Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Received: Bought
Publication Date: February 26th 2013
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Point of View: 3rd Person & Alternative
Recommended Age: 13+
Pacing: Very slow
Genres &  Themes: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, High School, Family Issues, Bildungsroman, Realistic Fiction

 

BLURB:

Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.

Eleanor… Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough…Eleanor.

Park… He knows she’ll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There’s a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises…Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

I should have read Eleanor & Park during winter, when it’s freezing outside.

Because it completely warmed my heart, and it’s so hot already, I thought my heart would burst into flames inside my chest.

Believe me or not, but I always thought I was immune to the usual young adult romanticism in books. You know: hand holding, shy smiles and flushed cheeks. I didn’t think I would ever feel actual butterflies reading a YA contemporary romance book.

But I did. And it took me by such surprise that at first I didn’t even know what it was. What? Can a book really have this kind of effect on a human being?

Well, I have my answer now.

Eleanor & Park… It’s like they’re the main reason why the word ”love” exists. They symbolize true love.

It’s not dirty, or sickening, or lustful or manipulative. It’s like two angels fell in love and you can see a halo above their heads and all you can think is ”God, I wish them forever. If they can last, then maybe there is hope for the rest of us,” and then you can’t help but cry.

I wanted to lock the characters some place safe where they could be together, forever protected from the looming danger in the world.

Oh god, I can’t believe it took me this long to read Eleanor & Park.

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