Fangirl: Not as good as Eleanor & Park, but still lovable

I loved Rainbow Rowell's book "Eleanor & Park," so when I saw "Fangirl" on the New Fiction shelf at Kaltreider library, I checked it out along with a stack of my daughter's picture books (many of them involving animals in underpants.  She's four what do you expect?) and a few memoirs for me.  I wanted something fun to read amidst the depressing ice and snow storms that are plaguing my life (and much of the East Coast) right now. Rowell's second YA novel did momentarily transport me from this gray winter, and although I know legions of girls who will adore this novel,  I didn't like it as much as "Eleanor & Park." 

The story follows Cath, an introverted, Simon Snow ultra-fan, and popular fan fiction writer, as she ventures wearily into her first year of college.  Although she is terrified to leave her mentally fragile father, her twin sister, Wren, can't wait for the parties, new friends and new adventures.  During Cath's first weeks of college, she only leaves her dorm room for classes, but refuses to even visit the dining halls to eat (and instead nourishes herself from her stash of protein bars).  Her sassy roommate, Reagan, decides to make Cath her "project" and helps her to journey out of her shell.  As Reagan and Cath become closer, Cath and her sister drift further and further apart.  

And, since it is YA, you guessed it . . . there is romance.  The romantic interests in this book shift a bit from a boy in Cath's writing class, Nick, to her roommate's ex-boyfriend, Levi. The innocence of the young love almost hurts to read, but it did make me smile.  

What didn't make me smile was the interruptions of Cath's fan fiction "Carry On" throughout the book. I know the book is called "Fangirl" which means that the fiction within the fiction won't bother most readers, but I didn't enjoy the gay courtship of the two main characters of the Harry Potter-esque fantasy story that Cath wrote.  I actually skipped most of those parts to focus on the developing relationships between Cath and Levi, and Cath's side worries of her father, disappearing and reappearing mother and her sister's avoidance of problems.  Those story lines were the true heart of this book, and the fan fiction detracted from those.  

Cath, although a bit neurotic and melodramatic, became endearing and lovable as she faced her fears and challenged herself to break from her self-imposed fiction prison.  She began living life for real rather than only living to write the fantasy world which was based on a popular fiction world of another author. 

Although fan fiction is not my thing, so I can't relate to the devotees of reading alternate story lines of popular series, I know that many people are addicted to fan fiction.  I can think of so many of my students who loved the world of Harry Potter so much that all other books were spoiled for them, or during the Twilight craze girls in my classes that fantasized about Robert Pattinson and his pale face and sweeping widow's peak (which, by the way is Levi's trademark that Cath comments on all the time). 

To me, Rowell shows her talent as a writer in this book by keeping many story lines afloat, moving between fan fiction writing, writing excerpts of the fantasy book Cath writes her fan fiction about, and giving her characters enough quirkiness and likability that even someone like me who doesn't like fan fiction can still find things to love in this book.  

I am already looking forward to another Rainbow Rowell YA novel that explores an unlikely relationship between two multi-faceted people, who face odds due to family issues in their blossoming love, but find a way to make things work.  I just hope the next one she writes doesn't include fan fiction of any sort.  

Eleanor & Park: A Refreshing YA Love Story

It's been awhile since I felt myself falling in love with a YA book . . . falling hard to the point where I didn't want to do anything but read and block out the world.  Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor and Park took me back to when I first fell in love - the awkward, dangerous first moments of romance when nothing else in the world matters but the person of your affection.

Rowell gives her readers so much to love. I rooted for Eleanor, a red headed, slightly overweight, misfit new girl as she braved her first day of school, the horrible bus (before it became not so horrible), and her despicable step-father.  Eleanor's brashness and ability to transcend the pettiness around her rubs off on Park, a quiet Asian kid whose loving family comprised of his Korean war veteran father, Korean mother, and younger but taller brother lives in suburban blissfulness.  His parents still make out (much to Park's disdain).  Park wants nothing more than to be left alone, to lie low under the radar of high school ridiculousness all around him until he falls for Eleanor through their mutual love of graphic novels, music and each other.  Then, he starts to change - getting into fights for Eleanor's honor, wearing a new punk style and not caring what people think or believe about him or Eleanor.

Set in 1986, Rowell's book feels like a John Hughes movie - only better with vibrant and lovable characters who all have heart.  I actually pictured Molly Ringwald in certain scenes as I read this book with her pouty lips and defiant stare; she'd be a perfect casting choice for Eleanor.

Rowell reminded me what falling in love feels like.  I remembered phone conversations with Eric (who is now my husband) that lasted so long we'd fall asleep with the phone pressed to our ears.  I remembered seeing him in the high school hallways and feeling safe and loved and happy and confused all at once.  I remember the evolution of our relationship from a joke to a friendship to something so much deeper (it's still going strong after almost 15 years of marriage and the addition of two beautiful daughters in our lives), and Rowell captures all of those feelings in the 325 pages of Eleanor and Park's romance.

When Park first meets Eleanor, he really just wants her to go away, to stop being such an embarrassment for drawing negative attention to herself.  "He could remember thinking that she was asking for it . . . That it was bad enough to have a face shaped like a box of chocolates. . . He remembered feeling embarrassed for her. And now . . . Now, he felt the fight rising up in his throat whenever he thought of people making fun of her."

Eleanor possesses the ability to free Park from the shadows, and Park possesses an equal ability to free Eleanor from her hardened shell where she has convinced herself that she needs no one because all the people she loves and trusts most violate that trust with neglect and violence.  Park's tenderness and care towards Eleanor melts her and shows her how beautiful love can be, even if she fears needing him.  "She wanted to lose herself in him. To tie his arms around her like a tourniquet. If she showed him how much she needed him, he'd run away."

And the book does involve some running away, but not the kind you'd expect.  None of this book feels expected, false, empty or forced.  Instead it feels like the first moments of love - the real kind - that you lose yourself in because it is so easy and full of happiness even if the world around you feels unkind or confusing.  I can already see this book becoming a movie with a killer soundtrack full of 80s music, and a multi-generational following.  If you know a teenage girl who loves Sarah Dessen or even Veronica Roth books, you need to get her a copy of Eleanor & Park this Christmas.  AND, if you know a 30something 40something woman who grew up in the 80s, you need to get her a copy, too. She'll love you for it.