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1!! ''Fangirl'' novel
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3* AccidentalAesop: If you are going to go out drinking, tell a trusted friend or family member where you are. That way if you end up in trouble, or in the hospital, they can provide the support you need.
4* {{Adorkable}}: What else do you expect from a novel titled ''Fangirl''?
5** Cath is this, entirely. A longtime Simon Snow fan who stashes lots of peanut butter and energy bars because she can't find the dining hall. You fall for her immediately. The manga version’s art style enhances this.
6** Levi also. A ''barista'' farm boy at Starbucks who has trouble reading and falls for Cath. He also steals her energy bars.
7* AlternateAesopInterpretation: The main {{Aesop}} of ''Fangirl'' is that you are not alone in the real world while being a fandom writer. Alternatively, your writing is not valid because it's fanfiction. As a writer, realistic fiction will be more meaningful and fulfilling. This ignores the fact that not everyone who writes fanfiction ''wants'' to write original fiction and get their work published; many people write fanfiction because they love the fandom and want to share it with the community. The book's overall message also undervalues the fandom experience, as friendships and romances have come out of a shared love of ''Literature/HarryPotter'', or ''Franchise/StarTrek'', or ''Franchise/StarWars'', or countless other fandoms, being as valid as any other relationship you have outside of fandom. This ignores how some authors have had published books and movie deals by [[SerialNumbersFiledOff re-purposing]] their fanfics. Not the kind of message you want to send with a book that's supposed to be a love letter to fandom culture.
8* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
9** Cath and Wren’s mother, Laura. Is she a well-meaning woman who MarriedTooYoung, did the best she could with two little girls and a mentally ill husband but ultimately couldn’t handle it, and is now trying to make things right after ten years, but having a hard time figuring out how? Or she a selfish person who can’t handle adult life and motherhood, blamed her problems on her family (Cath mentions that she told them to stay away from college boys when they were under ''eight years old''); and instead of stepping up to the plate, took the easy way out for ten years and is now only talking to them to get rid of any lingering guilt? [[spoiler:Her leaving Wren in the hospital implies it’s the latter, but in the end, it’s still ambiguous. When Cath gives her ultimatum to stay in the hospital with Wren or she'll never get a sliver of a chance, Laura dismisses her and says they'll talk later]].
10*** Even Wren and Cath discuss this during one of their many arguments. Wren claims that Laura is sorry and "feels bad". Cath responds, "Good! She ''should'' feel bad!" and points out that one simple apology doesn't make up for being gone for a decade, not answering their calls, or even visiting. It's unclear if Laura is actually sorry, or was saying it to get Wren on her side.
11** Wren's {{Jerkass}} qualities seem to go up in freshman year, including when she insults Simon and Baz to Cath's face or over the phone-- something she's never done before-- and yells at her twin sister for calmly refusing to go visit Laura at Christmas saying that Cath owes her for their socializing. She only mellows when her dad lays down the line, she finds out [[spoiler:Cath had a boyfriend and didn't tell her]]. How much of it was her acting out as a freshman and unable to handle independence until Art set ground rules? Could Courtney have been a ToxicFriendInfluence that got between her and Cath? Did Laura have a hand in her change in attitude after Thanksgiving?
12** Wren doesn't seem too broken-up that [[spoiler:her own mother, with whom she had been reconnecting, abandoned her at the hospital after she woke up and let Art administer her punishment. She says that Laura doesn't do "hard stuff," much to Wren's indignation. Did Laura establish with BrutalHonesty that she couldn't be a mom to Wren, who accepted it? Or is it Wren being a StepfordSmiler and picking her battles]]? She's already in the doghouse with [[spoiler:Art, who threatens to pull her out of school unless she goes cold-turkey, and with Cath, because she had to admit that Cath was right that their mother wasn't interested in actually mending their relationship to be a mom]].
13** Wren's alcoholism, and the fact that she claims that she's not "broken" the way that her father and twin sister are, in one of her meanest moments where she claims that they "choose" to be that way. Is she in denial about the fact that Cath points out she's broken too and has cracks in her Miss Cool facade? Or is it more StepfordSmiler issues, that she believes that acting like things are okay will make it okay? It says something that Art retorts that Cath may be the socially anxious twin and a shut-in in Wren's words, but she's maintained her 4.0 GPA and [[spoiler:didn't end up in the hospital for alcohol poisoning]], making her technically stabler than Wren is.
14** Is Wren’s roommate Courtney a ditzy but good person or a ToxicFriendInfluence to Wren? Wren already had issues with alcohol in high school, but they worsen with Courtney to the point of [[spoiler: hospitalization and her father staging an intervention. When that happens, Courtney doesn’t help her in any way, and their relationship becomes increasingly strained after Wren recovers, to the point where they go their separate ways after freshman year.]]
15* {{Anvilicious}}: Don't drink, guys. You could get alcohol poisoning from it.
