Review - Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (26th Feb 2013)

Blurb:
"Bono met his wife in high school," Park says.

"So did Jerry Lee Lewis," Eleanor answers.

"I’m not kidding," he says.

"You should be," she says, "we’re sixteen." "What about Romeo and Juliet?"

"Shallow, confused, then dead."

''I love you," Park says.

"Wherefore art thou," Eleanor answers.

"I’m not kidding," he says.

"You should be."

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

After reading Rainbow Rowell's exceptionally brilliant novel, Fangirl, I realised I HAD TO read her previous books! So I bought Eleanor & Park because I really liked the premise of the novel. And from the blurb, I knew it was a coming-of-age novel which I will definitely enjoy. Eleanor & Park is absolutely adorable and epic. 

Eleanor & Park follows the story of two misfits who fall in love in the most unconventional way. Meet Eleanor, with massive red curls and freckly skin, who comes from a broken family and the last thing on her mind is love. Meet Park, half-Irish, half-Korean who has a passion for music and comics, who leads a good life with a family that loves him dearly. On a fateful day, he meets this eccentric, red-headed freak wearing mismatched clothes and little does he know, he's in for a ride. I guess most readers would definitely root for Eleanor and Park. Misfits. Outsiders. Different.

Their relationship starts off with friendship and gradually blooming to a full-fledge boy-meets-girl romance, which is, to be honest, really bloody adorable. Eleanor & Park is a novel on firsts. First kiss, first love, first heartbreak. My heart went out to the both of them as they took a leap of faith in falling in love. We are all fully aware that our first loves don't ever last, but I think the book "speaks" to its readers. To those who aren't brave enough, unsure whether they should risk it all.

I believe what makes Rainbow Rowell such a fantastic writer is her talent as a prolific storyteller. She is able to weave painful and heartbreaking emotions, which will compel her readers to sympathise with her characters, with the happy moments that their romance brings, which will also allow us readers to rejoice with them. Trust me when I say that Eleanor & Park is a roller coaster of emotions and once you've got yourself hooked on their love story, you don't seem to get enough! Rainbow Rowell has done an excellent job in writing witty dialogues and one-liners which will leave readers wondering and imagining.

A fantastically written coming-of-age novel about fitting in, falling in love and fighting for what is worth fighting for. Poignant, moving and comical - Eleanor & Park will have you flipping pages until 4AM, just saying.. A modern take on the classic love story, Romeo & Juliet, but it wasn't love at first sight. It was comic books and music.

Eleanor & Park is out on hardcover, paperback and eBook now.