captivating performance will leave listeners wanting more Simon Snow and sympathetic to Cath's resistance to live outside that fantasy world. cynthia k. ritter (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
New York Review of Books Review
In her first semester at the University of Nebraska, nearly everything that once made Cath feel happy and safe comes undone. Her father's manic episodes are getting worse. Her mother, who walked out on the family 10 years ago, suddenly wants to be friends. And her identical twin sister - the socially adept and stylish one - is living in another dorm and partying hard. But for thousands of online readers, Cath is more than an unhappy freshman, eating protein bars in her room to avoid the cafeteria. She's "Magicath," the prolific author of fan fiction that remixes the hugely popular Simon Snow novels. (They bear a tongue-in-cheek resemblance to the Harry Potter series.) But Cath's ease plotting the lives of young wizards doesn't translate to how she manages her own. Rowell, whose last young adult novel was "Eleanor & Park," specializes in young misfits charting their way in the world. She doesn't disappoint here. Though the theme of a young writer finding her voice may be familiar, Rowell brings to it fresh humor, heart and more than a few surprises. Cath's relationships, tender and untidy, ring true. Excerpts from Simon Snow novels and Magicath's fan fiction appear between chapters, offering echoes of Cath's struggle.