Title: Eleanor & Park
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Number of Pages: 336
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance,
Publisher: Orion
Published: 28th February, 2013
The Plot:
Eleanor is a new girl in their small town. She was suddenly picked up by her mother, after being picked out and being forced to live on some else's couch. She is forced to live with her siblings and her mother's boyfriend; the reason that she was forced to leave in the first place. It's because of all that, and the fact that she doesn't exactly look like your average person (crazy red hair, mismatch clothes and a bit of a weight issue), means that she'd never felt more alone.
That is until she meets Park. It all starts when they're forced to sit together on the bus as there are no spaces left and Park is apparently the only half decent person in the school. Slowly the two teenagers begin to warm to each other, through the bonding of music and comic books. And as time wears on, the two begin to enter a relationship that makes them ... more than friends.
Through all this, Eleanor is facing a hard time both at school and at home. He's beginning constantly bullied by practically everyone, expect for Park, and she receives weird, almost pedophilic, messages on her books. On top of this, her stepdad/mum's boyfriend is a complete and utter abusive asshole.
But what does all that really matter to Eleanor & Park? They're 16 and very much in love; so really, as long as they have one another, everything else doesn't matter; right?
My Thoughts On The Book:
I blooming loved this book. I was obsessed with Fangirl when I read it an few months ago and I've hunting for more of Rainbow Rowell's books ever since. I was delighted when I finally located Eleanor & Park. I was shopping - hunting for birthday presents for my dad - when I found this. I had to wait twenty minutes for my train (I was in Birmingham) and then I had a twenty minute train ride and then I had to wait another half an hour for my mum to pick me up from my station. In that time, I was able to read 150 or 160 of the pages in the book. That was in what .. an hour and a half? I think you can understand why I loved it so much. If I didn't have work I would have finished the second half of the book in perhaps another hour or two. Alas, I did ... have work that is. Four hours later (I don't work for very long on a friday) I was able to curl back up and finish off the book.
Ugh ... it was so amazing! I loved every moment of it. Rainbow Rowell has been blessed with a magnificent talent for stringing words together.
I don't think that there were any point in the book that I didn't like. Yes, some of the character portrayals - the kids at the end being drunk - I didn't think were two realistic. But it was a sudden scene that was so gripping that I didn't really mind. Bare in mind that you do sometimes get that when a adult is writing in a teenage's point of view. It happens!
Also, I wasn't that sure on the third person aspect to it all. There are two points of views through out, one is of Eleanor and the other is of Park. There could be a dozen or so of these in one chapter or just the one. But these were all in third person. Personally I didn't like this. It felt less realistic, but I don't particularly like third person/split point of view books. It still worked though, it's just something that I would have done differently.
But they are the only two things that I didn't really like. I mean, in my opinion, the character's were extremely believable. It wasn't so outlandish that I couldn't that it would be happening in a house down the street or in a school near me or to some one I know. And that is something that I love. Yes, some of the things that happen I wouldn't wish on anyone. But it was very realistic. And it held a cute little love story in it, something that we all want to feel. It was just ... lovely.
Rating:
And for the reasons that I have listed above, that is why this book is most definitely a five out of five stars!
-IAMAGEEKINGGINGER!
Book total of 2015 - 18
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