Fangirl: A Rereading

To fans and followers of YA literature, Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl is not new. Released in October 2013, it’s not even Rowell’s most recent publication. In 2013, I was one of the many still reeling from the frustratingly ambiguous ending of her most popular novel, Eleanor and Park, and devoured Fangirl the day it came out.

I admit, with no shame whatsoever, that I fall hook, line, and sinker for contemporary romance in YA. I can’t get enough of it. Give me the most archetypal love story you got, I’ll be a sobbing mess. Throw in a good first aid scene, and I’ll love you forever.

Fangirl didn’t have any first aid, but it did have Levi. And Levi is just as good.

I absolutely loved the book when I first read it, but I’ve recently revisited Fangirl in preparation for a book club with my children’s literature faculty, and I must admit that I do not feel the same as I once did.

I still 100% swooned at all the right places, but the fluff permeating through the novel was not enough to shield me from what I now find are majorly problematic concerns:

1. Rowell glosses over what can be viewed as some serious mental health issues. This promotes unhealthy mental health, and demonizes/ridicules those  seeking help from professionals, and is ultimately very dangerous.
2. I have a particularly good rant that I’ll save for another post regarding female friendships in contemporary YA (SPOILER ALERT – They aren’t good). And, unfortunately, this book just adds to long list of books that demonize those friendships or make a young woman’s inability – or more reluctance – to relate other girls some kind of moralizing or attractive quality.
3. Cath is downright judge-y. There’s always a danger in first-person narration that the protagonist’s views and voice is understood as absolute. This isn’t a huge issue when narrators are allowed to grow and change throughout a story. Unfortunately, Cath is not. This ends in Cath’s oftentimes rigid understanding of the word, people, and friendships sounding like absolute truth.
4. Fan-culture is such a huge aspect of YA literature, and there are very few good representations of it in literature. Online participatory communities like the one described in Fangirl have the power to foster creativity and strong and diverse friendships. Rowell had the opportunity to showcase this, and didn’t. Her representation of the fan fiction community is, frankly, blatantly incorrect. This is confusing to me, seeing that Rowell is so active in the community herself and clearly understands its functions and processes.

I was thrilled when Fangirl was chosen for our next discussion book, and was happy for an excuse to reread it, so I was not expecting the reaction I had. I wasn’t alone in my thoughts, I quickly learned. I still uphold that Levi is one of my favorite male characters, and I’m sure I’ll revisit some of his best chapters again when I need a pick-me-up, but I think I’ll be leaving Cath and the rest of her story where it is.

Children’s Literature: What we do

When I tell people what I’m studying at Cambridge, I usually get something along lines of, “Oh! So…you get to, like read Harry Potter all day?”

Now don’t get me wrong, we talk about Harry Potter. A lot. Homeboy pretty much changed the game for us. But, we do a lot of other things as well.

I thought very seriously about doing one of those “what friends/family/teachers think I do vs. what I actually do” memes, but do we really need another one of those floating around the inter-web? No. The answer is no. Please don’t make anymore of those.