I just got back from a 10 day trip to Northern NSW, to rural communities that have a high indigenous population. This trip was amazing and enlightening and I wish I could go back because it taught me so much.
During the trip I was reading Fangirl and I was a little bit nervous because as I was reading about comparatively more shallow problems, I was seeing the scariest issues of society such as drug and alcohol abuse and how that made these tiny communities struggle with unemployment and the threat of tiny primary schools being shut down.
However, I didn't feel irritated or mad about any of Fangirl because Cath, Wren and Levi made it so obvious that social issues, family problems, etc. are definitely just as debilitating as the socio-economic problems.
Some authors may have been unable to give me this realisation. I read plenty of shallow, shitty romance books which are so shallow that they make you want to scream. Fangirl made me want to just hug and marry my kindle.
Another little tangent - the fanfiction aspect of Fangirl was FANTASTIC. I admit to reading A LOT of Harry Potter fanfiction a few years ago. Even trying (and failing) to write a little myself. I can perfectly see how Simon Snow is representing Harry Potter and how Cath wrote such successful fanfiction. I just feel like this was another thing that made this book perfect for me. Seriously, I love, love, loved it.
The writing was great, the characters were so believable and wonderful and if I could steal Levi for myself, I would not hesitate for a second. Off to read more Rainbow Rowell.
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