Eleanor & Park Review

This review first appeared on Goodreads.

Date read: 8/21/14 - 9/3/14
Rating: 5 of 5 stars

This. BOOK. Okay, it's really no secret that I am absolutely in love with Rowell's writing, but this one just makes you really feel.

Park is just surviving the bus ride to school, biding his time until his dad will let him get his driver's license. That's when Eleanor, the new girl (who is all curves and soft angles and red hair), needs a place to sit...and the only open seat is next to Park. But this girl is just weird, and he hates how his so-called friends treat her (and he knows that she's different, because she reads his comic books over his shoulder); a slow friendship forms until one day, Park takes her hand and his heart is lost to her.

This book makes you remember what it's like to be 16 and in love for the first time. It's all about the giddiness you feel when that boy takes your hand, the way your skin tingles when that girl kisses your cheek. Eleanor deals with so much more than she should because of her abusive step-father, and all Park wants is to help her.


This book is definitely suited for high school age and up, but is a beautiful homage to love and life and how messy it all can be.



I wrote this review a year ago, and it still rings true. If you're on the fence about it, just give it a shot, because it's beautiful.