Title: Eleanor & Park
Author: Rainbow
Rowell
Publisher: St.
Martin’s Press
Publication Date: February
26, 2013
Genre: YA,
Contemporary Romance
Reviewed by: Angie
Edwards
My rating: 5/5
SUMMARY
Set over the course of one school year in 1986,
ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to
know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.
When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how
hard it pulled you under.
REVIEW
Seven
reasons why you should consider reading Eleanor
& Park by Rainbow Rowell:
Two magnificent protagonists
Why is that? Well,
how often do you come across an overweight girl character with crazy frizzy
candy-apple-red hair, so many freckles she even have them on her bottom lip, and
who dresses like a boy? Not often, right? Well, that is Eleanor in a nutshell.
Now imagine the aforementioned protagonist being considered the biggest
(literally) loser in school, often bullied and ridiculed, and then on top of
that she eventually falls in love with the semi-popular Asian boy whom – for
the first few chapters – she thinks of as “the stupid Asian kid”.
“The stupid Asian kid” aka
Park
If you’ve never thought an Asian guy can be romantic, soft-spoken, handsome as
heck, considerate, and caring, then you have to read this book just so you can
meet comic-loving Park. Trust me, he alone makes this book worth it.
It takes you back to the
eighties
Memory lane, anyone? Admittedly, I’m more a child of the nineties and hardly
remember anything about the eighties, but living in a third-world country
everything here is five years behind the rest of the world anyway, so we
experienced most of the eighties in the nineties. There’s a treasure trove of
eighties pop culture in this novel which took me back to my childhood.
Park’s family
This is one of the
best, and most realistic families I’ve ever come across in YA literature. I
absolutely love his mom! And I’m positive you’ll love her too. She played a
huge role in keeping me with my nose glued to the pages of this book. She’s
hilarious and sweet and practically everything a mom should be (in her own
strange way). Park’s dad and younger brother are also great characters, but his
mom is the one who shines in all her scenes. She and Park has the weirdest, but
most endearing, relationship.
Eleanor’s family
Every chapter that
dealt with Eleanor’s life at home was heartbreaking and hard to read. I wished
with all my heart I could take her and her siblings away from there. Like
Park’s family, Eleanor’s is uniquely different, and the exact opposite of the
structured, yet carefree life at Park’s house. Her mom is being abused by
Richie, Eleanor’s stepdad, and Eleanor and her four siblings live in such
squalor I can only commend the author for her fearlessness in creating such a
background for Eleanor which must’ve been just as heartbreaking for Ms Rowell
to write, as it was for me to read. You think you’ve read about poverty in
other YA books? I’m positive those were nothing compared to Eleanor’s family.
Imagine a toothbrush and a bar of soap being a luxury. Imagine having only a
few sets of clothes, all of it purchased from Goodwill. How about sharing one
tiny bedroom with all four your siblings, and the bathroom not having a door
that can close or lock? I cried through most of this book. Seriously
Phenomenal, realistic, messy
romance
Here’s the thing: I knew, when I started reading this book, that it is a
romance. I was prepared for it going in. After all, I had to see why everybody
is raving about this book! What I wasn’t prepared for was Park hating Eleanor
at first sight; of him being embarrassed of her and trying to avoid her
wherever he can. What I didn’t expect was how much I wanted them to fall in
love. I was not prepared – and really, I didn’t see it coming – for how hard,
and real, and complicated, their relationship was going to be. I’ve never read
romance like this before.
The writing
Where do I even
start? I’m not a fan of romance, but Ms Rowell might make a fan of me yet. The
prose is stunning! It’s actually really simple and straightforward, but the raw
emotions she captures so exquisitely in a few words, is striking. I was
enamored by all of it because it’s not just a simple, straightforward love
story (even though the writing is). It’s complicated, and beleaguered by
Eleanor’s situation at home, her stepfather, and her self-deprecating
personality, and many other factors.
I
didn’t have high expectations going into Eleanor
& Park, but now Ms Rainbow Rowell can count me as another one of her
myriad adoring fans. The ending, and sometimes Eleanor’s persistent
insecurities and stubbornness to keep Park at arm’s length, didn’t do much for
me. But everything else in this breathtaking poignant read more than made up
for it. Although I’d recommend this book to every single hardcore romance
fanatic out there, I also insist that it should be read by everyone with a
compassionate heart. It’s not only the romance that makes this an epic novel,
but also every minute detail that went into creating the most realistic
characters and Eleanor’s family life, that makes this a magnificently
worthwhile read. If you cry easily, keep
a box of tissues handy. You’ll undoubtedly need it.
PURCHASE LINKS
ABOUT the AUTHOR
Rainbow Rowell
writes books. Sometimes she writes about adults (ATTACHMENTS and LANDLINE).
Sometimes she writes about teenagers (ELEANOR & PARK and FANGIRL). But she
always writes about people who talk a lot. And people who feel like they're
screwing up. And people who fall in love.
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.
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.
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