Spoken language can devastate, revive, or save a person.
The book discusses how the language we speak, our diction, and our vocabulary can impact the people we interact with. We use the very words that carry magic within this novel, in our everyday lives. Not just saying the words, but summoning their meaning’.” The key to casting a spell is tapping into that power. ‘And they become more powerful,’ she went on, ‘the more that they are said, and read, and written, in specific, consistent combinations. But I was trying to commit it all to memory. No one else was paying attention she wasn’t saying anything they didn’t already know. “ ‘Words are very powerful,’ Miss Possibelf said during our first Magic Words lesson. The book elaborates on this notion through one of Watford’s teachers, Miss Possibelf, on page 107: Although, the book explores the British sector of the magical world, it emphasizes how the use of language determines the power a spell may have. The deeply rooted fantastical world of Simon Snow also utilizes magic in a novel way. The book immerses you in each character’s own perspective Simon’s rambunctiously blunt, simple and absentminded point of view, Penelope’s stubbornly brilliant personality, and Baz’s posh and cynical facade (Baz is the person that you really can’t live without after reading this novel). Each chapter, whether dedicated to one character’s perspective or switching from one to another, gives the book an extremely personal flair. Rainbow Rowell also creates fully fleshed out character personas, which provide a really refreshing reading experience. Rowell’s formatting of the book also allows readers to experience this development from both character’s perspectives, which made it more intriguing. Simon and Baz were destined to be roommates, forced to be civil to each other within their room, and then became closer. The progression of the love story is subtle, and it will also create an impact so strong, you will need to take breaks during the intimate moments. Rainbow Rowell is well known for the well-crafted romance elements in her fiction. The plot begins to escalate when the second section begins, and it will not disappoint. (That, and how it builds our anticipation to meet Baz, is intense.) The main character, Simon, is obsessed with Baz in a paranoid sense, and keeps describing him as a kind of rival/enemy. You don’t have to read Fangirl in order to enjoy this book since Carry On is its own story, and it doesn’t reference Fangirl whatsoever.Īlthough the beginning of the book is rather slow, I cherish the majority of the first section because the writing’s fine attention to detail makes descriptions of “Watford School of Magicks” so vivid. Instead of continuing in Cath’s writing style, Rowell took Carry On and ran with it, making it her own. Originally, Carry On was supposed to be a fanfiction written in Cath’s writing style, but Rainbow fell in love with creating the fictional piece.
To reiterate: Cath is the main character in another one of Rowell’s novels called Fangirl, where it discusses fandoms, fanfictions, and mental health. In Carry On, Rowell offers her own take on the Simon Snow world and characters –separate from both Cath’s fanfiction and Leslie’s series.” – Hypable
In Fangirl, college student Cath writes fanfiction for the (fictional) Simon Snow series by (the fictional) Gemma T. “ Carry On is the sort-of spinoff to Rowell’s previous novel Fangirl.
The quickest way to explain Cath’s world, is with the blurb below, taken from the review site Hypable: However, Simon Snow is the series found in Cath’s world. The Simon Snow series is the fictional equivalent to our real world’s Harry Potter series by J.K.
It has been my spiritual book for the past four years.Ĭarry On is Rainbow Rowell’s unique take on the “chosen one” trope, and the ”Simon Snow” series. The book is Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (found and sold on Rainbow Rowell’s own website, Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, Target and Macmillan Publishers). If you have ever had me as a friend, I would recommend you read this novel whenever the opportunity presents itself.