What’s Up With the Ending?

There are happy endings, and then there's the ending of Fangirl. If you don't cheer for Cath's triumph over her writer's block and Prairie Schooner Prize win, then you're being stingy with the cheers. Come on—she practically rides off into the sunset of her perfect-boyfriended (no, that's not a real word) life like Olivia Newton John and John Travolta in Grease. In fact, if the cast of Fangirl were going to burst into song and end things with a dance, We Go Together would be a pretty good choice. (Except for you, Laura.)

Throughout the book, there's a Simon Snow story between each chapter. Sometimes the author is Gemma T. Leslie; sometimes it's Cath. If Simon and Baz aren't being boyfriends, it's hard to tell if the excerpts are Cath or canon, but the ending is all Cath—instead of writing a world someone else made up, she writes what she knows. Suddenly, the voice is different. It's finally, authentically Cath's.