Publisher: St. Martins Griffin
Release Date: February 26, 2013
Book Format: Hardcover
# of Pages: 326
Synopsis: Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.
Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.
Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.
Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.
Meet The Author: (Taken From Goodreads)
When she's not writing, Rainbow is reading comic books, planning Disney World trips and arguing about things that don't really matter in the big scheme of things.
She lives in Nebraska with her husband and two sons.
More at rainbowrowell.com.
My Review:
I bought Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell with my own money, and this is my honest review.
Recently I decided to buddy read Eleanor & Park with Dela; who just happens to be the author of another book I recently finished, The 52nd which by the way is amazing and I highly recommend everyone to check it out. But back to the topic at hand, I have heard amazing things about all of Rowells books but never had the chance to pick one up for myself until now.
I must say the fact that the story is based in 1986, makes it that much more enjoyable. I feel like it probably would be more profound to someone who was alive at this point in time, but just the fact that Rowell took a risk and chose that year rather than present day was interesting. Another aspect that drew me in, was Eleanor and Parks reactions to each other in the beginning pages. Early on Eleanor refers to Park as a stupid asian quite often and I got a kick out of it every time.
Their love was not instant, which lets face it makes the story that much better. It bugs me when people lay eyes on each other and its like, “I don’t know you but I love you.” The way these two started off made for a much better story. Another great part was the ice breaker between them which was when Park started giving Eleanor comics to read, that made me melt. Another feature that making their love iconic was how awkward the two of them were when their romance started, “Jesus. Was it possible to rape someones hand?” (Rowell, 74) I laughed out loud to this line for a while.
The background characters really added to the story in this case. My favorite was Parks mom for the sole fact that she was asian and Rowell most of the time did a great job making her accent stand out. The character that I hated the most though, you would think was her stepfather, but it actually was Eleanor's mother for me. The reason being is because she had like 6 kids in that house sleeping in one room, they had pretty much nothing, and were all being subjected to the rath of their stepfather. I mean come on now, how much does it take for her eyes to open and something to be done?
The ending was just meh for me. I was hoping for and expecting so much more, and as imagined the end just left me feeling empty and wanting more. Yes I know this is some authors goal, but the way the whole book went I felt as though it was supposed to be a happily ever happy ending, and while it was a safe ending for Eleanor it was most certainly not happily ever after.
Favorite Quotes:
“Nobody thinks Asian guys are hot.” Park said finally. (272)
“She kissed him with tongue. On the bus.” (219)
“Did you really kick him in the face?” his dad asked” (133)
“Jesus. Was it possible to rape somebodys hand?” (74)
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