Eleanor & Park

Another one done. I know I’m late to the party but I am so happy I found Rainbow Rowell this year. I really enjoyed this book, Rowell writes such lovably imperfect characters. Eleanor’s family situation was heartbreaking and I wished I could rescue them. The characters and details were nerdy and awkward. The story was wonderfully told from alternating points of view. And like life, it wasn’t all wrapped neatly and solved to perfection at the end. 5/5 stars ⭐️ ( )

This book made me feel emotions. The good kind, and the bad kind. I am simultaneously upset, and happy, and ohmygodilovethisbook.

The ending is what sold me. Those last few bits were an excellent close to this book.

A great read to begin 2019! ( )

“Eleanor & Park”, by Rainbow Rowell was the book I needed at the moment. This book was written, perhaps, with a teen audience in mind- but it is the teen that I was that this book was meant for. Once I was a bit of a snob who never read child or YA lit, but being a school librarian cured me of that flaw. Good writing is good writing. This book, set in the late 80s, tells the unglorified story of a first love. It’s messy, it’s self-conscious, it’s compulsive, too worried about what peers may think or see. It’s easy as an adult to be dismissive of a first live, of a teenaged love story. But it’s absolutely necessary to go through a first love to have another one. Some content a parents may wish to screen for younger readers. Really good stuff! ( )

I loved this story! ( )

Nice to have a romance told from a boy's perspective. Park is the guy in the hoodie at the back of the school bus who is "just" cool enough to sit there with the ultra cool kids. By flying under the radar, keeping his mouth shut and earbuds in, he manages to avoid any confrontations or entanglements that might effect his status.
Then along comes Eleanor with her weird clothes and red hair - the complete opposite and sits beside him. he says absolutely nothing to her the first few times and then passes her a mix tape of songs, but something horrible is happening in her life and only park can rescue her.
SPOILER ALERT: horrible graffiti on her workbooks - completely poverty stricken and abusive step father. ( )