Genre: YA Romance
Pages: 328
Type: Standalone
Goodreads Rating: 4.18 Avg
Published: 12-April-2012
My Rating: 5/5
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.
Review:
Oh, my god. This book is perfection. Literally. I am so glad I decided to read it now. At the end of the year. What a great way to end 2014!
Where to start? (I could rave about this book forever. But I'm not since you want a review.) I loved the characters, both Eleanor and Park. They were just average, normal kids. Nothing extraordinary, nothing super hot. But that's what made the book super super hot. Eleanor did have a bit of a stubborn streak, the sort that got a bit frustrating at times. But not the kind like Bella. You know which Bella. It was just her nature, she was insecure, she was fat, or so she felt. She was the target of mean kids. You know? That sort of thing. Which made her seem so relatable.
I loved the fact that Park was Asian. I'm from Asia. And ok, not Korea, but still. Asia. So when writers write about someone Asian, I just feel so proud of who I am. And trust me, this does not happen often. Park was the kind of guy who himself was confused. Again, that's what made him relatable. Park's family was also a bunch of people I loved. I reveled in their normality. Is that a word? So good...
And then, I loved, loved, Eleanor and Park together. They were like the sun and the moon. Which, doesn't make sense. But let's just go with it.
Let's talk about the writing. Just like Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell has an amazing ability to weave letters into words, and words into sentences. I'm not even gonna talk about it because, just because. It's so good...
I found myself completely immersed in the story. I sped through it. It made me laugh, and cry, and go all gooey because of the complete adorableness that is Eleanor and Park. They are so cute together! And I don't know why, but this little bit made me laugh and laugh. I don't know. Maybe I'm crazy. Okay. So Eleanor and Park go to a park. Jeez, I didn't realize that before. The 'park' thing. There Eleanor says, "Oh look. Swans"
Park says, "I think those are geese." Lol
So Elenaor says, "Well, they're the best looking geese I've ever seen"
Doesn't that just make you laugh out loud? Lol. It does to me.
So all I'm going to say is that you need to read this book. Guys. Read it.