June Book Club Discussion- Fangirl

[christy082]

Today is the 25th so here's the thread for the monthly discussion.

I did not get a change to reread Fangirl, so my specific thoughts about the book are not fresh in my mind. But I did really enjoy the book. The one thing I really didn't care for was the fanfic stories. By the end, I was not reading them at all.

[charlatti]

I didn't read the fanfic either. I vaguely wondered if it might have parallels to the main story, but I really didn't enjoy reading it enough to find out. I thought the book was really sweet overall. A little too angsty for me in parts -- I feel like it's definitely YA and not crossover YA. I went in with low expectations, so I was pleasantly surprised.

I did find it unbelievable that the professor would be so completely shocked by a student turning in fanfic. Maybe because she was supposed to be a visiting prof, but I would think most fiction teachers would have encountered that and had a policy in place from the start.

[hopecounts]

I thought it was a pretty good book. I didn't fall in love with it but I enjoyed it.
The fanfic didn't bother me but I have gone through phases of reading fanfic so it wasn't odd to me.

I do agree that the Prof was acting Brand New to not have a policy that addressed fanfic, it's not like fanfic hasn't been around for a while.

I felt so bad for the girls when we found out how they got their name that is just sucky. It also made me not so surprised that Mom took off later on.

All in all it was reasonably entertaining but not one I'm likely to reread.

[rootbeerfloat]

I read it last year, so it's not fresh either, but I enjoyed it. Some aspects I liked better than Eleanor and Park even. Maybe I just liked Levi a lot, lol.

I liked the fanfic well enough, though I don't recall it being super critical to the real life storyline. A minor nitpick is that HP is mentioned, and it seems unlikely that there would be two successful YA fantasy series in the same universe.

[aprilsails]

I just finished it yesterday and rather enjoyed it. I've read some fanfic pieces in the past so that aspect didn't bother me and I really got into it. I don't think they paralleled the story in any meaningful way but I just took them as a light nod to the popularity of the Harry Potter franchise.

I found the story was a little all over the place. There were serious aspects of growing up addressed in how the two girls both dealt (or did not deal) with their Mother's disappearance and the Father's bipolar nature.

At the same time her relationship with Levi seemed so young. It actually made me reminisce about my relationship with DH way back when we were freshmen. How every single hug and kiss counted for so much. But I digress...

The one thing that really bothered me is that the shared book-writing with Nick wasn't resolved to my satisfaction. Yes, she realized that he didn't deserve to publish the work, but I would have thought it would have been in both their interests to publish it jointly as per the teacher's wish. In the end she won with her own story but that was a very small byline in the book. What she did just seemed petty and like she was backlashing against him when she had actually given her permission for him to submit it.

Also what the heck with the fear of the big bad campus? The whole need a walk home or run home dialing 911 was a little out of touch with my experience as a university student. The whole place is crawling with people 24 hours a day. If you yell, you will be heard.

[hopecounts]

Jun 25, 2014 22:13:04 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

Also what the heck with the fear of the big bad campus? The whole need a walk home or run home dialing 911 was a little out of touch with my experience as a university student. The whole place is crawling with people 24 hours a day. If you yell, you will be heard.

It fit with my experience at my smaller University.
The library side of campus (library and the various school buildings) was usually all but deserted by 7 (the bars and what have you were on the opposite side of campus) so there were some pretty creepy not well lit areas between the library and the dorms if you were walking home from the library in the evening. 
The 

[aprilsails]

Jun 26, 2014 11:09:47 GMT -5 hopecounts said:

Jun 25, 2014 22:13:04 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

Also what the heck with the fear of the big bad campus? The whole need a walk home or run home dialing 911 was a little out of touch with my experience as a university student. The whole place is crawling with people 24 hours a day. If you yell, you will be heard.

It fit with my experience at my smaller University.
The library side of campus (library and the various school buildings) was usually all but deserted by 7 (the bars and what have you were on the opposite side of campus) so there were some pretty creepy not well lit areas between the library and the dorms if you were walking home from the library in the evening. 
The 

That must have sucked. I admit that I went to a fairly large university and lived at the central campus. There were also the emergency blue lights set up everywhere in sight lines for protection. 

It just seemed to me to be an unnecessary plot device to make it more obvious that Levi liked Cath and that Cath has anxiety issues.

[Wallflower]

I loved, loved, loved the book. I really found myself identifying with Cath - I felt all the same insecurities myself. Still do, to a degree. I had read Eleanor & Park and, while I enjoyed it well enough, I had sort of waffled about reading this book. I'm so glad I went ahead and read it!

I liked how Cath moved forward as a character based on a lot of different things. So often, it seems like characters only react to the things around them, and only change because they are forced to (i.e., they are passive in their own lives), but Cath really does a mix of making choices for herself (like pushing so hard to finish her fanfic, though I think she did that partly for herself and partly to avoid writing the final project for her class), and growing because she has no choice (e.g., her sister pushing her to stand on her own).

Overall, this was one of the books I've enjoyed most lately.

Oh, and the campus security thing ... orientation weekend at my college, they handed us a rape whistle and told us to always have it handy. They did have an escort system for late night trips across campus, but it really made an impact and gave me a sense of fear for going out at night.