Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Eleanor & Park

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Published by: St. Martin's Griffin

Released: 2013

Summary: This is the story of Park and Eleanor. Park is the skinny, half-Korean kid, who keeps his head buried in comic books and music. Eleanor is the new girl. She's big, red-headed, and wants nothing to do with anybody. Their story begins when Park offers her a seat on the bus, intertwining their lives for the next year. 

Everybody knows high school romances never last, but that doesn't mean Eleanor and Park can't try.

My Thoughts: This book hit booktube, the blogs, and goodreads.com with a force. Everybody was reading and loving this book, and when I saw it at the library, I had to snatch it up. This book had been so hyped up, that I was excited and nervous to read it.

Unfortunately, I just found this book to be an okay read. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. For me, it just didn't live up to the hype, which was greatly disappointing.

I found the overall story to be sort of slow moving and a little boring. I really didn't find any draw or incentive to just pick it up and continue reading. Maybe my problem is that I'm not the biggest fan of contemporaries, although I have enjoyed other contemporaries more than this one.

I really enjoyed Park as a character. I thought he was a good, cool guy, who put up with a lot of nonsense from a certain someone. I also really enjoyed his family. I didn't really like Eleanor that much. I felt bad for her, but she just made everything so difficult and her emotions were all over the place. She was also pretty selfish regrading her brothers and sisters. It just seemed like, instead of her family bonding together, it was every man for himself. I just think Eleanor should have been a little nicer to Park.

I was also unsatisfied with the ending. Not only was it not happy, it also just kind of left me unfulfilled. What happened in the end to Eleanor's family and why does she make certain choices that hurt one character unnecessarily? I won't spoil anything, I just wished for a different kind of ending.

Overall, I was a little disappointed in this book. I expected something different and great, and didn't get that. Don't let my thoughts be the deciding factor, read Eleanor & Park for yourself and tell me what you thought about it.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3/5

Underwhelming and a little bit disappointing.