Eleanor & Park ~ Rainbow Rowell

Initially I picked up ‘Eleanor and Park’ by Rainbow Rowell at the beginning of the month because April’s theme was music. After scanning my bookshelf this felt like the most appropriate book for this theme that I already owned, due to the fact that I knew the story was based around two teenagers sharing their love of music.

This story follows two characters Eleanor and Park who come from very different backgrounds. Eleanor is the new girl in town and she’s never felt this alone in her life. From her weird sense of fashion to her awful family life she feels left out but that she sticks out like a sore thumb at the same time. Park, on the other hand, comes from a very wealthy family but also has his own problems to deal with. Being 16 and falling in love for the first time they fall fast and maybe without knowing where this really would lead like they’ve got nothing and everything to lose. 

I will admit that it took me a while to get into this book when I first started reading it hence why it’s taken me just under two weeks to finish it. However I would say once I got past the 100 page mark my need to know what was going to happen heightened massively. I was engrossed by the characters that Rowell had written. Narrative wise I did find the style of this book slightly irritating at times the continuous back-and-forth between Eleanor and Park became almost frustrating but it kept the pace of the book fast and I guess made the story flow more. 

This isn’t your generic high school love story. These characters are so unique and the way that Rainbow develops her characters is like something I’ve never read before. She puts so much detail into everything that comes out of her character’s mouths, their background story to the way they are described. I find it truly captivating. 

The entire book is wrapped in the awkwardness of teenage love, not being able to fit in and not knowing who your true friends are. Overall I gave this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of five. 

M🌸