Eleanor & Park

Actual Rating: 4.0

OMG guys I cannot describe how I love this novel. I cannot find the right words to describe this one. It was really moving because I can actually relate to some of the themes in this book. I instantly felt a connection with it. I always find it the hardest to review a novel which I really love, so here goes nothing....

Eleanor & Park took place during the late 80's, which is a really awesome decade in my opinion. The story is told from two perspectives but in a third-person kind of way, who're Eleanor and Park. They started having a mutual connection on their school bus, having to talk about ‘nerdy' stuffs such as comics, bands, music, and exchanging mix tapes (which are very common in the 80's). Because the story is told in two perspectives, we get enough glimpse and insights on both of their personal lives. Eleanor, who is half-Danish and half-Scottish, is a red-hair with tacky clothing who lives with her mum, her very abusive step dad, and step brothers/sisters. Park, on the other hand, is half-American and half-Korean. He has a slight complicated relationship with his dad, and his mum is quite racist towards people with different races/skin colour. They are just both rounded and multi-layered teenagers who you can't help to fall in love with and feel attached to. Their conversations and topics are very relatable, at least for me who is such a morbid fan of geeky stuff and music and such shits.

Another thing I noticed about this novel is that Rowell never actually cared about censorship and has to use a lot of curse words, for us to really feel the dialogues. FUCK CENSORSHIP!!! HELL YEAH MOTHERFUCKING RIGHT!!! HATERS CAN EAT SHIT!!!

The romance isn't your typical “boy-meets-girl girl-meets-boy and they live happily ever after” kind of love story. There wasn't even a happy ending in this novel. It is more on love against all odds. Some people are better off being friends than being lovers.

In general, Eleanor & Park is very entertaining, smart, realistic, emotional and is about finding some self-assurance towards yourself.