Book Review: Eleanor & Park, by Rainbow Rowell

It's been many weeks that I've been scrolling through tumblr and coming across many pictures of books (most posts were about book challenges or 'favs of the year') when this particular book caught my eye. Perhaps it was the author's wonderful name, or perhaps it was the the title of the book itself, the two names that seem to fit perfectly together that got me interested. Neither less to say after many weeks of contemplating the book off google images and searching it on Amazon or Ebay,  I've come across it in a Virgin Megastore with one of my friends (who in fact is an admin of this blog as well) and snatched it off the rack, purchasing it quickly.

And here it is, my softcover second edition of Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (feat. a review by the famous John Green): 

 Here's another edition you might find in stores: 

Once bought I immediately began reading it and immediately began loving it. 

Set in the '80s, this novel tells the story of a young, sixteen year old girl named Eleanor Douglas - 'the new girl in town with her chaotic family life, her mismatched clothes and unruly hair' - and the boy who sits next to her on the bus to school, Park Sheridan - a half Korean, half Irish-American teenager who wears nothing but black, has the skin the colour of honey, listens to loud music and reads comics. 

This novel certainly is perfect for teenagers, young adults, and even adults if they're interested in cute love stories because Eleanor & Park most certainly is a cute love story. Somewhere along the way of the 30 minutes bus ride to school everyday, side by side, Eleanor and Park slowly and surely become friends, exchange mix tapes, lend each other comics and fall in love. The book is written through the eyes of both Eleanor and Park, changing the POVs from both teenagers every two three pages, sometimes more, sometimes less. It's not a hard book to read, in fact I read it in about a school week (maybe one or two chapters a night). 

It also portrayed some realities of this world: for one thing, Eleanor's physic- she is not a skinny girl, it is repeated many times throughout the book, and due to that flaw only overseen by Park, she is repeatedly bullied. But it doesn't stop there for Eleanor as her 'chaotic family' is another one of her problems ; it is in fact one of the main plots of the book as she is continuously verbally abused by her stepfather. 

Although there were moments like those who made me angry and sad, the moments Eleanor shared with Park made me incredibly happy. It made me wish for a future relationship like theirs, to have someone you could talk to so easily and share anything with them, someone who never once judged you by your appearance, but loved you for who you were, the "kind of person you want to be with when you want to be alone" (direct quote from the book).

Full of clever metaphors, beautiful comparisons and sentences that will make your heart skip a beat, this novel is worthwhile. And just like John Green had phrased, I definitely fell in love with this book.

To read more about the author, Rainbow Rowell, here's her blog. 

~ Camille