I am iridescent with joy. I am pregnant with wonder. Gestating within me is the belief that regardless of how much I love the book, if Rainbow Rowell is writing it, I will absolutely love the people she fills it with. When my egg hatches, I will be gifted with the certainty that Rainbow Rowell is my new favorite author.
Part of my effervescence, no doubt, is due to the long string of unhappiness in which I’ve enshrouded myself. The Girl on the Train, Cujo, The Kite Runner, and Gone Girl put me in a pretty dark place, I think. Rainbow Rowell has been a tonic; her writing has lifted my spirits and cleansed my soul.
Whenever I finish a novel, there’s always some kind of afterglow (I seldom finish novels I don’t enjoy to some degree), so I usually give myself a day or two before starting another one. If the book is really good, the effects last longer. I enjoyed Landline so much that I had trouble focusing on the first 100 pages, or so, of this book. Which shouldn’t at all be taken as a commentary on Fangirl, but I did have some trouble getting into it.
But once I did…..
This was my college experience, minus the whole being a gifted writer thing (my freshman English professor told me I don’t write at an acceptable college level, in fact). I was withdrawn and intimidated, too obsessed with my own interests to develop much of a social life. Until, that is, I met someone who would go on to fundamentally change everything about my life. I even had Harry Potter, the real world equivalent of Simon Snow; only I didn’t write fanfiction (and have never read it).
I only have two things keeping this from being a perfect little nugget of happiness, like hugging your child on a bad day.
- There is a scene where Cather is going to do some laundry and Levi refuses to allow her to lift her own laundry basket because it’s too heavy. I get that he’s almost too polite, that he’s almost courteous to a fault, but I wish this had been a scene that showed Cather as more able to stand up for what she wanted, and allowed Levi to give her that room to assert herself. It’s a small thing, but I think the scene could’ve demonstrated the growth of them both.
- I was wholly unprepared for the end of this book. Utterly enraptured by the story, I didn’t realize it was over until there was nothing left. I was a starving blind man given a too small plate of food. I consumed it at a pace reasonable enough to taste how rich it was, but too fast to realize I would be done so soon. I still feel a little hollow. This book ended, but I feel no sense of closure.
Short those two minor complaints, this book is perfection.
Also, Cather and Levi have a cameo in Landline (which I only realize retroactively). So that book gets bonus joy points. That’s a thing, right?
….
There are 21 CBR reviews of this book, with an average rating of 4.48 stars.
I LOVE the introduction to this review. Such beautiful imagery.
Because Carry On combined everything I already adored about Rainbow Rowell’s writing with really good young adult fantasy, it probably has the edge, but Fangirl was my favourite before that because everything about that book spoke to me. I was just as socially awkward and scared when going to Uni, except I didn’t even excel at writing. I was a Norwegian alone away from home for the first time, with very good English skills for a high school graduate, but I couldn’t even begin to compete with even fairly mediocre native speakers. My first English essays barely got a passing grade.
Without my BFF Lydia, who was my Reagan, I would not have survived my first year. We didn’t actually share a room (probably for the best, based on some of the screaming arguments during our second year, when we shared a flat), but she was right down the hall from me and dragged me out to face the world and meet new people. I have never been a fan fic reader or writer, but I did escape into my books and I absolutely understand Cath’s impulses.
I think, based on the fact that she hasn’t written a single thing that I don’t really really like (I’ll have to re-read Eleanor & Park (which is at 4,5 stars for me right now) to see if I can push it fully into love too), that Rainbow Rowell is my favourite author. Going back to other comments made here recently, I would lose my shit completely if I were ever lucky enough to meet her.
Thanks!
I’m tempted to jump right into Eleanor & Park, but I’m going to take a breath, first. I don’t have much Rowell left, and I want to make it last.
Despite being a guy, I’ve never really had difficulty identifying with female characters before. But I’ve never identified so well. Rowell is so good at creating people, I don’t think anyone could read these books and not find themselves in them at some point.
Oh, I think one of the reasons I have Eleanor & Park rated last (again, it’s at 4,5 stars, not exactly low) is because that is the book I find it hardest to relate to. In Attachments, the e-mail correspondence between Beth and Jen reminds me so much of how I got to know my BFF Lydia, as pen pals for three years. In Fangirl, Cath is pretty much me during my first year of Uni. In Landline, my marriage is nothing in as much trouble as Georgie and Neal, but I can so easily see myself becoming Neal. I always find it uncanny how much I identify with her books.
It’s like she’s creating characters that personify traits most people share, and fleshing them out with the details of warmth, and feeling, and affection.
Even when her characters don’t specifically represent my own thoughts and feelings, I feel like I either know them.
These books are presents I’m giving to myself. The only question I have is when can I unwrap them?
This comment right here is why I get so mad at people who complain about this book and reading about “boring” protagonists, and who wants to read about a girl who is afraid all the time and timid? It makes me SO MAD. Those kids of people exist! You are proof!
I believe it was right after Fangirl was released that I started blocking people Goodreads who gave it one star. I know it’s irrational, but I cannot deal with those people who dismiss this book because Cath isn’t like them. THAT’S THE POINT OF READING.
Well, I’ve always maintained that it’s extremely unlikely that anyone actually wants to read book about my life (so boring, you guys). I was like an even more boring version of Cath, I did not have a thriving hobby as a fan fic writer extraordinaire, nor were there any love interests for me (until my third year. That’s when I met my now husband, in the lunch queue in our hall of residence. He was so gangly and funny looking).
There was Eddy, the third part of our wierd little friend group, who I’m pretty sure half of St. Andrews thought was my boyfriend (possibly because at parties I would sit by the foot of his chair and he’d pet my head like I was a cat), when we never felt anything but platonic affection for each other. I remember considering it seriously for about a day, and came to the conclusion that kissing him would have been like kissing my brother.
I bet I could write a killer book about your life, Malin.
(To clarify, this isn’t me bragging about my writing skills. I just really think everyone has a story, if you come at it the right way.)
I give you permission, as long as I get a small percentage of any possible royalties. :)
If the protagonist is boring, either the writer has failed, or the reader wasn’t invested.
I don’t believe the former has happened to Rowell, and I don’t want to meet the latter when it comes to her books.
I think you’re right to distance yourself, is what I’m saying.