Where to Start with Rainbow Rowell: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Rainbow Rowell — whether to begin with Eleanor and Park, Fangirl, or Attachments. A complete reading guide to the beloved contemporary romance novelist.
Rainbow Rowell (born 1973) is the American novelist who — with Eleanor and Park (2013) and Fangirl (2013) — established herself as the most beloved writer of contemporary young adult and adult romance fiction of her generation. Her novels are characterised by specific, believable characters, precise period and cultural detail, and a warmth that avoids sentimentality. She writes both YA (Eleanor and Park, Fangirl, Carry On) and adult fiction (Attachments, Landline), and her YA is consistently more emotionally sophisticated than the category average. She is among the most recommended contemporary romance novelists on BookTok and Goodreads.
Where to Start: Eleanor and Park (2013)
The essential Rowell — and the starting point most consistently recommended by her readers. 1986, Omaha, Nebraska: Park Sheridan sits alone on the school bus and one day a new girl, Eleanor Douglas, sits next to him because there is nowhere else. She is different from everyone else in ways that Park recognises without fully understanding; she is also in circumstances he doesn’t know — overcrowded house, a stepfather whose behaviour is dangerous in ways she manages by being invisible.
They fall in love slowly, through shared comics and shared headphones and eventually through saying things neither of them says to anyone else. Rowell writes both characters with equal depth and equal specificity — Park’s ambivalence about his Korean heritage in a mostly white town, Eleanor’s capacity for both sharp humour and genuine fear, the way their first love is both the most natural and the most fragile thing in either of their lives. The period detail is precise and affectionate without being nostalgic. The ending is not easy.
Fangirl (2013)
Rowell’s most autobiographically invested novel — a coming-of-age story about the specific difficulty of leaving a context where you were competent. Cath Avery writes fanfiction about the Simon Snow series (a fictional Harry Potter-esque franchise) for hundreds of thousands of readers, and arrives at university without any of the social infrastructure she had managed at home. Her twin sister has chosen independence; her father is fragile; her roommate Reagan is intimidating. The novel is about the question of whether what you are genuinely good at in the contained space of the internet translates into a life.
Attachments (2011)
Rowell’s debut adult novel — a love story about a man who works as an internet security monitor in 1999 and falls in love with a woman whose emails he is reading without her knowledge. The ethical problem of this is acknowledged; Rowell navigates it with skill. Lighter in register than Eleanor and Park; her most purely romantic adult novel. An excellent introduction for readers who want adult rather than YA fiction.
Carry On (2015)
The Simon Snow novel — the fictional fantasy series from Fangirl given full expression as a standalone novel. Simon Snow is the Chosen One at a British magic school; his nemesis and roommate Baz is a vampire whose family history is entangled with everything Simon doesn’t understand about himself. A love letter to Harry Potter fanfiction, enemies-to-lovers tropes, and the specific energy of romance written by people who love a source text with particular intensity. Best read after Fangirl for full resonance; accessible independently.
Reading Rainbow Rowell
Rowell’s novels are united by genuine warmth toward her characters — she clearly loves the people she writes — and by a specific, non-generic approach to romance that makes her feel distinct from commercial romance fiction. Begin with Eleanor and Park for the fullest version of her gifts; read Fangirl for her most personally revealing work. Her adult and YA fiction can be read in any order.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where should I start with Rainbow Rowell?
Eleanor and Park (2013) is the most widely recommended starting point — Rowell's second novel and the one most consistently cited by readers as her best. Two teenagers in 1986 Omaha fall in love slowly on the school bus over shared comics and mixtapes. Park is half-Korean and different from the other kids in ways he manages; Eleanor is the new girl, strange, in difficult circumstances, and impossible to ignore. The novel is a first love story told with unusual specificity and emotional honesty. Fangirl is the best alternative for readers who want a college-set coming-of-age story with a fanfiction subplot.
What is Eleanor and Park about?
Eleanor and Park (2013) is set in 1986 Omaha and follows Eleanor Douglas — just returned home to an overcrowded house, a violent stepfather, and a precarious family situation — and Park Sheridan, a half-Korean teenager who is not popular but is not a target, who finds a seat next to Eleanor on the school bus. They fall into conversation over the comics he's reading; they share headphones for the music he's listening to; they fall for each other slowly and then completely. Rowell writes both teenagers' inner lives with full seriousness: Park's ambivalence about his Korean heritage, Eleanor's management of a home situation that is genuinely dangerous, and both their awareness that the happiness they've found is fragile.
What is Fangirl about?
Fangirl (2013) follows Cath Avery, eighteen, at her first year of university. Cath is a fanfiction writer — she has hundreds of thousands of readers for her fic based on the fictional Simon Snow series — and she is deeply uncomfortable with real life in ways that fanfiction has allowed her to defer. Her twin sister Wren has decided they should have separate social lives; their father is fragile; Cath is managing to function through her writing. The novel is about the specific difficulty of moving from a context where you were competent into one where everything has to be re-learned. Rowell's most personally invested novel.
Is Carry On a standalone novel?
Carry On (2015) is a standalone novel, but it is the fictional Simon Snow story that Cath is writing fanfiction about in Fangirl — so it is both independent (it doesn't require reading Fangirl) and a companion (reading Fangirl first adds a layer of meta-awareness to it). Carry On is a Harry Potter-inspired fantasy romance about a young man who may be the Chosen One, his nemesis/roommate, and their increasingly complicated relationship. It is primarily a fantasy romance for readers who want the fanfiction genre (enemies-to-lovers, magic school, chosen one tropes used self-consciously) rendered as a full novel.
