Review: Eleanor & Park

Eleanor & Park
By: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publishing Release Date: Feb 26, 2013
Purchased: Amazon Kindle
Purchase price: 8.89$

Summary (from Amazon):

So did Jerry Lee Lewis, Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding, he says.
You should be, she says, we’re 16.
What about Romeo and Juliet?
Shallow, confused, then dead.
I love you, Park says.
Wherefore art thou, Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding, he says.
You should be.

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this 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:

In 1989, Eleanor is a new girl in a new school. And, knowing new students, like Eleanor, is the students fresh target. She's big, awkward, and wears weird clothes. "Not just new- but big and awkward. With crazy hair, bright red on top of curly. And she was dressed like...like she wanted people to look at her. Or maybe like she didn't get what a mess she was. She had a plaid shirt, a man's shirt with half a dozen weird necklaces hanging around her neck and  scarves around her wrists. She reminded Park of a scarecrow or one of those trouble dolls his mom kept on her dresser. Like something that wouldn't survive the wild..."
Eleanor is immediately taunted by students because of her weight and weirdness on the bus and in school. Could her life get any worse?

Yes, actually. It can. Eleanor lives with her little siblings and they all share the same room. Living with an abusive, alcoholic step-dad, and her submissive mother, Eleanor sometimes she can disappear or go away and never look back. Her family doesn't have some basic necessities that other households have-shampoo and toothbrushes(?), but we do know that their bathroom doesn't have a door and therefore a sheet is their bathroom door. Sad.
Despite this, Park somewhat reluctantly, is the only person to share his seat with her. And from there on, Eleanor and Park's relationship kicks off. And it's a struggling, sweet one.


My Thoughts

What I like:
I adore Eleanor and Park's relationship with each other. It made me giggle when Eleanor giggled (literally) and mad whenever she was- due to the frequent teasing/bullying and inappropriate things that would happen to her. I also liked how strong she is- against the students who makes fun of her. She holds her head up high and try not to let those things get to her. I also like how strong she is for her siblings.

What I didn't like:
The only thing that I didn't like about Eleanor & Park  was the ending.
It was a sad but also sweet ending. And, I'll admit,I did tear up a little and stared at my kindle for the longest while the words "it's over?!" repeatedly swam around in my head. It was that serious.

Eleanor's step dad. He's abusive, alcoholic, and he seems (to me) to pick on Eleanor more than anyone else even though once in a while he'll turn on to the mother. But once it's revealed what he's done, I simply had no thoughts or words.

Sometimes I thought Eleanor cried too much and was a baby at some things, but I got over that and knew it was just part of her personality as a character.

Conclusion:

Eleanor and Park will make you reminiscence about your love life (if you were born in the 80's early 90s), and I bet some of the music that is mentioned in the book is actually real life bands that you listened to (I recognized one!). It's a sweet, adorable book filled with sweet, heart pounding joy between to the two characters, despite their race and physical appearances.
Would I recommend this book?
Yes! Yes, I would.
Eleanor & Park  gets a 4.5/5