Book-a-book of the Month Club discussion

Any discussions about the story . . .

A little more on the likes and dislikes, starting with the likes...(view spoiler)[ First, once I started enjoying the interjections of Simon's story, it was really fun to see all the pieces of other stories like Harry Potter, Twilight, Night...I'm sure there were others but those were the ones that really jumped out at me. Being a story about a fan fic writer, it fit really well and was a fun twist to the story. I also really enjoyed Cath (I still HATE her name) reading to Levi so you could see into her world of Simon, rather than just hearing her talk about it. Next, I thought the characters were for the most part written in a very believable way, so I wasn't cringing at how unrealistic they were. Cath was exactly what I feel like a bookworm, self described geeky college freshman could be. She wasn't holier than though in her differences or wanting to be a good student and not get into trouble, and on the other side of the coin Wren was a great example of a sister trying to forge her own path and getting into some trouble doing it. Levi was just a little too perfect and I had a hard time believing Reagan could get over Cath and Levi over the course of a shower (I mean, there needed to be some sort of emotion from it, she let Cath believe they were still together for a whole semester for heck's sake, that says way more attachment to me, so what was the point of foreshadowing a history between them and then letting it become history in a few lines?!). Overall though, they were some of the more believable characters I've read in YA in a while. Also loved Levi's comparison of freshman months to dog years, it was a great perspective on being young and everything that happens. Not that nothing happens when you're older of course, but the way time works and how much happens in certain amounts of time definitely does have a way of morphing itself as time goes on. (hide spoiler)]

And now more details on the dislikes, or the things I'd change if I were the writing the fan fic on this one! (view spoiler)[ The biggest thing (besides weird names!), were that it was overall a little busy and I never felt like everything came together, or was even necessary to begin with. The deadbeat mom/manic dad storyline was a big one for me. History can go a long way in building and I think this stuff could have impacted the story had it been done in a different way, but the way it did play out just felt disjointed to me. It was like it was just dropped into random places to create drama and try to build their past, but it didn't quite work. I also felt like a lot of storylines in general weren't complete, like we got little snippets of their story but a lot didn't come full circle. For example, Cath and Wren's falling out after Christmas - there was almost nothing to it, and Cath just seemed to go on with her life until a traumatic event happened and they were back to normal. I didn't feel any emotion about them falling apart or coming back together, the events just sort of happened. The only story I felt a real connection to was Cath and Levi, and even that one let me down. When he was telling her how he'd been trying to get her attention for months and explaining how, I felt as blind to it as she was. I would have loved to have seen some actual tension between them before the Outsiders scene. I wasn't blindsided by it since there was a little bit there, but nothing that had me cheering for them and getting more excited as they got closer to the kiss. At the end of the day I liked this book, but there were places where I definitely could have really liked it or even loved it had it been put together in a way that helped me care more about it. (hide spoiler)]

Leah - I agree about the characters being believable, except (and you kind of touched on this) the Mom and Dad.

I am not going to hide my spoilers, because I am going to try and be as general as possible, but proceed with caution!

The Dad's work and his nervous breakdown felt weird and forced - just added to add a dramatic twist to the story.

Also, my feeling about the Cath and Levi relationship mirrors my feelings on almost every YA quirky girl/superhot cool guy love story - I do a lot of eye rolling!

But, overall, I enjoyed the story for what it was. When I read a YA I expect something and I am happy when I get it. And, with Fangirl, I got the expected YA experience and that leaves me satisfied. I have not had that with some other Rainbow Rowell, a recent Matthew Quick book I read, and a few others.

Matthew, I definitely agree that it fit the genre well, and I definitely enjoyed the YA experience more than some others I've read recently.

One thing I did enjoy in terms of believing the characters was actually Cath and Levi and the quirky/super hot thing. While he was technically the older/unattainable guy, he wasn't the super hot one, at least from what I got. I think she might have actually said at one point that her high school sort of boyfriend was better looking, and nothing really stands out for me that makes him even that cool. I just felt like he was a pretty normal guy. I liked that, and it caused less eye rolling than the typical scenario!

Okay so It was enjoyable, but yeah I didn't really grow attached to any of the characters. Never got used to jumping to Simon stories. The only time I came close was when she was reading to Levi, it flowed better. To begin with I was reading ever single one, towards the end I skimmed and even skipped some.

Oh and to go a bit off topic. I had to write the word grey/gray at work the other day and actually paused on the spelling of it before I ended up spelling it grey(which is how i have always spelt it so I don't know why I paused). I was talking to my partner about the spelling and he spells it gray. I didn't think there was a difference apart from the fact that some words are spelt differently in different countries. I googled to make sure i wasn't tripping out and I was informed that in America it is spelt gray and in UK it is grey (which is what I had assumed)...anyhow I bring this up here because after the discussion with my partner I noticed in this book the author changing between the two spellings, which just confused me.

You know, I looked this up recently, too. I am pretty sure I use both spellings and I never knew that each spelling is associated with a specific country. Great attention to detail, Alex - I didn't notice that in the book. I guess the difference is the Simon Snow stories being British? It shows Rowell's dedication to authenticity!

haha I don't think i would have noticed it if I hadn't had that blank moment at work haha

Wow Alex, definitely great attention to detail! I tend to notice things like that too, with no rhyme or reason to why I do sometimes, which is definitely one of the downfalls to audio (which this one was for me).

I didn't get to read along with you guys, but I read this recently and loved it. Like Matthew and Leah said I expect certain things from YA and this was perfectly that. I think I read through my own teenagers eyes as I read YA now. I didn't always, and wonder if my perception of these books will change when all of my children are past their teens.

I also agree perfectly with Leah about the Cath/Levi relationship.

On a side note, has anyone read any of Rowell's adult fiction? I like it even better than her YA.

Kandice wrote: "I didn't get to read along with you guys, but I read this recently and loved it. Like Matthew and Leah said I expect certain things from YA and this was perfectly that. I think I read through my ow..."

I have yet to read any of the adult fiction, but my wife loved Attachments.

I loved it too! Landline was almost as good, but not quite. I think she is a better writer when she leaves the supernatural out of it and sticks to relationships.

Though Fangirl is still on my to-read list; I saw this online article that I thought you all would enjoy:

http://bookriot.com/2015/06/09/how-fa...