That's part of why I didn't understand the romance part- he's a regular kid worried about what others think. He is a sweet guy but struggles with his own pettiness.

It lent to its impact, because the author makes you really like Eleanor and want all the best for her, and then you find out the injustices of her past and it's just that much more maddening. I also liked how the story of Eleanor's past was revealed in bits and pieces. I did like how the author showed the wide difference between how Eleanor saw herself and how Park saw her. I never understood how it went from sharing comic books and music to this obsessive NEED for each other. I've never been much of a romantic - more like an emotional porcupine - but I can appreciate a good love story. This novel will stick the listener forever- I will never forget it's poise, beauty, and prose. Throughout the trials of their lives, Eleanor and Park have a most special relationship and it's told with a beautiful narrative voice. Park defends Eleanor to the point of getting his face fractured when someone (everyone does it) makes fun of her. The relationship is on shaky grounds because of Eleanor's familial situation, and she worries about the future and what will happen. She can barely believe it, but the two of them have a very strong, special relationship and Eleanor finds herself falling in love. She meets Park, a good looking boy in high school who takes a liking to her. Eleanor has unruly red hair and dresses in strange, not conforming clothing from the Salvation Army. After all, he puts 'food on the table.' The idiot makes life hell for Eleanor and her younger siblings, to the point where Eleanor was kicked out and homeless for some time. Her mother lives with a scum bag and mom puts the creep first. This was an excellent read.Įleanor is a poor high school girl. She and Sunil Malhotra were fantastic in 'Eleanor and Park'. Just bought his newer book, 'Fangirl' and am excited to see Rebecca Lowman is narrating as well. This book is well-written, almost like Rowell popped the top on the teen brain with all the first, raw emotions spilling out into a funny, lugubrious, intense singular story line with the perfect ending. Couldn't wait to hear what the other had to say about the same situation. When Eleanor thinks she's fat, Park describes her as beautiful. Both points of view shine light on the loneliness, isolation, bullying, and the dare to hope and connect in the world of teenage angst. Eleanor is back with her Mom, step-Dad and four siblings in a miserable household attending a new school in 1986, finding an unlikely friend in Park. Without my Entertainment Weekly Bible, I wouldn't have discovered this fantastic teen love story, coming to a movie screen soon near you. Finally, after wading through lots of simple, boring teen books, this little gem arrives.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell