Eleanor & Park – Rainbow Rowell

Title: Eleanor & Park

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Release Date: February 26, 2013

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Format: Hardcover

Page Number: 328

Source: Book Store

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.

4 out of 5 stars

Plot:

Red-haired Eleanor moves in with her mother and step-dad in a brand new town. All her siblings live in the house with the beautiful mom and horrible stepfather. Eleanor transfers to the school in the new town and now has to ride the bus; of course the high school hierarchy has declared assigned seats, so she has nowhere to sit. The dark-haired boy with almond shaped eyes quietly invites her into his seat. They don’t speak, but she finds out his name is Park. The two ride in very content silence for weeks until they finally start to talk about comic books. Park sends copies of comic books home with Eleanor and she reads them and brings them back each morning. They finally start having real conversations and it all begins there. The two in the odd pairing now hold hands, share music, and go to Park’s house after school. They’re inseparable and adorably awkward. Eleanor gets bullied at school, but Park helps her through it. The sarcasm and witty banter that is thrown between the two is perfectly hilarious.

I really liked this book and know why it’s always raved about. Eleanor has a really hard home life, but Park is what keeps her going. If it weren’t for him she wouldn’t have been able to function. This book is so cute. Rainbow Rowell has a very unique and real writing style. These are conversations that would actually happen and I think it’s really cool to read a realistic book like this.

Characters:

Eleanor and Park are the perfect couple. They are sassy and sensitive and just both really down to earth. Eleanor haws really bad things happen to her, but Park doesn’t make her tell him. They trust each other and really love each other.

Who Would I Be?:

I would choose to be Eleanor’s mom so that I could get my kids out of that house. I hate Richie for so many reasons and I would just make sure the kids are safe.