History Literature / Fangirl

In 2020, Rowell partnered with Viz Media to adapt Fangirl into a manga miniseries. Part 1 was released in the fall of 2020.

* AdultFear: Given this is a novel about young adults, to be expected from both parents and grown children.
** First year heading to college, not rooming with your best friend for the first time in ages. How is that not anxiety-ridden?
** Your mother getting pregnant in college, warning you about boys and then running off will create some ParentalAbandonment issues. Not to mention a fear of meeting college boys.
*** From Laura’s perspective, there’s growing up in a family full of women getting pregnant too young, trying to buck the trend by going to college....only to get pregnant anyway shortly after graduation. It’s implied to be one of the reasons why she left Cath and Wren.
** Cath's dad gets this several times:
*** His wife divorces him because she can't handle the stress of being a mother. He becomes emotionally fragile as a result and has manic episodes.
*** Cath offers to move home after [[spoiler: he suffers a nervous breakdown at the office]] to take care of him. He doesn't want to be responsible for her not getting an education.
*** Wren is [[spoiler: hospitalized for alcohol poisoning; he threatens to pull her out of school if she doesn't attend Al-Anon meetings]]. Her response [[spoiler: "everyone drinks"]] doesn't help her case.

* FoeYay: In-universe. Cath writes about Baz and Simon Snow's potential chemistry in her fanfiction.

* RealityEnsues:
** Wren plus several months of partying and binge drinking equals hospitalization, eventually. Her dad only lets her go back to college if she attends AA meetings and comes home every weekend.
** Cath tries to turn in a piece about Baz as an Unreliable Narrator for a college homework assignment. Professor Piper has to flunk the assignment and says that even if the words and story were Cath's, the character and worlds don't belong to her and she had to turn in an original project. Levi even mentions that Professor Piper must like Cath a lot to not report her to the Honor Council for plagiarism.
** Laura gives and receives this trope: On one hand, a woman who openly walked out on her kids for ten years may not have reconciled her issues that led to the abandonment, and may never will. On the other hand, she shouldn’t have expected that Cath would be willing to talk to her after both abandoning her and not making any serious effort to contact her. [[spoiler:She accepts Cath’s ultimatum to either talk to her now or never by choosing never and becomes Facebook friends with Wren. However, Wren implies that it won’t last long due to Laura still giving less effort.]]

* TheCaretaker: Cath wants to be this for her dad, but he tells her to focus on her education. His boss "fucking Kelly" serves as one for her dad's career life, and Cath's grandmother also comes to cook meals.

* LeftHanging: After Cath spends the whole book trying to finish ''Carry On, Simon'' before Gemma T. Leslie finishes the canon series [[spoiler: it's never mentioned if she finishes it or not.]]

** While Art is a loving father through and through, when he finally puts his foot down due to his AngerBornOfWorry, Cath remarks that this is the first time he ''really'' showed how much he cared for his daughters well-being.

* HiddenDepths: Levi and Reagan are surprised when they learn that Cath does emergency dance parties to Kanye West when she's feeling down. Levi says he took her for the type to like moodier music.

* KickTheMoralityPet: Inverted, if one considers Cath as the MoralityPet to Wren. Cath stops talking to Wren for three months following the winter holidays, only to realize how things far have gone [[spoiler: when Wren's hospitalized for alcohol poisoning]].

Rainbow has also written a companion novel that [[{{Defictionalization}} defictionalizes]] Simon Snow fanfiction, ''Literature/CarryOn.''

** Cath's dad, which is amazing considering he suffers from manic episodes and has needed hospitalization. He stays out of the girls' lives except when he needs to put his foot down, like with [[spoiler: Wren's alcoholism nearly killing her]]. He also is fine with the girls staying
up late and dating, as long as they take care of themselves.

* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Why Professor Piper gives Cath [[spoiler: an extension on her final writing assignment,]] telling her that she is a good writer.
* YourCheatingHeart: ZigZagged with Cath and Levi and Reagan.
** Levi is Reagan's [[spoiler: ex-]]boyfriend but he and Cath are attracted to each other. Reagan actually becomes [[spoiler: a reluctant ShipperOnDeck]] when she learns this.
** Then when Levi is convinced [[spoiler: that Cath has no feelings for him, he kisses another girl at a party right when she comes to admit feelings for him. LoveHurts.]]
** This was also the reason why [[spoiler: Reagan and Levi broke up: Reagan just kept cheating on him. As she puts it, she's an awful girlfriend which may be the reason why she goes through boyfriends so quickly.]]

* LeftHanging: After Cath spends the whole book trying to finish "Carry On, Simon" before Gemma T. Leslie finishes the canon series [[spoiler: it's never mentioned if she finishes it or not.]]

* LeftHanging: After Cath spends the whole book trying to finish Carry On, Simon before Gemma T. Leslie finishes the canon series [[spoiler: it's never mentioned if she finishes it or not.]]

* LeftHanging: After Cath spends the whole book trying to finish Carry On, Simon before the Gemma T. Leslie finishes the canon series [[spoiler: Fangirl never mentions if she finishes it or not.]]

* SkewedPriorities: Discussed when Cath is [[spoiler: finishing both her fanfiction and writing assignment at the same time.]]

