Rating: 5 out of 5 hearts
325 pages
Released: April 2012
Buy it @ book depository
Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.
Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.
Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.
Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.
Review
'Reminded me not just what it's like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it's like to be young and in love with a book'
Obviously I change the 'in love with a girl' part to 'in love with a boy'. But otherwise it's spot on! I have been hearing so many wonderful things about this book and I LOVE when the book lives up to the hype. Everything about this book is unique - to the characters, the time period and the story.
Flashback to the 80's. I was born in the late 80's so I didn't experience it as a teenager, but it was still really cool to read a book set during a time that I remember.
Now onto Eleanor and Park, they were so fresh and real. All their moments together were so sweet and made my heart all a flutter. It reminded me of new love and all those little things that you do for the first time, it's all so exciting.
Park's mum and dad were such an adorable couple. All the other characters had so many layers and Rainbow Rowell has superbly told their stories.
I didn't see what was coming in the end! What a turn of events, everything happened so fast that I was frantically reading through the last 30 pages. I'm about to give away a tiny spoiler so read at your own risk [I think the three words that Eleanor wrote on the postcard to Park were "I Miss you", what are your thoughts?]
Also, I liked the write up from Rainbow Rowell at the end of the book about the 'three words'. It made me love this book more (how that can be possible, I don't know!). She made me feel a bit better about the ending because to me, it felt like everything was left up in the air. She explained a few things, made me think that of course there's more to Eleanor and Park's story after the book finished, we just have to leave them to figure things out. She made me realise that characters do continue after the book is finished and their journey is just beginning, but we as readers aren't there to share it.
I have a copy of 'Fangirl' and I can not wait to read it, and inhale anything else Rainbow Rowell has written.
On the cover
On the cover
This isn't the normal cover I'm used to seeing and I'm a little disappointed at myself when I bought it online. I didn't think to double check which copy/cover I was buying. I like the colours together, fonts and the overall design but I don't think it suits this story. The original cover with the backs of Eleanor and Parks heads with headphones connecting them fits them better. It signifies their connection and love of music better than the above cover.
What I'm reading next: Throne Of Glass by Sarah Maas
