Fangirling over Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl

I know it's very late, but HAPPY NEW YEAR! The last few months of 2015 were quite rough for me. I feel like there was too much drama in my life and I just realized that I might have got lost in it. This month, I want to start fresh. I want to get back the excitement and eagerness to develop myself that I once had. I want to focus on the important and precious things in my life. I want to enjoy doing the things that I love (I will write and read and watch films more!). I want to learn and do something new (I’m thinking of taking Korean language classes and going jogging and swimming regularly hehe). I want no more drama.

Anyways, I finished reading Rainbow Rowell's novel, Fangirl, during the Christmas holiday and I'm going to write what I think about it in this post, my first blog post in 2016!

Fangirl is a story about Cath, a girl who fangirls over her favorite fictional characters a little too hard (just like I do haha). Cath is really good at handling the fictional world, but when it comes to the real world, she really struggles because reality is even stranger than fiction. In this book, we follow Cath's journey throughout the first year of her college life, and might find some things there that are similar to our own experiences.

                                                

This book is the second book from Rainbow Rowell that I’ve read, and it has officially made her one of my favorite authors. I just love her writing; it’s so easy to read and makes you want to keep reading. Good job, Ms Rainbow Rowell!

The best thing about this book, in my opinion, is how relatable it is, especially for me. Just like Cath, I know how it feels like to be a clumsy, awkward person who is terrible at socializing, to be used by other people when they need your help with their homework because you are smart, to want to be alone in your room more than normal people do, to be scared to eat in the cafeteria alone on your first day of school because you just don't know anyone, to feel reluctant to have a relationship because you feel like you’re not good at dating…

But the thing that I find most relatable is how Cath feels about her favorite fictional characters.

Most of the people I know say that movies are just movies, books are just books, stories are just stories, Harry Potter is just a fictional character, Hogwarts is just a fictional place, etc. But for Cath, for me, and for other people like us who are usually called fangirls and fanboys, they are not just those things. For us, they are something. We love them. They make us happy. They help us get through the tough times in our lives. They help us understand people and their feelings. They teach us about life. They let us experience things that we might never be able to experience in real life. They mean a lot to us. There’s nothing wrong about being obsessed with books or films. Just like Daniel Radcliffe says, it is actually a good thing especially when compared to being obsessed with drugs, which can kill you. I love how these things are expressed in Cath’s story.

In the story, sometimes Cath likes to run away from real life and hide in Simon and Baz’s (her favorite fictional characters) world. I do that too sometimes because it feels good to be able to escape from our problems for a while. However, this story teaches me that we shouldn’t keep running away from life. It’s okay to do it sometimes, but we shouldn’t let ourselves be afraid of facing the real life. We have to be brave and face it, just like our heroes in the fictional world.

So, Fangirl is a really good book. It’s fun to read and has beautiful, meaningful messages. It will make your heart feel a little bit lighter, or at least make you smile. Go grab this book and read it!

That’s all from me today. I really need a new book to read right now but not really sure which book I should buy. I’m thinking of buying The Book Thief or The Martian. Hope I can get one of those after I get my salary at the end of the month haha.

Rating : 4/5

Being Young and in Love with Eleanor & Park

I realized that I had spent too much time reading and watching things that involve murders and psychotic people (which made my mom a little worried haha), so I decided to have something different this month. And since this month is February aka the month of love, I thought it would be great to read something... romantic. So I bought a novel called Eleanor & Park, written by Rainbow Rowell.

Eleanor & Park follows two teenagers whose names are in the title as they experience first love. Eleanor is an eccentric new girl at school who catches the attention of everyone at school, including Park, a Korean-American boy who sits next to her on the school bus. They unexpectedly fall so hard for each other despite the abuse, the insecurity, and the bullying that they experience as teenagers.

On the cover of my copy of the book, there is a quote from John Green's review that goes like this,

"Eleanor & Park reminded me not just what it's like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it's like to be young and in love with a book."

Well, I agree with him. This book reminds me how it feels like to be young and in love.

Eleanor & Park makes me realize how old I am because it makes me recall the time when I was as young as its characters and realize that that time was a looong time ago. Eleanor and Park are sixteen in the book. I am turning twenty-three this year, which means that I was their age, like, seven years ago. Following Eleanor and Park's journey makes me realize how much I've grown since I was sixteen. I used to be like Eleanor and Park. Like those two characters, I used to be so insecure about myself, my abilities, my future, my physical appearance. Like those two characters, I used to believe that love is true when you can be with the person that you love forever. But now things are different; the way I see things are different. I'm sure things are also different for Eleanor and Park when they are older. After that open ending, I can imagine how they learn to accept themselves for who they really are, to be grateful for everything they have, and to love selflessly without wanting to keep the ones that they love for themselves. 

Eleanor & Park also makes me fall in love. This book made me want to smile all the time, until my cheeks hurt. It made me giggle like teenage girls when they talk about their crushes. It made me want to sing and dance with strangers and birds on my way to my office like Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 500 Days of Summer. It made feel like there were butterflies in my stomach. I was crazy in love when I was reading this book, just like Eleanor and Park.

 

My dream cast for the movie haha. Ki Hong Lee as Park and Hailee Steinfeld as Eleanor.

I heard there will be a movie adaptation of Eleanor & Park  soon and I'm excited about it. I still can't decide who should play Eleanor because, when I think of her, I always picture Merida from the animated movie Brave in my head hahaha. Probably because of the crazy red hair thing. Someone suggests Hailee Steinfeld and I love her, so I think I'll support that suggestion. For Park, I really want Ki Hong Lee from The Maze Runner to play him. He just fits the role perfectly! I also imagine Cate Blanchett as Eleanor's mom and Yunjin Kim as Park's mom.

Rating : 4/5