22 August 2013

Eleanor & Park

“I want everyone to meet you. You're my favorite person of all time.”

ELEANOR & PARK

by Rainbow Rowell
Published February 2013 by St. Martin's Press
YA - Hardcover, 325p.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

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.

MY THOUGHTS ON THE BOOK: 

Set over a school year in 1986 and featuring two outsiders who meet and start a relationship, Eleanor & Park is interesting, engaging, and unexpected. The author, Rainbow Rowell, beautifully depicts Eleanor's struggles at home, and her body issues, both of which teen-me can easily relate to. Rowell also shares Park's life, who has a more palatable home life but still his own variation of being an outsider, with equal expertise. I can't recommend this book enough. It's a read, and re-read, and then force all of your friends to read kind of book.

GET THE BOOK: Goodreads | IndieBound | Amazon 

%&$


I attended ForeverYA's book club in DFW for the first time this month and Eleanor & Park was the pick. Our group unanimously loved the book, and was about equally divided in choosing which of the two main characters we more identified with. If you've got a FYA book club chapter in your area, GO! I waited and waited, and now I know I should've been going all year. Can't wait until next month!