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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
This was a wonderful story about fandoms, friendships, trauma, and love. Honestly, this is nothing like Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. The mixed media way of telling the story was great. The connection of Finn and Gena was superb I appreciate that while most of the premise revolves around the fandom of a show, it also addressed how some fans take things too far. But most importantly, internet relationships are real relationships. Don't discredit them.
Spoiler
although I was a bit torn up about them not ending up together. I liked Charlie, and polyamory is definitely a thing.
The first thing I want to say about "Gena/Finn" is that, in my opinion, the marketing and title did not match the book and that I was set up for an outcome that did not happen and it left me feeling angry and betrayed. If you are a lesbian and/or looking for a wlw story, I strongly encourage you to check out the spoiler a few paragraphs down.
The second is that if you are looking for a light, fluffy read DO NOT, under any circumstances, read this book.
None of this is to say that the book isn't good. It is intense and emotional and honestly real about fangirl experiences though perhaps a little more extreme and complicated than most of us will go through.
It uses blog posts, Tumblr, (sent and unsent) emails, journal entries, poems written by the characters, and text conversations to tell the story and it is one of the best examples I've seen of that kind of storytelling. I've read several books that use those types of vehicles to tell a story, and I don't think I've experienced anyone better able to pull the reader into the story when doing so.
do not end up together romantically . Their friendship is one of the most amazing I've seen displayed in fiction, but they don't end up together nor do either of them end up with a woman . Because of that, I felt disappointed in the book and angry for being misled, and it left a bad taste in my mouth, personally. Further, I'm not likely to read more from these authors.
This is a solid book plot, character development, and style wise, but I'm still mad about how I was set up to expect a very different book.
The second is that if you are looking for a light, fluffy read DO NOT, under any circumstances, read this book.
None of this is to say that the book isn't good. It is intense and emotional and honestly real about fangirl experiences though perhaps a little more extreme and complicated than most of us will go through.
It uses blog posts, Tumblr, (sent and unsent) emails, journal entries, poems written by the characters, and text conversations to tell the story and it is one of the best examples I've seen of that kind of storytelling. I've read several books that use those types of vehicles to tell a story, and I don't think I've experienced anyone better able to pull the reader into the story when doing so.
Spoiler
Now, this story does have elements characters of questioning sexuality, etcetera, so it is an LGBT story. One of the girls admits that she does sometimes feel attraction to other ladies. However, these girlsThis is a solid book plot, character development, and style wise, but I'm still mad about how I was set up to expect a very different book.
Gena/Finn is another case study of "great idea, somewhat disappointing narrative". While I commend its attempts to capture the complexity of sexuality (particularly bisexuality), I again felt somewhat disappointed, though I could not pinpoint my main issues. If I had to hazard a guess, it would be that I felt like I was reading yet another novel about a woman who loves a woman end poorly--something that is relatively common in YA and middle grade reads. I loved the concept of a 21st century epistolary novel, and felt the characters were authentic and lovable. The inclusion of fan culture was genius. All in all, a relatively fantastic novel.
So...I binge-read this book, which I haven't done in a while and it was beautiful. I love the world of Gena and Finn. My nerdy Fandom self was so happy to read all of the fandom-related awesomeness and the authors portrayed it really well. I liked the multimedia format of the book and that their stories were told through posts, messages, tests, journals, poems, press releases, etc. It felt authentic in a way because so much of fandom life is lived out online that way. It did have the downside of making me miss the conversations that would have happened between Gena and Finn in real life, but it stayed true to its format.
This reminded me so much of my Brainmate (best friend from college) and all of our witty and nerdy conversations. It felt natural and authentic and heartbreaking in its reality of hard times.
I didn't want to leave this world, and Gena and Finn are going to stay with me for a long time.
This reminded me so much of my Brainmate (best friend from college) and all of our witty and nerdy conversations. It felt natural and authentic and heartbreaking in its reality of hard times.
I didn't want to leave this world, and Gena and Finn are going to stay with me for a long time.
(I wrote this review back in June, but didn't post it at the time, and then I forgot about it because the past two months have been very odd. I can only assume that I wrote everything I wanted to say about this book? Oh well. I'm posting this mostly as-is. I GUESS THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW. But it's stuff that I would have wanted to know before reading...)
The only thing I really knew about this book before reading it was that it was about an online friendship. That caught my attention immediately, because I've developed several important online friendships over the years. Even though I've never been a part of a fanfic community or interested in Supernatural (which I'm pretty sure is what the fictional show in this book was based on), but everything still felt so familiar. I was loving it! I couldn't put it down. And then...... revelations (of Gena being a child star) and tragedy. Which, you know, that's fine... It felt a little inconsistent with the beginning of the book, but nothing too off-putting.
But as for what WAS off-putting....
I didn't even know this book would potentially have queer content. Even with the slash in the title, and the fact I'd read Hannah Moskowitz's previous book, which had a bi main character. But even not expecting anything gay didn't save me from disappointment, because for a while the book seriously started to go that direction. Like SERIOUSLY. And I fell for it!!! Because hope springs eternal in my gay heart!
But sadly it ended extremely unsatisfactorily in the regard... Like "Oh we were like in love and basically admitted it but let's just go on and have a slightly alienated friendship now and be with these nice lame dudes."
Like.... I'm kind of in denial about it. This book could've been so good, but instead it just made me feel kind of sad. The only thing worse than unfulfilled femslash ships, are the consistency with which 1/2 of femslash ships are killed off in media. *cough* But that is another whole can of worms. And also why I don't have time for this half-assed shit.
The only thing I really knew about this book before reading it was that it was about an online friendship. That caught my attention immediately, because I've developed several important online friendships over the years. Even though I've never been a part of a fanfic community or interested in Supernatural (which I'm pretty sure is what the fictional show in this book was based on), but everything still felt so familiar. I was loving it! I couldn't put it down. And then...... revelations (of Gena being a child star) and tragedy. Which, you know, that's fine... It felt a little inconsistent with the beginning of the book, but nothing too off-putting.
But as for what WAS off-putting....
I didn't even know this book would potentially have queer content. Even with the slash in the title, and the fact I'd read Hannah Moskowitz's previous book, which had a bi main character. But even not expecting anything gay didn't save me from disappointment, because for a while the book seriously started to go that direction. Like SERIOUSLY. And I fell for it!!! Because hope springs eternal in my gay heart!
But sadly it ended extremely unsatisfactorily in the regard... Like "Oh we were like in love and basically admitted it but let's just go on and have a slightly alienated friendship now and be with these nice lame dudes."
Like.... I'm kind of in denial about it. This book could've been so good, but instead it just made me feel kind of sad. The only thing worse than unfulfilled femslash ships, are the consistency with which 1/2 of femslash ships are killed off in media. *cough* But that is another whole can of worms. And also why I don't have time for this half-assed shit.
This book captured what fandom is, very well. I felt like I was reliving my fandom experience all over again. And had the book stayed the course, I really think I would’ve enjoyed it more.
If I could’ve reviewed the two first parts only, I would’ve given this 5 stars. Part three was excessive drama to me, and was like I was reading a completely different book.
If I could’ve reviewed the two first parts only, I would’ve given this 5 stars. Part three was excessive drama to me, and was like I was reading a completely different book.
I honestly don't have a clear idea of how I feel about this one yet. Need to think about it more!
Both of these characters were terrible. They were extremely lacking in both depth and maturity and the format is not one that aids their development. I think that I was most disappointed in Finn, because at 22 I expect her to be more mature and provide advice to Gena who is only 18, yet they both behave so immaturely that I cannot believe this is a realistic depiction of young adults.
As an aside, I don't understand why Finn thinks that she needs to keep her interests from Charlie, who is great and clearly loves her, because he doesn't seem like he would judge or think less of her because of her fanfic interests.
As an aside, I don't understand why Finn thinks that she needs to keep her interests from Charlie, who is great and clearly loves her, because he doesn't seem like he would judge or think less of her because of her fanfic interests.
Well. I enjoyed the first half of this book, but then it got all dramatic and it just bummed me out. Not what I wanted to happen at all. :(