Rainbow Rowell is most known for her book Eleanor and Park, but maybe one of her more underrated works is Fangirl. Fangirl is about a girl named Cather (Cath) who has recently graduated high school and is headed to college.
While most people tend to be excited about the thought of going to college and finding new adventures, Cath is scared beyond measure and is not looking forward to it as much as most people would. The reason has everything to do with her twin sister Wren, who plans on establishing her own identity in college.
Wren wants to be independent and be her own person and not just "Cath's twin sister." Wren is the extrovert of the two, while Cath is very much introverted, so as one can understand, she feels the complete opposite about the whole situation.
Not only does Wren not want to be Cath's dorm roommate, but she wants to leave behind their high school obsession, which is writing fanfiction about their favorite book series character, Simon Snow. Their stories are very popular and one of the many ways that they have bonded throughout high school; Cath isn't ready to let go of her sister nor their stories that they have created together for so long.
I found this book very relatable to both introverts through Cath and extroverts through Wren. Cath goes to extreme measures to avoid the awkwardness of meeting knew people. She lives off of granola bars for a while before she finally gets the courage to publicly eat in the cafeteria. Anyone who is painfully shy can somewhat relate to this, even if it's not always to this extent.
Wren can easily represent the type of person who takes the world by storm. She is excited to start a new life and make new friends. Cath doesn't automatically hit it off with her roommate, meanwhile Wren and her roommate Courtney become instant best friends. Wren also makes it a priority to go out to party and socialize, meanwhile wren spends most night cooped up in her dorm room.
The story is able to stay interesting and keep the reader's attention by having some unexpected twists. Unexpected relationships evolve and some people turn out to be someone you wouldn't expect them to be. This story has a good balance of heartwarming cheesiness and some bluntly relatable situations.
Rainbow Rowell is such a fantastic writer who really knows how to bring characters to life. The only critic I have is that it took me a little while to get completely invested into the story, but once I did I can honestly say that I was obsessed. I recommend this book for anyone who has just entered into college or is about to go to college.
Whether you find yourself relating to Wren, Cath, or a little bit of both, it is interesting to see how Cath overcomes these obstacles and transforms throughout the story. Cath shows us that even if we aren't prepared to let go of certain things and certain people, change is inevitable and we will grow as humans whether we want to or not.
