Eleanor & Park

by Rainbow Rowell

[Leah]

Last year, I read and loved Rainbow Rowell’s debut novel Attachments. It was unique, it was sweet, it was funny, and what I loved most was that it was set in the nineties. Strange, but true. So I was very excited to read her new novel Eleanor and Park, although, boy, was it mighty tough to get it. I was hoping to get a hardcover copy of the novel so it could sit right alongside attachments. But no. The publishers only released it in large paperback, so I was then going to wait for the smaller paperback out next year, to sit alongside Attachments (I have two copies of Attachments), so I was quite pleased to see an e-copy up for review on Netgalley and got to read it that little bit earlier (I will still be buying a paperback copy, mind you, because, like I said, I want it to sit next to Attachments).

I will admit that I didn’t know that Eleanor & Park was a young adult novel. Don’t get me wrong, it has cross-over potential and there’s more swearing than you’d normally get in a young adult novel (I presume), but it seems to have been double-billed. In the UK it’s an adult novel (strange), but the US are marketing it as young adult (which makes more sense, as it’s about two sixteen-year-olds). So I was a bit surprised, and told myself off for not having paid more attention to the synopsis. But that’s by the by. It is what it is. Whatever genre you want to put it into, Eleanor & Park is a brilliant novel. Brilliant. It took me a little while to get into it (the same as it did with Attachments, funnily enough) but once Eleanor and Park started falling in love with each other, and started talking more and opening up, man was I hooked. What it boils down to is that Eleanor & Park is, quite simply, a love story and I loved it.

The best thing about the novel is its simplicity. It knows what it is, and that is it is a love story. From day one, when Park lets Eleanor sit next to him on the school bus (no mean feat, these schoolbuses are more tightly controlled than the army when it comes to where you sit) to them sharing comics (one of the best bits, ever), to them sharing more than comics, to them chatting and learning more about each other, to Eleanor braving Park’s house and letting him learn about her life, bit by bit, it’s all just so beautiful. It isn’t always happiness and beauty. Eleanor’s home life is awful, really awful, and I wanted to get Eleanor away from her awful step-dad Richie. In comparison, Park’s life is awesome and it was sadly sweet home much Eleanor craved not just Park, but the life he had as well. I couldn’t get enough of the book, I’m not even joking. I spent nights when I really should have been sleeping reading it, and time before work reading it, desperate to just cram in everything Eleanor & Park had to offer.

The only criticism I have is that I felt the ending was rushed. It was building, and building, and building, and there was so much angst and heart-break and moping, and then it just ended. I had tears in my eyes, sad at what had occurred, and then it just ended. I still had questions left. I wanted an Epilogue! I felt like it all just came in such a rush and I wanted a bit more closure. Where did the red-headed kids disappear to? What happened with Eleanor & Park? What were those three words? I just had loads of questions left, and I hate that. I really do dislike open endings. They’re a waste of time unless a sequel is forthcoming. It’s like a cop-out, really, as if the author didn’t want to write a proper ending. And I just wonder why? After writing pages and pages of beautiful words, and crafting a beautiful love story, why end it like that? Apart from that, I adored the book. Rainbow Rowell is a writing genius. I very much recommend Eleanor & Park, it is a masterpiece on young love, and it’s a story that will have you believe in love all over again. I can’t wait to see what comes next from Rowell’s pen, she cannot do no wrong.