Sash from Sash & Em

You know that awkward moment when all your friends (and the rest of the world it seems like) love something and you’re just like – oh, yeah..not really my thing. I feel like this happens to me A LOT with books. The people whose opinions and tastes I respect the most LOVE something – and it makes me sad when I don’t like it. And here’s yet another example – though this one does have a twist – and that is that I can appreciate it and I understand why people love it; it just wasn’t my type of book.

First things first – Rainbow Rowell is a wonderful writer. I adore her writing style but unfortunately the actual content of her books just don’t jive with me (so far!). It happened with : Eleanor & Park and now again with Fangirl. While my issues with Eleanor & Park were mostly character-based (please don’t get me started on Eleanor), the main problem I had with Fangirl was that I felt like absolutely nothing happened. There was no plot. Yes, I know that not all books are plot based but there are many character-driven books that I love – Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King, Looking for Alaska by John Green, Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins – tons of contemporary YA novels aren’t plot-driven – but I felt like things actually happened in them. And, yes, I realize that things happened in this book but I mean that I don’t feel like anything happened in a substantial way – Cath’s moment of realization never really hit me. I found her boring and plain – I would have much rather read about her twin sister, Wren’s college experience. She was a vibrant character – she had spunk. So did Cath’s roommate. So did Levi. Everyone in this book was interesting except Cath.

I will say that I found Cath’s Simon Snow fanfiction to be best part of this book. I would 100% love to read those works of fanfiction. And that’s how I 100% know that I do love Rainbow Rowell’s writing; it’s just that this character and this time in her life didn’t work for me. College isn’t as bland as it seemed in Cath’s world and I couldn’t help but think to myself “That was so not my college experience.”.

I know that there will be a Rainbow Rowell book out there for me one day – (maybe it’s Attachments - tons of people have told me try this one) – but I just haven’t found it yet.

This review can also be found at Sash & Em: A Tale of Two Bookies.