Review: Fangirl (2013) by Rainbow Rowell
The first fictional universe I was ever obsessed with was that of The X-Files. I wore the t-shirts, had the posters, recorded every episode on VHS (!), and I even had a little scrapbook filled to the brim with X-Files-related articles and pictures carefully cut from entertainment magazines. And, of course, there was fanfiction.
The definition of fanfiction, for those venturing onto the internet for the very first time, is: fiction written by a fan of, and featuring characters from, a particular TV series, movie, etc.
In other words, fanfic is the hardcore fan’s only way to expand a story that may be finished, or might not be going in the direction one wishes. Fanfic is an escape from an escape; it’s wish-fulfillment, and it can be, and has been, very well-written. Shippers love fanfic. It took almost the entire series for Mulder and Scully to get together, and even then, it wasn’t as demonstrative as some fans wished. But there was fanfic, where fans could witness Mulder and Scully falling in love over and over and over again.
Fangirl jumps right into the world of fanfic. Rowell not only accepts that fanfic is a popular form of expression amongst fans (a big step, considering there are authors who wish it didn’t exist), but revels in it, creating a main character who understands the power of good fanfic. Cath, our hero (ourselves), is a prolific and popular writer of fanfic based on the fictional Simon Snow series, a Harry Potter equivalent (though Harry Potter also exists in this universe). It’s all very twisty turvy (timey wimey).
Cath, and to a lesser extent, her twin sister Wren, are obsessed with Simon Snow. Cath loves Simon and Baz, Simon’s bad boy roommate (who is also a vampire, naturally), so much that she uses the majority of her free time to write fanfic about them. And not just fanfic, but slashfic, because Cath ships Simon and Baz. The fun for Cath is putting her own spin on the Simon Snow universe. She loves it so much that she has trouble extricating herself and forcing herself to focus on real life, because real life is often terrible or, worse still, boring.
Fangirl isn’t just about the fanfic. It also follows Cath and Wren as they embark upon their college experience, a harrowing one for Cath, who suffers from social anxiety, and made all the harder when Wren decides that this is her chance to pull away from Cath. Meanwhile, Cath struggles with the changes, along with worrying about both Wren (who has taken up binge drinking) and her father (who suffers from the same anxiety as Cath, and is also, we gather, bipolar).
Cath’s issues with anxiety will hit close to home for anyone who has struggled with anxiety or depression. Her descriptions of building up a “block” about certain things, like going to a new cafeteria, or avoiding new scenarios simply because she doesn’t know the correct social behavior, were so familiar that I had to put the book down for a moment.
Image created by Danemar Calise.
All is not so bleak for Cath. She eventually befriends her roommate, Reagan, despite huge differences and a rocky start. Levi, Reagan’s friend and maybe-boyfriend, is included in Reagan’s friendship, almost against Cath’s will, but he’s so friendly and likeable that she doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, in Levi, Rowell may have created the perfect man and yet, while Cath does find herself in some romantic entanglements, this isn’t just a traditional love story. Most novels (or movies) with any sort of romance in them end as soon as guy and girl get together. But the most important relationship in this novel is family, the bond between Cath and Wren and between the twins and their father.
As an added bonus, it’s a love story between fictional characters and the people who adore them, those fans who obsess over their well-being as if they were actual, real-life people. I’d wager that most of us are familiar with the feeling of loving a fictional character so much that we’re so emotionally invested in what happens to them we can scarce think straight.
Rowell has a gift for creating characters who feel like real people. She’s done something special in Fangirl, however, by also creating fictional characters that feel like real people to the fictional characters we’re reading about. She’s created a world within a world, a world I’d gladly shell out good money to spend time in. Fangirl filled some sort of void inside of me. Cath writes fanfiction, something so many of us have read or possibly even written, and is unabashedly unashamed of it or whether it makes her seem weird. Rowell has given us a new role model who is not perfect and often afraid, but not so afraid that she denies who she really is, freaky fanfic and all.
(Because this is the internet, there is, of course, Fangirl fanfiction. If you’re missing Cath and Levi and want to know what happens next, it’s only a click away. Go ahead. Don’t be afraid. Just ask yourself…what would Cath do?)
April 22, 2014
I feel like this book goes a long ways towards demystifying fan behavior for laypeople, but I don’t actually know anyone who’s read it that has mentioned that particular reaction to me. I think it would be interesting to get a bunch of non-fans together and see what they thought of it.
April 23, 2014
I think that would be fascinating. I gave it to my friend, who is newly obsessed with The Good Wife and started reading fanfic, which was her first foray into crazy fan culture. I’m not sure she’s read it yet, though.