Fangirl
Rainbow Rowell, 2013
Young adult Contemporary fictionRomance
Identical twins start college and stop being identical. A shy fan-fiction writer has to learn how to want a life that's actually hers. Cath's voice is plain and witty, carrying tenderness, nostalgia and a quiet ache of identity through a slow first year.
Feels like tenderness, nostalgia and unease. About identity, family and love.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy quiet campus coming-of-age stories about twins, family loyalty and a shy writer finding her own wants. Cath's anxious overthinking colors nearly every page, though, so the closed-in feel may wear on you if you want a breezier college story.
Why read it
It's a warm, specific look at separating from a twin and learning to want your own life, with fan fiction woven in as a way of making sense of things.
A page from the book
How much of yourself you edit before pressing send.
Cath probably should have texted Abel by now, just to tell him that she’d made it—but she wanted to wait until she felt more breezy and nonchalant. You can’t take back texts. If you come off all moody and melancholy in a text, it just sits there in your phone, reminding you of what a drag you are. Rainbow Rowell.Rowell invented the Simon Snow fan fiction her heroine writes; readers wanted the real thing, so she later published it as an actual novel, Carry On.
Books that feel like this
More by Rainbow Rowell
Eleanor & Park
Rainbow Rowell, 2013
Two misfit teenagers on the same school bus in 1986 fall for each other over comics and mix tapes, while home life makes ordinary survival feel radical.
Carry On
Rainbow Rowell, 2015
At a magic school, the Chosen One's sworn enemy is his roommate—and the only person who sees him clearly.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is Fangirl for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy quiet campus coming-of-age stories about twins, family loyalty and a shy writer finding her own wants. Cath's anxious overthinking colors nearly every page, though, so the closed-in feel may wear on you if you want a breezier college story.
- What is Fangirl like?
- Cath's voice is plain and witty, carrying tenderness, nostalgia and a quiet ache of identity through a slow first year. Feels like tenderness, nostalgia and unease. About identity, family and love.
- What should I read after Fangirl?
- If you liked Fangirl, try The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares), To All the Boys I've Loved Before (Jenny Han) and Everything, Everything (Nicola Yoon).
A taste of the feed
Look at how texture and fabric become extensions of physical grace.
The pants clung to Lena’s waist and followed the line of her hips. They held close to the shape of her thighs and fell exactly to the tops of her feet. When she took two steps forward, they appeared to hug each of her muscles as they shifted and moved. Carmen gazed in wonder at how different was their effect from Lena’s bland uniform of J. Crew khakis.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants · Ann Brashares
The sister who decides things cleanly, and the one who can’t.
I wave a spoonful of cookie dough under Margot’s nose, and she hesitates and then opens her mouth. I feed it to her like a baby. “Wait and see, you and Josh will be back together in a day, maybe two.” But even as I’m saying it, I know it’s not true. Margot’s not the kind of girl to break up and get back together on a whim; once she’s decided something, that’s it. There’s no waffling, no regrets. It’s like she said: when she’s done, she’s just done.
To All the Boys I've Loved Before · Jenny Han
The one day a year when everything you're missing becomes impossible to ignore.
My birthday is the one day of the year that we’re both most acutely aware of my illness. It’s the acknowledging of the passage of time that does it. Another whole year of being sick, no hope for a cure on the horizon. Another year of missing all the normal teenagery things—learner’s permit, first kiss, prom, first heartbreak, first fender bender. Another year of my mom doing nothing but working and taking care of me. Every other day these omissions are easy—easier, at least—to ignore.
Everything, Everything · Nicola Yoon
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