Rainbow Rowell wrote Fangirl, and to understand the basis of this novel you’d first have to understand what fanfiction is. It sounds wild, I know. Fanfiction is when a person loves a story so much that they don’t want it to end, so they add to the story themselves in their own writing. It would be like someone rewriting the end to Harry Potter because they didn’t like the ending (how could you not?), or taking the ending to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and making Gwen Stacy live.
Fangirl follows a young woman, Cath, to college where she has to leave her diagnosed bipolar father and live her own life while her identical twin, Wren, lives hers separately. The story takes twists and turns but one thing remains the same, Cath finishes her fanfiction novel, much to the joy of her beloved fans who eat it up without hesitation. This was a lot like my life.
When I went off to college I was in the middle of writing a novel. It wasn’t fanfiction, but it was fiction and I loved it; I was attached to this novel, and still am. But college is hard; I found it difficult to write for fun because I didn’t have time. I was always working when I first got here. Over the summer after freshman year I wrote so much of the novel, but I was nowhere near finished. This story is such a big part of my life because I poured my heart and soul into my novel; I am always 100% committed to anything I write, just like Cath.
My friends who actually like to read have all read my novel, they loved it (although I think they coddled me a little but that’s beside the point), and they were rooting for me to finish. I think that’s a lot of the reason why I did, and why I worked so hard on it. I liked seeing how much they loved it, again, just like Cath.
Fangirl wasn’t like some other novels where the basis is completely fake and unbelievable, or un-relatable. Cath was just like any small town geeky girl who gets thrown into college. For a while when I was reading the beginning of the book, I really thought she used my life as a basis because of the novel Cath was writing and the friend group she grew to have (a rough around the edges junior).
Rowell does an amazing job at showing college through a passionate introvert’s perspective. Cath doesn’t see the need to party (and neither do I), although her sister does, which is exactly how I feel with my friends. They all love to go out, which is great for them, really. But I just like to read and not be crammed in a small space with 30 drunken people. I think this book really speaks to me so much because it was a lot like my life in that way, and I’m sure it could speak to others as well; both partiers and homebodies alike.
It’s so important to make clear that this book has all kinds of college students in it, the partiers, the country kid, the geeky new girl, the grunge best friend, we all know at least one of those who are in our life, I know I do. Rowell is just so good at appealing to feelings, to the lives of her readers, and making sure that everyone involved knows that it’s okay to be different, and it’s okay to follow your dreams.