Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published February 26th 2013 by St. Martin's Press
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"Bono met his wife in high school," Park says.
"So did Jerry Lee Lewis," Eleanor answers.
"I’m not kidding," he says.
"You should be," she says, "we’re sixteen."
"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, ELEANOR AND PARK 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.

I always have problems reviewing 3 star books. They fall under the category of “its ok” which makes it hard to talk about that I liked or disliked about the book. The writing in this book wasn’t the best but it didn’t really bother me.

The characters were ok too. Eleanor is a pretty depressed girl, which in her circumstances she should be. She cries quite a bit. Every time something happened with her and Park she would tear up.  As Park says a couple times throughout the book, she is not a very nice person and she is not very nice to look at. She has a very unique clothing style which is not entirely her fault but interesting nonetheless. Her family (stepfather to be precise) is not very good. She has a white trash family with an abusive stepfather and a mother that cares more about him than her kids.

Park is a skinny Asian kid that doesn’t feel like he fits in with his family. He has some emotional problems with his father but they aren’t really talked about until closer to the end of the book. He also has an interesting style but not nearly as unique as Eleanor’s. He is into punk rock music and comic books.

They are both meant to be unattractive and they would both be outcasts if it wasn’t for Park’s childhood friends.

The rest of the characters you don’t really learn much about. They are just kind of there to further on the story. Tina is a pretty horrible person at the beginning. She is the main bully in the story and sometimes I can’t believe people would actually act like that or do things that she does but I know it does happen a lot.

The ending of the story was bittersweet. That may have been the part I liked the most but I think there could have been more. The very last bit was actually kind of confusing to me. That may have just been me though.

If you like romantic comedies then I say go ahead and give this book a try. If I stumble across any other books written by this author then I might pick it up.

My Rating:

*This book was provided by NetGalley & the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.