Fangirling over 'Fangirl' by Rainbow Rowell

http://rainbowrowell.com/blog/book/fangirl/

It has taken me 2 days to read this. I have literally finished the last chapter and run up here to share it with you.

Now asides from the fact that I need to get out more, let's just work out what this means. 

Basically, this book is incredible. I mean, it's not Homer's Iliad or anything, but I'd say it's pretty damn good. 

This review may be semi-delusional, but it's an accurate account of a great book afterglow. 

The story is about twin sisters called Cather and Wren, in the first year at College in America. They've always shared everything in their lives, including a bedroom, but college is where Wren decides to break out on her own. Alongside the challenges that their relationship faces, Cather is also an extremely popular FanFic writer, based on the Simon Snow books. These are another creation of Rowell's and seem to be based on the Harry Potter series. Ultimately it is a coming of age story, but it's more about families and fandoms. 

There are so many opportunities for this book to turn into a cheesy All-American young adult bit of blah (genuinely, I don't know how else to describe YA books that just fail at saying anything about teenagers). There's romance and boy drama, family issues and nervous breakdowns- all sounds a bit heavy and teenager-y. I'm sure for some people, it will be like that- but for me at least, the characters have enough depth diversity between them to keep me interested. 

Also, this is the first book I've ever read that deals with the internet like it is a positive force. Cather obviously feels the pressure from her thousands of readers to keep her story going, but in the end Rowell captures how the internet is a community- she even thanks the writers of fanfic in the acknowledgements for writing parts of this story themselves. 

I'm excited that literature and the creative outlets of the internet are coming together to make a book that is widely appealing to the YA audience. It's not a patronising story (as so many YA books can be) it doesn't really follow a trend that's popular (RIP vampire fiction, may the stake remain in your heart) and it finally gave weird internet things a voice in the mainstream. Wanker-y Milly moment over. 

All in all, fellow internet lovers and readers, buy this.