Book Review: Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Kindred Spirits

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Pages: 62

Format: E-book

Published: February, 2016

Price: $1.99 -> Rp26.208 (Amazon)

Rating: 3 / 5 stars

Date started: May 1, 2016 - Date finished: May 1, 2016

Synopsis:

'Everybody likes everything these days. The whole world is a nerd.'

'Are you mad because other people like Star Wars? Are you mad because people like me like Star Wars?'

'Maybe.'

If you broke Elena's heart, Star Wars would spill out. So when she decides to queue outside her local cinema to see the new movie, she's expecting a celebration with crowds of people who love Han, Luke and Leia just as much as she does.

What she's not expecting is to be last in a line of only three people; to have to pee into a collectible Star Wars soda cup behind a dumpster or to meet that unlikely someone who just might truly understand the way she feels.

Review:

Elena is an avid fan of Star Wars, she has watched every Star Wars movie out there (except the prequels because his dad told her that it would ruin how Elena feels about Star Wars) and she also know almost everything about Star Wars. Star Wars is her whole life, it's the bond that connects her and her dad. So when a new Star Wars movie is going to come out, you bet she'll watch it on the premiere day.

She has always seen people lining up for days awaiting the premiere of a Star Wars movie year after year. This time she decided to join in on that, she decided to camp out and waited in line to watch the new Star Wars' sequel despite her mom's hesitation she still wants to do it anyway. She decided to camp out at a local theater in her town. Much to her surprise the atmosphere of the Star Wars line was not as euphoric as the ones she saw on the internet, there were only two people camping out and waiting in line for the Star Wars premiere (three if you count Elena as well).

The other two people waiting in that line are Troy and Gabe. One of them is a die-hard fan who is always waiting in line to every Star Wars premiere and one of them is a quiet guy who Elena feels doesn't quite like her very much. This short novella is about Elena's experience waiting in line with Troy and Gabe from December 14 to 16.

“What were they thinking when they scheduled this movie for December?" Troy said. "They weren't thinking of us, I can tell you. May," he said, shaking his head. "May is when you release a Star Wars movie. If this movie were a May movie, the line would already be around the block.”

You know, when I heard that Rainbow Rowell was going to release a new book and it's not a full size book I was kind of stoked because (1) I have never read any of her books but really do want to read them as I am collecting her books slowly (by the way, I only need Carry On to complete my collection) (2) I'm not sure if I can commit to a full size book right now. Given those two main reasons, I've decided to read Kindred Spirits as a kind of an introduction into Rowell's writing.

My verdict after reading this book is that I enjoyed reading it. I get now why people always say that they feel happy when they read Rowell's book. I kind of felt the same way about this one, it made me smile. The things that I like about this book are its characters, I was shocked when I found out that Elena is actually Asian, I mean I think I've never read a book where the lead character was Asian (I approve of by the way because I'm Asian as well). I actually also like the other characters, Troy and Gabe depicted the two sides in every fandom. Troy is the fanatic, outspoken fanboy who shows that he is all about that Star Wars. Meanwhile, Gabe is that type of fanboy whom you can't tell that he's actually a fanboy until you talk to him about it and he'll show you that he knows everything.

“And the thing about nerd culture being mainstream culture now means that there's no place to just be a nerd among other nerds - without being reminded that you're the nerd.”

Also, since this book is about Star Wars you can bet that there are a lot of Star Wars references just pouring out all over this book. For me personally as someone who has only watched the most recent Star Wars sequel, which was the Force Awakens some references were unfamiliar to me but it doesn't lessen my reading experience though.

I would've liked to give this book more stars but given that it is a novella and not a full book it was hard for me to give it more stars unless it was really amazing and in the end with this book I only just "liked" it. I will try to read Rowell's other works though! (hopefully sometime in the near future?). Would recommend this to any fan of Rowell's writings and for those who want to taste Rowell's writing before delving into her full sized books.

That's all for now!