Full disclosure, this is a bit hard to write. Fangirl has been on my TBR for a while, and I've been looking forward to read it, having read several of Rowell's other novels previously. I'd finally started it and was about halfway through when some uncomfortable issues were made clear to me about Rowell's novel Eleanor & Park, which I initially enjoyed. It made me rethink finishing Fangirl. But I had so far enjoyed it, so I kept reading.
I'm going to say very clearly right here that I don't choose every book I read based on what it can teach me about the world. Sometimes I just want a book that's going to give me warm fuzzies, or that I can read as if I'm binge-watching a ridiculous TV show. Sometimes it's just pure entertainment and I don't have big expectations. To me, that's what Rainbow Rowell writes. Her stories have potentially real-world situations in them, but I don't read them thinking I need to learn something. I'm just reading, and I don't have to put a lot of thought into it. So on that score, Fangirl is a winner.
At its core, Fangirl is a really cute story and there were many things I could remember or relate to. The main character, Cath, is a freshman in college, a twin, learning to find her own identity outside her family bubble. She's an internet-famous fanfiction writer with a lot of issues that make her fanfiction her safe escape. She would much rather be in the fantasy world than the real one. She's forced out of her comfort zones by her roommate Reagan, and through contact with classmates and professors. Cath is determined that she is who she is - her determination not to grow or change, to actually resist change is a sticking point for me. But overall the characters kept me engaged, even when I was entirely frustrated by Cath, and I enjoyed quite a few of the moments that Rowell created between characters.
That said, I also found myself very uncomfortable with a few of the references to mental health issues. Some things could be worded more sensitively, but I also think if we're being realistic that the situations laid out in the book aren't far from how some people might handle the same situation. I would be more comfortable with it if there had been even some reference to how the characters' perception of mental health had changed from the beginning to the end, but it seems it's just a plot device and there's not really any growth shown.
Given that people are flawed, and characters are really just an author's reflection of real-world people it's not hard to shrug off the character's perceptions as ones that someone might feel in real-life. Is it the best way to look at it? Probably not, but everyone isn't perfect. It's what makes us unique. But it would be easier to digest in this case if it was addressed in some way. For example, the main character, Cath, has several issues mostly stemming from her feelings of abandonment, and her father's mental health. But having introduced those issues into the story, Rowell should really have taken the time to have Cath grow, and the express that growth.
There is a scene in which Cath seems to confront her abandonment issue - but it's a very short scene and it's never addressed again and never really addressed even at that moment. It's a confrontation but there's nothing else there. And suddenly it's not as big a concern. Given that we mostly see the story through Cath's eyes, it would have been easy to even just include her thoughts about how she felt following that moment. Or to mention in a later moment that she wasn't reacting the same as she would have before it.
In the end, though, not all novels are going to be social commentary. The Cath character isn't a satisfying character for me because there is limited explanation of any growth that happens in her character - it happens, but it's as easily attributable to her social status as it is to any actual change in her perception of herself. A little more reinforcement of personal growth would have been nice. I wanted to punch her a few times because she was pretty oblivious to what was going on around her, but it's a teenage character. There's a lot of obliviousness happening in the teenage years if I remember correctly.
I did still enjoy the book, despite the cringy bits. I read too late into the night to finish it because I wanted to see how it played out - but I definitely acknowledge that there are flaws. We all have flaws. And as a writer, I know that characters need to have flaws to be relatable. Maybe that's what makes this such a relatable book for me. Cath is full of fears and issues, and while she never really acknowledges them, or literally comes to terms with what they are, she does manage to cope with them. More specifically, other characters force her to cope with them. At the beginning of the story, all her actions and reactions are coming from that place of fear. As she realizes that there are other choices, she starts to put other actions ahead of those fears. She eventually finds that there are incompatible actions to her fears that she'd rather do than engage in the fear.
The fanfiction that Cath writes is also figured in the story fairly prominently, and Rowell has since written two novels (and I think a third to come) based on those pieces. I didn't find the fanfiction characters as engaging as the characters actually IN Fangirl, so I'm not sure, given Rowell's history, that I'll read Carry On, or Wayward Son. But I'll keep them on a Wishlist for future consideration.
If you're interested in a quirky love story, about a couple of flawed teenagers dealing with college and their own issues then this is a story you should read.
#52-2020
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