Friday 4 July 2014

Book Review: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell


Goodreads 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.

328 pages
4.21 average rating on Goodreads
Published: 2013
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance

I LOVE this book! I had heard so much hype about this book and I was worried that it wouldn't live up to my expectations, but it completely surpassed them! 

Eleanor has grown up in some unfortunate circumstances, and has just been allowed to move home after her stepfather kicked her out (for a year!). Park is a nice boy who has been raised with everything he wants at his fingertips. The two first cross paths when Park tries to save her from bullying and humiliation on the bus. 

It becomes routine that the two sit together and they SLOWLY (almost too slow for my liking) form an unlikely friendship by bonding over comic books and music. The two start spending more and more time together and soon realize they're falling for each other. 

Eleanor knows she can never tell her mother, as her stepfather would kill her (literally), but she is desperate to be with Park. Park wants to help Eleanor but she won't open up to him about her life at home.

One day when things take a dramatic turn for the worst, Park helps Eleanor one last time.

The book ends quickly after this - there is no real closure. You never get to see Eleanor and Park together in the same place again, you never hear another conversation, you never hear what becomes of Eleanor's mom or siblings or stepfather (though no one cares about him). I would love there to be a sequel or even an epilogue so that we could see more of the relationship that we saw the beginning of.

This book was funny, witty, emotionally gripping, and I give it 5/5 stars, though I do wish there had been more answers at the end. I cannot wait to read more brilliant works by Rainbow Rowell.

If any of you have read this please let me know what you thought of it !! 

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