Eleanor & Park Book Review

 Title: Eleanor & Park
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Bookshelves on Goodreads: 1900s, books-i-own, ending-destroyed-me, favorites, my-emotions-i-cannot, romance, pissed-me-off

"What I'm trying to say is, you're it. This is it for me."

When I started to hear everyone talk about Eleanor & Park like it was a god or something, I knew I was in for either disappointment or relief. When it comes to big books like this, you either like it or you feel like crap for being the only person who didn't like it. So I was really happy when I did like it. I understood what people meant: Eleanor & Park is a tragically beautiful story of two teens who make young love work.

Eleanor & Park is about two teens who fall in love. Eleanor has curly big red hair, dresses unusually, and is a little too big for her taste. She lives with her mom, step dad, and siblings. Her step dad is very abusive and she struggles to protect her siblings and herself from his wrath. Her mom just stands on the sidelines and basically just waits to be kicked. I liked her mom but that really made me upset. It was like she didn't care if her kids lived through fear and never did anything about it.

Eleanor has never been popular, so when she goes to a new school, she gets bullied. She gets a few friends but is constantly kicked around. Park is one of those few friends. He is half Asian and fit in, but it takes effort. He loves punk music and comics. He lives with his mom, dad, & brother.

Eleanor & Park is one of those books that doesn't trend on issues, it smacks right into it. We get to see parental/marriage abuse right up front and it is disgusting. It is the kind of thing that made me want to throw the book across the room. But we always get to see how strong Eleanor is. Just the way that she stands up for herself is so admirable.

This book was a unique spin on love stories, where everyone isn't perfect and beautiful on the outside. I loved it.