Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (Review)

 Series: Standalone

Genre:Contemporary

Book Length: 327 pages

Publication Date: February 26th, 2013

Publisher:St Martin's Press

Format: Hardcover ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Synopsis:

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.

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Wow. This book. This was amazing. Like I have mentioned before, I haven't read a whole lot of contemporary books. I don't hate the genre by any means! It's just I personally prefer to read fantasy novels because it just fascinates me and it makes me upset that the world can not really happen and also contemporary books seem to have clear ending and it can easily happen in real life.

But I loved this one. After reading it, right after, I want to say that this is one of my, if not my absolute, favorite contemporary stories. I don't mean like like ten or something like that. I am talking top three or top five. It was so so sooooo good!

One of my favorite aspects about this book was that it takes place in the eighties, and I love reading books that take place in different time periods, especially during the nineteen hundreds. I loved all of the eighties references (even though I didn't get them all because I wasn't born in that time) and I also loved how this story takes place in about a year, or two if you are counting the last couple of chapters....

Let's talk about the characters. Oh boy, I loved how they felt so real, as if you knew them in real life. Like the blurb says, the two main characters are misfits. They both come from such different backgrounds that you honestly wouldn't except them to fall in love. But they do and their relationship was just so cute and adorable and (I'm sure like most of you who have read this) I had to sometimes restrain myself from giggling like a crazy person because of some certain scenes and moments.

I'm going to talk about some of the other characters real quick. Park's parents were nice and they have an interesting relationship... Park's friends were the popularish kids, Eleanor's friends were nice and caring, Eleanor's mom was nice and I can't believe she can live with her husband, Richie who is just...I hate him so much, especially since he was essentially the one who caused Eleanor to run away at the end of the book.

Now, the ending. Without spoiling it, I DID NOT expect what happened at all. I was surprised and shocked at what occurred and what happened to Eleanor and Park's love and how their story ends. I hope that makes sense because I'm not trying to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read the book, but I must discuss this spoilery because I have a lot to say!

Okay, to be honest, I knew something was going to happen to Eleanor. I knew that it was going to be something big and would cause, essentially, the end of her and Park's relationship. I had a few ideas, but I ultimately thought she was going to get/be pregnant. But when we found out that Richie learned about her and Park... and that HE was the one who was writing those heartless notes in Eleanor's books, I wanted to be like Park at the end of the book and kill him. I was surprised that Park drove her to her uncle's place so she won't get killed because we all know Richie would have done that. I was happy that Eleanor would live, but those last couple of chapters hurt me because they weren't together. But when Eleanor sent him the postcard, I was giggling because we all know what those three words were.

In the end, I would give Eleanor & Park a full 5/5 stars. It is definitely a must-read for any contemporary lover! It has lots of cute happy moments that will make you giggle, so I personally do not advise reading this when other people are with you. The characters were so real, and from what I can tell, the eighties references were not incorrect. The ending will definitely make you surprised because what you think it is, there is a good chance it is not what it is. I have not read a whole lot of contemporary, but I would say that this is my number one recommendation for reading the genre if you are not used to it.