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A review by thewallflower00
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
5.0
This is the best book I read for this time period. Months later, and I'm still thinking about it, wanting to revisit it. Just like "Looking for Alaska". In fact, I heard about the book from John Green, who does a much better job of reviewing it than me.
It's a YA romance about two teens in 1986. Park is half-Korean, but well-off. Eleanor comes straight out of Scalzi's "Being Poor". The novel slowly, methodically treads the course of their relationship. From the first idle glances, to words exchanged, in and out of misunderstandings, parental involvement, and their own sense of self-worth. These are two one-winged angels that need to hold onto each other in order to fly.
It's a love story that's not ridiculous Harlequin bodice-ripping or teen Dawson's Creek drama. It perfectly illustrates the emotions, the awkwardness, the time when holding hands was enough. I don't know how Rowell was somehow able to write such small things with such intensity -- the first phone call, the little gifts and mix-tapes, waiting for no parents in the house, the first make-out session. I feel like an old man, looking at photographs. And each picture brings me to that reality. Just for a moment, I'm back there.
It's a YA romance about two teens in 1986. Park is half-Korean, but well-off. Eleanor comes straight out of Scalzi's "Being Poor". The novel slowly, methodically treads the course of their relationship. From the first idle glances, to words exchanged, in and out of misunderstandings, parental involvement, and their own sense of self-worth. These are two one-winged angels that need to hold onto each other in order to fly.
It's a love story that's not ridiculous Harlequin bodice-ripping or teen Dawson's Creek drama. It perfectly illustrates the emotions, the awkwardness, the time when holding hands was enough. I don't know how Rowell was somehow able to write such small things with such intensity -- the first phone call, the little gifts and mix-tapes, waiting for no parents in the house, the first make-out session. I feel like an old man, looking at photographs. And each picture brings me to that reality. Just for a moment, I'm back there.