Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor & Park

by Rainbow Rowell

'Reminded me not just what it's like to be young and in love, but what it's like to be young and in love with a book' John Green, author of The Fault in our Stars

Eleanor is the new girl in town, and she's never felt more alone. All mismatched clothes, mad red hair and chaotic home life, she couldn't stick out more if she tried.

Then she takes the seat on the bus next to Park. Quiet, careful and - in Eleanor's eyes - impossibly cool, Park's worked out that flying under the radar is the best way to get by.

Slowly, steadily, through late-night conversations and an ever-growing stack of mix tapes, Eleanor and Park fall in love. They fall in love the way you do the first time, when you're 16, and you have nothing and everything to lose.

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, Eleanor & Park is funny, sad, shocking and true - an exquisite nostalgia trip for anyone who has never forgotten their first love.

Reviewed by Stephanie on

2 of 5 stars

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There are praises for this book flying everywhere. As soon as I saw them, I immediately put a hold on it at the library to see for myself. And it was very cute read, but I also had some reservations with it.

Eleanor & Park takes place in the 1980's. I have to say, I'm not a big fan of the 1980's (or really, the 20's, 70's, 60's, 50's, I don't know, I just don't enjoy reading about those era's.) but that didn't keep me from reading the book. There's a lot of music and comic book references, which is what Eleanor and Park bond over, and what ultimately get's them talking to each other. And I won't lie, a lot of the references went over my head.

So, for the first 100 pages or so, I was really enjoying the book, I totally got all the praise that people have been singing. But then, I kind of got bored. Yes, their relationship was cute and all, but I didn't feel like much was happening, besides Eleanor being self conscious about her weight, and Park trying to figure out why he was attractive to her. Which is why I couldn't be 100% into the relationship. Eleanor was always calling herself ugly and talking about how fat she was, which is understandable, everyone does this sometimes. But then Park would also mention those things and call her weird (even his parents didn't understand why their son was with her). All this talk about how weird and ugly Eleanor was completely took me away from the story. If Park thought Eleanor was so ugly and weird, then why is he with her? That issue kind of gets better as the story goes, but it kept me from believing anything Park said about Eleanor afterwards. I couldn't believe their relationship, thanks to some of the things Park thought about Eleanor.

I did really enjoy Eleanor's story line with her messed up home life and I wish it was more than just a sub plot. That is ultimately what kept the story going for me, because that seemed to be the only thing really happening, but even that fell by the wayside so Eleanor and Park's relationship could be the main story.

I wasn't as enchanted by Eleanor & Park as much as everyone else, but it had its cute, cheesy moments. There were moments when I was actually enjoying the story, but then the more I read, the more I started to dislike the relationship, which made the ending not heartbreaking for me at all. The only heartbreaking thing for me was that we never get to know what happened to Eleanor's family.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 17 April, 2013: Finished reading
  • 17 April, 2013: Reviewed