Book Review: "Fangirl" by Rainbow Rowell ~ The Dorky Writer

Previously posted on Goodreads!¹

I had a lot of unfulfilled expectations, especially after one of my friends started to send me some excerpts BUT ALSO got surprised in some aspects, like FOR REAL!

Apart from being a book that talks about being a fangirl, this book also tell us the part of a life of someone with social anxiety. Maybe, some readers (that don't know the term) just read about a girl being paranoid about everything, so, how did I recognize the term? Because I have it, so I can tell the difference. I felt identified with Cath all the book along, I've also found shelter in my sister and in fandoms, I can count my friends just with my fingers, I find alcohol and drugs repulsive... the list can go on.

Even if you don't feel identified with that, you can also read, and learn, about a MAN with a bipolar disorder, you know that mental disorders are just entitled to women, so this is big; read about early alcoholism... even read about writer's block! (BTW, this is a thing I've been fighting for ages, literally! It was like getting a slap!)

Why 3.5? Its pace and its structure.

For me, it was really slow at the beginning, perfect in the middle, disastrous at the end. Mostly the end. The author was like "oops, I'm gonna reach page 433, I need to finish it now, no matter if it ends with half a statement" (ok, I'm overreacting a bit, but that's how I felt when I read the end). Why include excerpts of Simon Snow's books, and fanfics? I know Simon Snow's are based on Harry Potter's, that made me feel like paying a visit to my childhood-teenage years, but REALLY! It wasn't necessary to read them! Especially the fanfic parts because Cath was supposed to be an AMAZING writer but I didn't believe it.

But I enjoy Rowell's writing in general, I couldn't have read this or Eleanor & Park otherwise.

RAINBOW ROWELL writes books. Sometimes she writes about adults. Sometimes she writes about teenagers. But she always writes about people who talk a lot. And people who feel like they're screwing up. And people who fall in love. When she's not writing, Rainbow is reading comic books, planning Disney World trips and arguing about things that don't really matter in the big scheme of things. She lives in Nebraska with her husband and two sons.

¹This review was written and originally posted on my Goodreads profile in 2016. It might now present minor changes in structure or corrections but has not changed its intention.