16* BrokenBase:
17** There is a very big divide on whether or not this book is a good portrayal of fandom. Either is an accurate representation, or it's compared unfavorably to ''Series/TheBigBangTheory,'' that Cath is a caricature of a fangirl (an antisocial, incredibly awkward loser). Not helped by the fact that there's a distinct lack of ''community'' fandom brings. Cath is never seen going onto forums to discuss theories or look up fanart and whatever token sense community is mentioned it's not necessarily about ''Simon Snow'' it's about ''Carry On, Simon'' [[ItsAllAboutMe Cath's fanfic]]. As a result the fandom aspect of the book feels like a [[InformedAttribute gimmick]] to boost its sales than an actual portrayal. It's helped even less by Cath's apparent naivete about the legality of fanfiction, real life fanfic writers have been known to cringe ''hard'' when Cath turned in a piece of fanfiction for her writing assignment, while other don't mind as it's meant to serve as a sort of wake up call for Cath that college and high school are two different things and meant to help her get out of her comfort zone. And then there's the message that the book seems to push; that writing fanfic is "practice" for writing original stories and writing your own stories will be much more satisfying. This ignores the fact that fanfic writing is a hobby for a lot of fanfic writers and many don't particularly care to write their own fiction. It's less about wanting to create a writing career and more about sharing your love of the fandom. Not to mention the message comes across as a [[BrokenAesop Broken]] or CluelessAesop when you realize [[SerialNumbersFiledOff filing off serial numbers]] among fanfic writers turned published authors is a thing that is steadily becoming more and more accepted.
18** Levi's line implying that ''Literature/HarryPotter'' exists in this world (since ''Simon Snow'' is an expy of that series) does not fly well with some. At best it's been known to be a bit of a distraction, especially since there were ''plenty'' of other fandom's Levi could have outright referenced or reference an {{Expy}} of. At worse many see it as Rowell being ''extremely'' conceited since the news article at the beginning says ''Simon Snow'' outsold [[Music/TheBeatles the friggin']] ''[[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]]'' and implies that ''Simon Snow'' also outsells ''Harry Potter''.
19* CatharsisFactor:
20** In a more heartwarming sense, Art refusing to let Cath drop out of college over winter break. She's been suffering a TraumaCongaLine of thinking [[spoiler:Levi doesn't like her after kissing another girl at a party, Wren has frozen her out, Nick stole her words for his story, and Art ending up in the hospital]]. He goes to talk to her after she spends the night on the couch, seeing that she's upset about something but isn't ready to say what, and tells her that he's supposed to take care of her, not the other way around. Sure, this was a bad manic episode, and he appreciates that she came to help, but the whole point of her going to college is to get some independence and to figure out her life without him. He says to at least finish the semester, for his sake. It works, and Cath agrees to try.
21** Art doing what Cath wasn't able to do, given he is the parent and she is just the twin sister, by telling off Wren for [[spoiler:drinking to the point of needing hospitalization]]. He gives her an ArmorPiercingQuestion of WhatWereYouThinking, because she was lucky that [[spoiler:someone dropped her off]] and why can't she just stop trying to destroy herself? When Wren doesn't help her case by saying everyone drinks, Art tells her that unless she comes up with a better answer, he's pulling her out of college. [[spoiler:Cath asks him to find a compromise, and she and Art get Wren to agree to stop drinking, attend AA sessions, and come home every weekend]].
22** [[spoiler:Cath politely turning down Nick begging her to approve publication of the "anti-love" story. After the fact that he basically plagiarized from her given she edited it gets glossed over, she doesn't stoop to his level and instead sincerely says that he will get other chances if he believes in himself. When Nick blames her for Professor Piper taking away his internship, her friend group stares daggers at him, and Cath and Reagan lock themselves in their dorm room]].
23* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Cath got an anxiety disorder, [[DiagnosisOfGod as confirmed in the text]], but whether it's social anxiety, OCD or another variant is never specified.
24* FandomRivalry: With ''Literature/ElizaAndHerMonsters'' by Francesca Zappia. Both books have similar themes of fandom, content creation, and mental health. The rivalry comes from debates about which book was better. There are those who argue that ''Eliza and Her Monsters'' is the superior depiction of both mental health and fandom culture, with a stronger understanding of the latter.
25* FriendlyFandoms: That said, there are readers who liked both,
26* HilariousInHindsight: The Simon Snow books, are a CaptainErsatz series of Harry Potter and Cath's fanfiction is called ''Carry On, Simon'' while Rainbow Rowell's is called ''Literature/CarryOn.'' Creator/JKRowling has just released a video called "[[http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.playbill.com%2Farticle%2Fjk-rowling-issues-video-plea-to-keep-surprises-of-harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child&t=YThiNTg0OTJhN2ViMzA5ZDIwYTFjYzJkZTU4MDkyOTRmN2U2MGI3MSxGQU1aS21obQ%3D%3D Keep Calm and Keep the Secrets]]" about Theatre/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild.
27* MorePopularSpinoff: While Fangirl is acclaimed and well liked, its spin off ''Literature/CarryOn'' has a wider fan base and even expanded into a trilogy, the only one of Rowell's books to do so.
28* TheWoobie:
29** Cath demands that one needs a hug. Abandoned by her mother at age eight and by her sister during freshman year of college and struggling with severe social anxiety (It’s so bad that she can’t even eat in the dining hall alone) she then gets a wake-up call about turning in fanfiction for a creative writing class and [[spoiler:is used by her writing partner]]. No one can blame her for taking refuge in the Simon Snow world, and her fanfiction.

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