Book Review – Eleanor & Park, Rainbow Rowell

One of the cutest books I’ve ever read.

 

Set in 1986 and 1987, the story follows the lives of Eleanor and Park, two misfits who find themselves falling for each other.

 

After reading some wonderful things about this book, I decided to give it a read. Despite my efforts to stay indifferent, I found myself having a lot of expectations from the book. And I was not disappointed. It truly met all my hopes and expectations and left me wanting for more. I still remember that slight smile of satisfaction that formed on my lips as soon as I realised that this book indeed was not going to disappoint me..which was around the first 10 pages, I guess.

The characters of Eleanor and Park were different, but realistic. I liked how the characters in the book weren’t shown to be perfect. Nor were their lives. This might have been the first time I’ve come across a chubby protagonist in a book.  Or an Asian protagonist. But I was truly happy about it. Readers tend to look upto the protagonists of novels and mostly they are all so unrealistically perfect that we don’t find ourselves relating to them. But in this case, I was only able to relate to the characters and their feelings and their thoughts.

The romance between Eleanor and Park is the sweetest I’ve ever come across. Some parts of the book were just absolutely heart warming. I always had this little smile on my face as I read this book until, of course, the last few pages (which almost made me cry).

The book doesn’t have much of a story. It’s very simple. But real lives aren’t always filled with adventures and fantasies, so in that way, I have to say it’s pretty simple but realistic, as far as contemporaries go.

I hadn’t been much of a fan of contemporaries until I read I’ll Give You The Sun, but this book pulled me further and deeper into the world of contemporary novels. I loved the storytelling of Rainbow Rowell,  switching meticulously between Eleanor and Park, and I enjoyed both perspectives. This is my first Rainow Rowell book and now I’m looking forward to reading more of her books.

Lastly, though I enjoyed the book and it met my expectations, I would still love to know more about these two misfits and what happened in their lives after. In that way, I’m still dissatisfied as I want more!

 

It was a lovely read filled with sweeteness and sadness.