* WhatTheHellHero: Levi tears into Cath for [[spoiler: caring more about finishing ''Carry On, Simon'' before the release of the last Simon Snow book rather than finish her fiction assignment]] since not many professors give second chances and they are on scholarship. He then helps her by motivating her to finish both.

* {{Adorkable}}: What else do you expect from a novel titled ''Fangirl''?
** Cath is this, entirely. A longtime Simon Snow fan who stashes lots of peanut butter and energy bars because she can't find the dining hall. You fall for her immediately.
** Levi also. A ''barista'' farm boy at Starbucks who has trouble reading and falls for Cath. He also steals her energy bars.

* RealityEnsues: Wren plus several months of partying and binge drinking equals hospitalization, eventually. Her dad only lets her go back to college if she attends AA meetings and comes home every weekend.

* JerkassHasAPoint:
** "Jerkass" probably isn't the right word, but Professor Piper is right about Cath's fanfiction being plagiarism, despite her protests. Though the fanfic community is talked about far kinder these days, the subject is still a legal grey area for properties that aren’t in the public domain, which Simon Snow presumably isn't. But it's generally agreed that it's harmless, if not a bit dodgy if the writer is not making a profit off of their fanfic. But Cath turned it in as a college assignment, though as homework and not for her final project. For a writing class, what Cath did was on par with buying an essay online, turning it in, and getting caught. She's lucky she even got a chance to make up for it. Levi even lampshades it, saying the simple solution is don't turn in fanfiction.
*** On the other hand, Professor Piper's opinion is not universal, so her giving Cath a failing grade is about on the same level as a professor giving a failing grade on a historical paper because they have an interpretation that disagrees with that of the paper.
*** On the other, other hand, Professor Piper asked Cath to write an ''original'' story. And at the end of the day, she didn't, the world and characters were not created by Cath and no matter how she wants to spin that fact won't change. Professor Piper is basically telling Cath she needs to get out of her comfort zone and at this point in the novel, she really hasn't.
** Cath has a moment when fighting with Wren about visiting their mother. She tells Wren that Laura broke all of them, Wren included, and that she'd rather pick up her own pieces than be "wasted" the way her sister is all the time. Cath ends up being right on both of these points; her mother ends up leaving an unconscious Wren right when she would have been needed, and Wren nearly dies from alcohol poisoning. Art, their dad, makes Wren see a counselor to handle her problems rather than drink them away. Their dad also points out that when Wren tries to say she doesn't want to be a shut-in like Cath, that her twin sister has maintained her 4.0 GPA for her scholarship and has a nice boyfriend.
** On the other hand, whether or not Wren wants to reconnect with Laura is her choice. Her reasons are not unfounded, and she's given the opportunity. Meanwhile, Cath at first acts like a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum that Wren's even considering it. Later, she says she's not fine with Wren going but doesn't want to fight her about it; it's Wren who initiates the argument by saying her sister is "making" her do this alone. Cath already made her choice, it's none of her business what Wren chooses. Cath eventually accepts this, and she and Wren agree to just not speak about the issue.
** Art tends to be right when he is losing his temper. He tells Cath that dropping out of college because it's too hard is the equivalent of quitting and that sets a precedent for life. Cath needs a few days to admit that he's right, especially when he says that she doesn't have to take care of him. Later, he says that Wren is out of control with her drinking and that if she doesn't see a counselor and go cold turkey, he's making her drop out.

* BettyAndVeronica: Played with regarding Levi and Nick. At first it seems that Nick is Betty (friendly, likes writing, a bit introverted like Cath) while Levy is Veronica (extroverted, loud, obsessed with farming, in a relationship with Reagan). Once it's clear that Nick [[spoiler: is a selfish narcist that uses her as only a stepping stone]] and Levi [[spoiler: is not only single and attracted to her, but also a equally big nerd with a growing passion for fanfiction]], their roles get reversed.
** Cath is the Betty for Wrens Veronica towards everyone that knows both of them. Most people prefer the exciting and outgoing Veronica.

* FreudianExcuse: Cath claims that the reason she's messed up is because her mother left her and Wren when they were only eight, and never returned.

** On the other hand, whether or not Wren wants to reconnect with Laura is her choice. Her reasons are not unfounded, and she's given the opportunity. Meanwhile, Cath acts like a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum that Wren's even considering it. Cath already made her choice, it's none of her business what Wren chooses.

** While Art is a loving father through and through, when he finally puts his foot down due to his AngerBornFromWorry, Cath remarks that this is the first time he ''really'' showed how much he cared for his daughters well-being.

* JerkassHasAPoint: "Jerkass" probably isn't the right word, but Professor Piper is right about Cath's fanfiction being plagiarism, despite her protests. Though the fanfic community is talked about far kinder these days, the subject is still a legal grey area for properties that aren’t in the public domain, which Simon Snow presumably isn't. But it's generally agreed that it's harmless, if not a bit dodgy if the writer is not making a profit off of their fanfic. But Cath turned it in as a college assignment. For a writing class, what Cath did was on par with buying an essay online, turning it in, and getting caught. She's lucky she even got a chance to make up for it.

** Cath's dad, which is amazing considering he suffers from manic episodes and has needed hospitalization. He stays out of the girls' lives except when he needs to put his foot down, like with [[spoiler: Wren's alcoholism nearly killing her]]. He also is fine with the girls staying up late and dating, as long as they take care of themselves.