Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

40 reviews

angelofthetardis's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Eleanor wants to be invisible. But her flaming red hair and thrift store fashion make her stand out like a sore thumb. So when she steps onto the school bus and slides into the empty seat next to Park, she keeps herself to herself. Until he notices her reading over his shoulder. Issues of comics are exchanged before words are, but slowly they get to know each other through Marvel and mix tapes. With a less than harmonious home life and bullies terrorising her at school, she discovers the safety and comfort of friendship and first love... now she just has to keep it hidden.

This is a simple story of teen love, but is so effectively told. It completely draws you in, portraying beautifully that dream-like version of budding romance where you two are the only characters of consequence in the story. The people that surround you; friends, family, classmates and colleagues are there and interact with you, affect your life and continue in their roles, but your focus is continually drawn to that person you have feelings for. In this case, I found that it didn't matter that the secondary characters weren't necessarily drawn with that much depth; they just didn't need it as they weren't as important as this growing relationship. 

That being said, Eleanor's background is horrifying and, as the story progresses, it's hard to understand why her mother remains loyal to her utterly disgusting step-father. He is the only character that perhaps could have been more starkly drawn. He is a nasty piece of work, but he doesn't quite come to life enough for me to inspire that burning hatred that other literary villains of a similar ilk do.

The writing style bounces back and forth between Eleanor and Park's POVs in fairly rapid succession, but in this case it works perfectly for the story being told. You get to see the development of their relationship and their wider lives from both perspectives simultaneously, which means the shifting balance of feelings is always evident. 

I understand from the author's notes why the ending is the way that it is, but if I do have one criticism it's that the end does feel a bit rushed. The resolution of the slight 'mystery' element should have a greater impact than it does, and the emotional fallout for both Eleanor and Park deserves more page space... I'm not 100% sure how it could work myself, but it seemed to me that there was an entire potential third act within those last few pages. But I'm not going to complain about the last few lines. Perfectly pitched. 

This book is more about the feelings it inspires in the reader rather than its literary merits. And I definitely have all the feels after that!

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katari636's review

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challenging emotional funny tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book had me in the edge of my seat the entire time! It is so much more than just a teen romance! I highly recommend!

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whenmalanereads's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

“Don't get so hung up on gender roles,” Eleanor said. … “You can be Han Solo,” he said, kissing her throat. “And I'll be Boba Fett. I'll cross the sky for you.”
"And where there was a walk-man there was the possibility of music."
“I don’t like you, Park. Sometimes I think I live for you”
"Holding Eleanor’s hand was like holding a butterfly. Or a heartbeat. Like holding something complete, and completely alive.”
“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn’t supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”


I know this book is quite old. This is a book where if I had read it when it first came out I would have LOVED it. LOVED it so much. I still really liked this book for what it is and it's a cute teenage love story. I liked that it took place in the 80s and I liked that it had so many music references. I could see myself absolutely being friends with Eleanor and with Park. I could imagine myself hanging out with them as a teenager. 

Eleanor is annoying at some points in the book and that's fine. Not every character is going to be perfection and not every person is going to like every book character. Eleanor's background leads to some of the issues with her personality I don't like and that's also not her fault. The way she grew up.
I liked the characters though. Except Richie. What an ass. 

If you're looking for an easy to read book that's also easy to listen to (I listened to the audio book version) then I can recommend this. 

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zuzu_lang's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Amazing and emotional. The romance is wonderful.

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addsa_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Very good story, heartharming. The
bullying towards Eleanor, and the obscene notes towards her from Richie
are kinda messed up, I think they're handled in a very mature way. Although I wish it included things as an index, tw's, a list of resources for
domestic abuse
, and overall more work on the structure. This issues are probably edditiorial mistakes/faults, instead of actual content, so I enjoyed it a lot.

In summary,  Eleanor & Park is a heartwarming, yet mature and dark romantic artwork.


P. D. I read the Spanish Physical edition. 

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pippamillerxoxo_'s review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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lovenecy's review

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emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I hated this ending. Implication endings are the worst.

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carina_dreamer's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

🎧 Comprei este livro sem ter folheado e lendo a sinopse faz já séculos, então apanhei uma enorme surpresa quando começo a ler e descubro que não se passa nos anos 2000 e sim em 1986. Eu estava convencida que na capa eles usavam leitores de CDs e não de cassetes 😅

🎧 Neste livro vamos ter o romance de Eleanor e de Park, dois inadaptados entre os colegas da sua secundária por diferentes razões. Ela é a nova aluna, de cabelo ruivo volumoso que veste roupa de homem e usa gravatas no cabelo e alfinetes como acessórios. Ele é meio-coreano meio-americano, veste-se todo de preto e tenta passar despercebido.
Quando Eleanor, alvo imediato dos bullies no autocarro da escola acaba por se sentar ao lado de um Park muito incomodado, as vidas de ambos vão mudar.

🎧 Aquele choque inicial quanto à década retratada + os capítulos curtos com saltos rápidos entre os POVs de ambos deixou-me com algum receio, mas assim que os nossos protagonistas ignoraram a má primeira impressão, o enredo flui bem.

🎧 Este livro aborda mais que um primeiro amor e todo o doce que é ler esses momentos.
Faz questão de nos mostrar que apesar de retratar os anos 80, que não é muito diferente do presente.
Encontramos:
• bullying;
• baixa autoestima e autodepreciação de ambos (ela acha-se gorda e pouco atrativa e ele acha-se pouco desenvolvido e enfemininado);
• a falta de representatividade asiática nos média americanos (Bruce Lee era o único ícone sexy que conseguiam referir);
• microagressões racistas;
• estereótipos de género.

🎧 O que teve mais foco que os pontos indicados acima e está equiparado com o romance é o drama familiar resultante das diferenças económicas de ambos.
A família da Eleanor é pobre e numerosa, enquanto que Park pertence a uma família média-alta e enraizada na comunidade.
Adorei que o que os aproximou fosse as BDs e mixtapes que o Park partilhava com ela todos os dias.

🎧 Não acho que seja um livro infalível e pode não agradar a todos, mas eu recomendo bastante, mesmo não sendo fã do tipo de final escolhido 😅.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ponderei se merecia ou não as 5 estrelas, porque eu sou sempre uma forreta a dar essa cotação, mas quando dou é sempre porque a emoção que o livro me dá ultrapassa as mesquinhisses que eu possa ter para lhe dar um 4.75 e esta foi uma dessas leituras.

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rillastone's review

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emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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kyrstin_p1989's review

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Even though I really didn’t like how the book ended, there was no other way it could’ve ended, I don’t think. I felt endlessly sorry for Eleanor. She was so relatable and so misunderstood and for Park to be taken from her when he was the only one who truly saw her was so unjust. This book highlights all the ways life is so unfair, especially to kids growing up in situations of poverty. It’s a story of young love, growing up, and overcoming social norms. 

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