Review: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

By: unknown on Saturday, September 07, 2013

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

  Published by St. Martins Press

  Released: February 23, 2013

    Hardcover, 328 pages
   Source: Bought
Reviewed by Angela

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 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 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. 

(May contain spoilers)

Guys, I found my next favourite book. Like my favourite favourite. Along the shelves of Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars and Ella Enchanted. Oh my, this book just made my heart flip, then flip then it basically just died. Yeah. In my opinion, there are two types of books I love. The one that is extremely interesting and keeps you on your toes, such as Vampire Academy and The Mortal Instruments. Then there are the kind that the plot itself is nothing extraordinary, but the writing and message and the deepness of it totally overlaps it. Such as Eleanor and Park and The Fault in Our Stars.

Let's take a minute and admire the cover shall we? It simple, yet beautiful. Eleanor with headphones on the left, and Park with headphones on the right, connected by the wire, string I don't know what's it called okay. It fits the book so perfectly and is probably one of my favourite covers ever.

Aren't we all used to the perfect protagonists? The guy is unbelievably sexy and hot, and the girl is like gorgeous and perfect? And that always makes us feel like butts, nothing like that will ever happen to us. *sighs* Not in this case. Both characters are flawed. Eleanor, bright red curly hair, all the wrong clothes, and not the skinniest girl around. Park, a half Korean boy. Nothing against Koreans at all, just that in most books, both characters are of the same skin colour.  Yet, these two star crossed lovers fall in love. When two people are meant to be together, nothing will keep them apart. 

Eleanor was a really relatable character. Her thoughts, emotions, you could really connect to them. How she felt about kissing Park, and when they went a bit farther than that. It made it much more realistic. Her family was just horrible, I wanted to just kill her stepdad. I was so sad for her, the environment she had to live in. So many kids, a poor family, a mother that's powerless and an abusive, effed up stepdad. 

This is simply one of the best romance, and sweetest one I've ever read. The comics, the tapes, their relationship was so cute. But of course, all good things come to an end. The ending was just asdfgghjklpoiuyttrewadfghjkknjbyvtdrs. Obviously, I knew something would happen, due to the beginning and I knew my feelings would be like floating but I was just sobbing and my nose was running and...But seriously. This was tear-jerking, breathtaking and mostly heartbreaking. Please read it, then we can cry together. In all honesty, this book was sad, but it was also moving and sweet. You won't regret it. Unless you're that kind of person that just hates all the books that are amazing. Eleanor and Park is the kind of book you'll be thinking of long after you read it, and your emotions would be all over the place again. 

5/5 Stars