Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Eleanor and Park

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Publishing Date: April 12th, 2012

Pages: 328
Audio Length: 8 Hours and 56 Minutes

Genre: YA Contemporary
TW: Abuse, rape

Series: Standalone

Source: Audio

 

Eleanor is the new girl in town, and with her chaotic family life, her mismatched clothes and unruly red hair, she couldn't stick out more if she tried.
Park is the boy at the back of the bus. Black T-shirts, headphones, head in a book - he thinks he's made himself invisible. But not to Eleanor... never to Eleanor.
Slowly, steadily, through late-night conversations and an ever-growing stack of mix tapes, Eleanor and Park fall for each other. They fall in love the way you do the first time, when you're young, and you feel as if you have nothing and everything to lose

What made me pick this book up:
I had read Fangirl a while back, due to hype. And Jenn had said that Eleanor and Park was better than Fangirl. So I was like yeah okay, I'll do it. 

What did I like about the cover:
The cover to me is just kind of meh. I like that you can see their hair and I like the headphones, but I still feel like this could be so much more. 

What made me read this book:
Like I said, Jenn said it was better than Fangirl. And she said it had a lot to do with comics and I like comics. 

What did I like the most: 
Oh where do I start!? 

The story... There isn't much unique about this book. A girl meets a guy, they start as friends, they fall in love. 
BUT I feel like this one was written so well that it completely enveloped me. It wrapped me in a warm and tight hug and I wanted more more more. This book had me warm and fuzzy and smiling and giggling because it was so innocent.
The love was so wholesome. You could tell it was first love. 
I kind of went off of what I was saying there. Pretty much there is nothing especially unique or special about this book. But it left me loving it. 

The characters... Let's start with Eleanor. She was sweet, she was shy, she was unique and so completely true to herself. Yeah when she got picked on it hurt, but she was a good friend, she kept her head high, she kept going. She had a really sh*tty life, and yet she kept going. 

Park. I absolutely love Park. I love how he loves Eleanor. I love how he cares for her and doesn't care who knows it. I love his personality and who he is. I also really love his family. 

I love the geekiness of this book, I love that it was set in the 80's. I love the references. I love everything about this book. 

What didn't I like:
HER FREAKING STEP DAD.
Let me step back and take a breath.
I really hate her stupid step dad, I hate her stupid mom for putting her in the position she's in and for staying there.

And let me freaking tell you.
I. Hate. The. Ending.

Let me put a spoiler alert on this one. Highlight to read.

There is no ending. Do they end up together? Do they keep talking? Do they stay madly in love and get married and make little ginger Asian babies!? WE DON'T KNOW. WE WILL NEVER KNOW AND I HATE RAINBOW ROWELL FOR THIS. 

End spoiler.

But just knowing, you will hate the ending. 

Would I read the rest of the series/more from this author?
I must read ALL of the Rainbow Rowell books. I must. 


Another amazing book by Rainbow Rowell, and honestly I loved it more than Fangirl. Yepp, I said the things. 

“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park

Rainbow Rowell writes books. Sometimes she writes about adults (ATTACHMENTS and LANDLINE). Sometimes she writes about teenagers (ELEANOR & PARK, FANGIRL and THE SIMON SNOW BOOKS.). 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.